Life of Mozart

"!—172 " DON GIOVANNI.although the moral shock is great it is with actual physicalfear that his teeth chatter. The whole sequence of characteristicexpression in the scene receives its full significanceonly by contrast with Leporello's cowardice. Donna Anna'spassion, which Don Giovanni is constrained to oppose witha force equal to her own ; the dignified bearing of the Commendatore,forcing Don Giovanni at length reluctantly todraw the sword ;-^^'' the duel-^^^ with its horrifying resultall these afford a rapid succession of exciting and harrowingpoints, scarcely leaving room for the comic element, whichnevertheless is there, and kept actively before us withoutdoing injury to the harmony of the whole.What a force ofartistic expression is displayed in the eighteen bars ofandante which close the introduction ! The death whichends the pain of the Commendatore, the mingled pity andtriumph of Don Giovanni, the horror and fear of Leporello,are blended into such harmony as to leave the mind—relievedfrom suspense—full of true emotion. The unusual combinationof three bass voices seems as though expressly chosenfor the serious tone of the situation; the stringed instrumentsaccompany the voices in the simplest manner, with a fewsustained notes for the horns and bassoons, and only in theconcluding symphony do the oboes and flutesplaintive chromatic passage.enter with aHere burns truly the inextinguishableflame of genius !^^^To return to Leporello. The various ways in which histimorous nature expresses itself in different situations giveoccasion for the most interesting characterisation. He hasleast to do in the first finale, but he stands close by hismaster, who shields him in their common danger ; in the150 Mozart has suggested this train of ideas independently of Da Ponte. Tothe Commendatore's reproach ": Cosi pretend! da me fuggir ? Don '' Giovannianswers in the act of going, sotto voce, " Misero! " then to the renewed exclamation," Battiti ! he repeats, ^i?f voce, " Misero "! and not until the Commendatorehas come close to him does he break out with " Misero attendi ! "'1^1 The duel is simply and appropriately rendered by the answering 7uhizzingpassages for the violins and bass ; very similar to Gluck's ballet, only moreelaborated.1^^ Gazzaniga has made a tolerably long piece of it, not without expression,and the best in his opera—but how far apart from Mozart