Opera’s ultimate playboy returns to our stages this Season. To get you ready for his arrival, here’s a quick guide to who’s who in Mozart’s brilliant opera, Don Giovanni.
The title role, Don Giovanni, is an upper-class rogue, a bad boy, the type your mum warns you about but that you can’t help falling for. Based on the legendary Spanish folk-villain Don Juan, he seduces women like the rest of us eat hot dinners, living life to his own rules. Sung by a baritone, in the opera his ‘seductions’ all fail on what turns out to be his last day on earth.
Leporello, Don Giovanni’s manservant/right-hand man is torn between admiration and hatred – he isn’t always all that convinced by his master’s behaviour, yet he seemingly quite happily goes along with his deceptions – to begin with at least… A bass role, often cast as similarly looking to Don Giovanni – aiding Don Giovanni in many of his seduction plots.
Donna Anna is engaged to Don Ottavio, she’s the daughter of the Commendatore and was Don Giovanni’s first target of the day – not that we actually know what happened, other than that her father ends up dead, but it seems she, literally, won’t take it lying down. A soprano role – traditionally the lead female voice type, yet it is the voice type for all the females in this opera.
Don Ottavio, Donna Anna’s other half, is basically the opposite to Don Giovanni – another well-to-do gentleman, but this one behaves as gentlemen should: understanding, patient, loyal …if a little un-expressive in his behaviour – not exactly a leading man, yet he is a tenor, the traditional lead male voice type (as in the hero rather than a villain).
Donna Elvira is sometimes called Don Giovanni’s wife, or perhaps that’s just how she sees herself. A member of the upper-class, she is a former conquest of Don Giovanni’s but fails to accept the nature of their entanglement as it goes against her beliefs (a bit late for that don’t you think?). She wants him back, but if she can’t have him, then she won’t let him have anyone else either.
Zerlina, working-class, a bride-to-be, this is her wedding day – not that that puts any brakes on Don Giovanni’s behaviour. But there’s no misunderstandings on her part, she sees it for what it is and perhaps even likes what it offers her – a last minute fling before she ties the knot.
Masetto is Zerlina’s fiancé, again working-class and he knows what that means – he must put up with Don Giovanni’s abuse and blatant disrespect for his relationship. He is someone to feel sorry for. Despite being the same voice type as Don Giovanni, a baritone, it is more typical for a supporting role.
Finally, we have to end with the Commendatore. Donna Anna’s father. Killed in the first moments of the opera, his presence is nonetheless ongoing and vital to Don Giovanni’s ultimate comeuppance – be careful what you wish for Don Giovanni. Another bass role, and it’s a voice that is certainly rock solid.
It may be set in the past, but who can’t recognise at least some of these characters from more modern-day entertainment? Transport yourself back in time and relish an original bad guy getting his just deserts.