Printable
Version of Summa 2: Mozart's Don Giovanni (1787)
written by William Atkinson
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Music
CD
1
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English
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Italian
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Overture
Act 1: Scene 1
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Sinfonia
Atto 1: Scena Prima
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THE GARDEN OF DONNA ANNA'S
HOUSE; NIGHT.
(Leporello is seen pacing back and forth in front of Donna Anna's
house.)
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GIARDINO DELLA CASA DI DONNA
ANNA, NOTTE.
(Leporello passeggia davanti alla casa di Donna Anna)
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Introduzione:
"Notte e giorno faticar"
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Leporello:
Night and day I slave
For one who does not appreciate it.
I put up with wind and rain,
Eat and sleep badly.
I want to be a gentleman
And give up my servitude.
Oh, what a fine gentleman!
You stay inside with your lady
And I must play the sentinel!
But I think someone is coming;
I dont' want them to hear me.
(He hides. Don Giovanni and Donna Anna rush out of the house. She
is trying desperately to detain him very much against his will.)
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Leporello:
Notte e giorno faticar,
Per chi nulla sa gradir,
Piova e vento sopportar,
Mangiar male e mal dormir.
Voglio far il gentiluomo
E non voglio più servir...
Oh che caro galantuomo!
Vuol star dentro colla bella,
Ed io far la sentinella!
Ma mi par che venga gente;
Non mi voglio far sentir.
(S'asconde. Entra Donna Anna trattenendo Don Giovanni.)
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Introduzione:
"None sperar, se non m' uccidi"
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Donna Anna:
There's no hope, unless you kill me,
That I'll ever let you go!
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Donna Anna:
Non sperar, se non m'uccidi,
Ch'io ti lasci fuggir mai!
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Don Giovanni:
Idiot! You scream in vain.
Who I am you'll never know!
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Don Giovanni:
Donna folle! indarno gridi,
Chi son io tu non saprai!
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Leporello:
(Aside)
What a racket! Heaven. what screams!
My master in another scrape.
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Leporello:
(A parte)
Che tumulto! Oh ciel, che gridi!
Il padron in nuovi guai.
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Don Giovanni:
Keep quiet! Beware my wrath!
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Don Giovanni:
Taci e trema al mio furore!
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Donna Anna:
Scoundrel!
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Donna Anna:
Scellerato!
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Don Giovanni:
Fool!
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Don Giovanni:
Sconsigliata!
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Leporello:
(A parte)
We will see if this rascal
Will be the ruin of me!
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Leporello:
(A parte)
Sta a veder che il malandrino
Mi farà precipitar!
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Donna Anna:
Like a desperate fury
I'll know how to pursue you!
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Donna Anna:
Come furia disperata
Ti saprò perseguitar!
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Don Giovanni:
This desperate fury
Is bent on destroying me!
(Donna Anna, hearing the voice of
The Commandant, goes into the house.)
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Don Giovanni:
Questa furia disperata
Mi vuol far precipitar!
(Donna Anna, udendo la voce del
Commendatore, entra in casa.)
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Introduzione:
"Lasciala, indegno!"
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The Commandant:
Leave her alone, wretch.
And defend yourself!
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Il Commendatore:
Lasciala, indegno!
Battiti meco!
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Don Giovanni:
Go away! I disdain
To fight with you.
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Don Giovanni:
Va, non mi degno
Di pugnar teco.
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The Commandant
Thus you think to escape me?
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Il Commendatore:
Così pretendi da me fuggir?
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Leporello:
(A parte)
If I could only get our of here!
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Leporello:
(A parte)
Potessi almeno di qua partir!
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Don Giovanni:
So be it, if you want to die!
(They fight and The Commandant is
mortally wounded.)
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Don Giovanni:
Misero, attendi,
se vuoi morir!
(Si battono - Il Commendatore è ferito)
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The Commandant:
Help! I've been betrayed!
The assassin has wounded me
And from my heaving breast
I feel my soul escaping.
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Il Commendatore:
Ah, soccorso! son tradito!
L'assassino m'ha ferito,
E dal seno palpitante
Sento l'anima partir.
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Don Giovanni:
Ah, already the wretch has fallen
And he gasps for air.
From his heaving breast I already
See his soul departing.
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Don Giovanni:
Ah, già cade il sciagurato,
Affannoso e agonizzante,
Già dal seno palpitante
Veggo l'anima partir.
