W. A. Mozart
"DON GIOVANNI"
An absolute innovation for Prague
Mozart began composing Don Giovanni in March 1787. On 1 October he travelled to Prague with his wife Con- stanze because the premiere was due to take place on 14 October. The couple arrived in Prague on 4 October and stayed in the “Three Golden Lions” Inn on the Kohlmarkt. The librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte was in the Bohemian capital on 8 October and stayed opposite in the inn “Zum Platteis”.
Premiere despite hitches
Mozart described to his friend Gottfried von Jacquin the story of Don Giovanni in three stages. 15 October 1787: “You will probably think that my opera is already over, however, there you are a little mistaken. For one thing the theatre personnel here are not so good as in Vienna […] Secondly, when I arrived so few preparations and arrangements had been made that it would have been completely impossible to perform it yesterday on the 14th […]” The opera should have been performed on 21st or 24th but a singer fell ill. As the company was only small, no replacement could be found for the soprano. Don Giovanni was finally premiered on Monday 29 October in the National Theatre. Mozart himself conducted the performance, the recitatives were accompanied by Johann Baptist Kucharz on the harpsichord. The critics noted that “in Prague nothing of its kind had ever been presented before” and that the opera was “extremely difficult to perform”.
Rudolph Angermüller
Monika Rittershaus, In the wings
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Don Giovanni
Sung in Italian with German and
English supertitles
Conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Stage director Martin KusŠej
Stage sets Martin Zehetgruber
Costumes Heide Kastler
Lighting design Reinhard Traub
Chorus master Rupert Huber
Don Giovanni Thomas Hampson
Donna Anna Anna Netrebko
Don Ottavio Michael Schade
Commendatore Kurt Moll
Donna Elvira Melanie Diener
Leporello Ildebrando D’Arcangelo
Masetto Luca Pisaroni
Zerlina Magdalena KozŠena
Concert Association of the
Vienna State Opera Chorus
Vienna Philharmonic
Großes Festspielhaus
New Production: 27 July 2002
1., 4., 9., 11. (3 p.m.),
16., 19., 21. August 2002
Performances start at 7 p.m.
unless otherwise stated
All performances sold out