Don Giovanni by Mozart, Sun 20 Aug 2006, From (2006/2006), Directed by Martin Kušej, Conductor Daniel Harding, Großes Festspielhaus, Salzburg, Austria

With his opera "Don Giovanni" in 1787 Mozart wanted to build on the huge success of the "Marriage of Figaro"; the acclaimed premiere took place in Prague in October. But the work failed with the conservative Viennese audience: "Don Giovanni" was only performed fifteen times during Mozart's lifetime. The reason for the failure were the numerous innovations with which Mozart distanced himself from the operatic conventions of the time: the title role is scored for a bass and not, as was usual, for a tenor part. Instead of the usual four acts, there are only two of unusual length. The arias become the starting points and junctions of the action and are therefore no longer mere reflections of the preceding recitatives. But what is actually new about "Don Giovanni" is the ambiguity, which makes it impossible to classify the opera into one genre: tragedy and comedy, suffering and wit run through the entire work - the boundaries between serious and cheerful blur as well as the boundaries between the social classes; finally, with the descent into hell of Don Giovanni, the representative of the nobility, Mozart and his librettist Da Ponte also let the age of the Ancien Régime go to hell.