10:00 am - Opera Guild | The Opera Don Giovanni

The opera Don Giovanni is one of Mozart’s best know operas. It is still performed in the opera house in Prague in which it premiered on 29 October 1787. It was built as a Drama with Jokes by its librettist, de Ponte, yet it begins with a murder, a murder with surprising consequences. The story is that of one day in the life of the well-known libertine/seducer, Don Juan (or in Italian Don Giovanni). Yet, despite all his attempts, he does not succeed at all during this one day. His targets, in various ways but always to wonderful music, succeed in frustrating his attentions. Is Don Giovanni embarrassed by this? Not at all and he stays true to his principles, if you can call them that, to the bitter end. Our lecturer, Derek Katz, an Associate Professor of Music History at the University of California, Santa Barbara is a specialist in Czech music. (This opera did premier in what is now the Czech Republic after all.) He will help us understand the ranks of society with which Don Giovanni toys and how Mozart portrays this in his music. He is also a violinist and member of a string quartet (during the summer).

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