Overture from Don Giovanni

In 18th- and 19th-century operas, the overture was sometimes an afterthought—perhaps because audience members weren't always expected to be listening—while at other times, it was an integral part of establishing the mood. Mozart's overture to Don Giovanni, composed in 1787, is an excellent example of both. While reveling with friends the night before the opera's first performance, one of Mozart's companions turned to him and remarked, “Tomorrow the first performance of Don Giovanni will take place, and you have not yet composed the overture!" Mozart returned to his room and began writing the work around midnight, while his wife Constanze told stories to keep him awake. By 3:00 am, the overture was finished, and the copyists completed the parts just in time for the opera's opening. The orchestra played brilliantly from pages still wet with ink and without rehearsal. As the curtain rose, Mozart reportedly whispered, "Some notes fell under the stands. But it went well." While Mozart didn't lavish his attention upon the overture, the work cleverly sets the stage. Mozart uses the final banquet scene, at which the statue menacingly appears, as the slow introduction, almost as a reminder that the opera is about Don Giovanni's demise. At the same time, the lighthearted Allegro characterizes the sybaritic, pleasure-seeking Don.