Life of Mozart

DON GIOVANNI. 183terzet, again (Act II., 2), Leporello is first associated withDon Giovanni and afterwards with Elvira, whom he beginsby revihng, but who later arouses his sympathy, whileDon Giovanni holds aloof from them both. This powerof grouping the parts so that they shall serve the purposesof psychological and dramatic characterisation as well asof musical construction, is observable in every one of theensemble pieces.L. Bassi (1766-1825), who is described as an excellentand well-trained singer, and as a man of fine exterior andpleasing manners,^^^ was, we are told, very much annoyedthat, as the chief personage of the opera, he had no grandair to sing; this was probably felt by others as a blemishin the work. If the nature of Don Giovanni had at allresembled that of Faust, he could not have failed to givesome expression to the mental conflict between sensualityand misanthropy on the one hand, and the impulses of hishigher moral nature on the other ; and such a conflict wouldhave lent itself readily to musical representation. But DonGiovanni has no scruples of the kind ; the gratification ofhis desires is his sole object, and to this he devotes himselfin all the consciousness of his own strength. Danger enticeshim as calling forth his powers; he delights in jests whichdemonstrate his superiority to his victim, and sensual enjoymentis his only real object in life. He pursues it neitherwith the lust of a fiend nor with the passion of a stronglymoved nature, but with a reckless abandonment to sensualimpulses taking absolute possession of all his faculties,and so coming into momentary contact with the noblercapabilities which exist in every soul. Imposing strength,external refinement, a jovial and even humorous mannerare, indeed, far from ennobling or dignifying such acharacter; but they render it less despicable, and reflectline for line the manners of the age which producedTirso's " Don Juan " and Da Ponte's " Don Giovanni."Music, which in its very nature gives preference andexpression to the emotional element of the human mind.ißs A. M. Z., II., p. 53S.