httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shMKaRELm7g
A superb rendition of the finale in a 1990 production at the Metropolitan Opera
On this date in 1787 Mozart’s Don Giovanni premiered in Prague.
Frye in “A Conspectus of Dramatic Genres”:
The verbal action of Figaro is comic and that of Don Giovanni tragic, but in both cases the audience is exalted by the music above the reach of tragedy and comedy, and, though as profoundly moved as ever, is not emotionally involved with the discovery of plot or characters. It looks at the downfall of Don Juan as spectacular entertainment, much as the gods are supposed to look at the downfall of Ajax or Darius. (CW 21, 115)
This was the first opera I ever saw….At the hummingbird center in Toronto.