A review of the opera “Don Giovanni” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
This paper examines the story of “Don Giovanni,” a morality tale of what occurs when a man does wrong and evil is punished, told through Mozart’s opera of the same name. When the Don’s castle is in ruins, the surviving revelers weave in and out of the ruins and sing “such is the fate of a wrong doer.” It discusses how the contrast of irony and melodrama in the final scene, suggests a far more nuanced moral vision of Mozart in his opera. It describes how at the end, as the Don is engulfed by flames, the music sweeps up into a more religious, reverent tone and the chorus takes over, rather than individual voices. Although this is supposed to be pious and the Don only gets what he deserves, there is a sense of loss at very end.
“The scene being referenced is, of course, the ending deus ex machina of the opera, where the murdered father of a woman Don Giovanni has raped, the Commendatore, comes back from the dead in the form of a living, breathing, animated statue. The depiction of this phenomenon is alone a theatrical marvel and a challenge in and of itself. However, the Don’s apparent casualness in the face of this event makes the striking nature of the Commendatore, even more astonishing. When the statute, who was unwillingly invited by the Don’s surprised servant Lepordello to the Don’s banquet, arrives, he pounds on the door of the Don’s castle with great clashing blows, an entrance that is underscored by ominous music. He solemnly informs the Don that his time has come.”