Analysis Of Mozart's DON GIOVANNI

A striking departure from the thematic regularity of most operas of his time, Mozart's Don Giovanni, presented Europe with a brash new outlook of nobility. The opera's plot, based around the licentious actions of Spanish aristocrat Don Giovanni, begins with Giovanni's rape of Donna Anna, the future bride of Don Ottavio, and subsequent murder of her father. From the commencement, it is apparent that Giovanni follows his own set of perverted morals unlike those common to society. His servant Leperello, conversely, embodies Giovanni's seemingly absent conscience. We immediately see that Leperello is at odds with his master's code of conduct, and thus seems like a decent man in a harmful position. It is Giovanni's behavior, and Leperello's hesitant moral objection that carries the piece along, eventually leading up to a climactic showdown between morality and decadence at its conclusion.

Mozart's opera openly embraces the clash between the nobility and lower class, in a study of human nature. The piece thematically deals with the distinction between love and sex, and the effects and morals of seduction. It additionally incorporates the theme of masking one's true self. Giovanni, whose love affairs spark all of the play's controversy, puts on the disguise of an unconditionally devoted lover as he seduces his mates.

Each character in the play desires affection. Mozart's complex dissection of the theme of love gives the opera its complex beauty. Don Giovanni, using the reasoning that one acts cruelly to all by being faithful to one, seeks to make love with as many women as possible. In attempting to discourage Donna Elvira, a victim of Giovanni's charm, from yearning for the Don, Leperello provides insight into the severe nature of his master's promiscuity. The numbers reveal that Giovanni has had sexual affairs with over two thousand women, with a strong predilection for Spaniards like Elvira.

The power of Giovanni's seduction, however, is not solely limited to