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Leporello:
What a misdeed! What a crime!
I can feel my heart
Beating hard from fright!
I don't know what to do or say.
(The Commandant dies.)
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Leporello:
Qual misfatto! qual eccesso!
Entro il sen dallo spavento
Palpitar il cor mi sento!
Io non so che far, che dir.
(Il Commendatore muore.)
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Recitativo:
"Leporello, ove sei?"
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Don Giovanni:
Leporello, where are you?
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Don Giovanni:
Leporello, ove sei?
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Leporello:
I'm here, unfortunately, and you?
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Leporello:
Son qui, per mia disgrazia, e voi?
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Don Giovanni:
Over here.
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Don Giovanni:
Son qui.
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Leporello:
Who's dead, you or the old man?
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Leporello:
Chi è motto, voi o il vecchino?
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Don Giovanni:
What an idiotic question! The old man.
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Don Giovanni:
Che domanda da bestia! Il vecchio.
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Leporello:
Well done! Two misdeeds! First you raped
the daughter, then murdered her father!
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Leporello:
Bravo, due imprese leggiadre! Sforzar
la figlia ed ammazzar il padre!
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Don Giovanni:
It was his own doing, too bad for him.
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Don Giovanni:
L'ha voluto, suo danno.
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Leporello:
And Donna Anna, did she ask for it, too?
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Leporello:
Ma Donn' Anna, cosa ha voluto?
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Don Giovanni:
Keep quiet and don't bother me. Now come
along, unless you're anxious for something
yourself!
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Don Giovanni:
Taci, non mi seccar, vien meco, se
non vuoi qualche cosa ancor tu!
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Leporello:
I have no desires, sir, and no more to say.
(They exit. Donna Anna returns accompained by Don Ottavio and servants
carrying torches.)
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Leporello:Leporello:
Non vo' nulla, signor, non parlo più.
(Partono. Entrano Donna Anna. Don Ottavio e servi
con lumi.)
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Recitativo:
"Ah del padre in periglio"
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Donna Anna:
Ah, my father is in danger; let us hurry
to help him.
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Donna Anna:
Ah, del padre in periglio in soccorso
voliam.
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Don Ottavio:
I will shed all my blood, if need be.
But where is the scoundrel ?
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Don Ottavio:
Tutto il mio sangue verserò, se bisogna.
Ma dov' è il scellerato?
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Donna Anna:
Here...
(She sees the corpse.)
But ye gods, what is this horibble sight
before me?
My father, my dear father!
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Donna Anna:
In questo loco...
(Vede il cadavere.)
ma qual mai s'offre, o dei, spettacolo
funesto agli occhi miei! Il padre,
padre mio, mio caro padre!
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Don Ottavio:
Sir!
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Don Ottavio:
Signore!
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Donna Anna:
Ah, the assassin killed him!
That blood - the wound - his face,
the colour of dearh. He no longer
breathes - his limbs are cold. My father,
beloved father! I'm fainting-
I'm dying.
(She faints.)
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Donna Anna:
Ah, l'assassino mel trucidò.
Quel sangue - quella piaga - quel volto,
tinto e coperto del color di morte -
ei non respira più - fredde ha le membra -
padre mio, caro padre, padre amato!
Io manco - io moro.
(Si sviene.)
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Don Ottavio:
Help, my beloved friends!
Find and bring some smelling salts,
or some cordial. Do not delay.
(The servants leave.)
Donna Anna! My bride! My beloved!
She is dying of grief.
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Don Ottavio:
Ah, soccorrete, amici, il mio tesoro!
Cercatemi, recatemi qualche odor,
qualche spirto. Ah non tardate.
(Partono i servi.)
Donn' Anna! sposa! amica! Il duolo
estremo la meschinella uccide.
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Donna Anna:
Ahi!
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Donna Anna:
Ahi!
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Don Ottavio:
She is coming to...
(The servants return.)
Help her up.
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Don Ottavio:
Già rinviene...
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Donna Anna:
My father!
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Donna Anna:
Padre mio!
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Don Ottavio:
Quickly, remove that object of horror from
her gaze
(The servants carry away the body.)
My beloved, be consoled, take heart.
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Don Ottavio:
Celate, allontanate agli occhi suoi
quell'oggetto d'orrore.
(I servi portano via il cadavere.)
Anima mia, consolati, fa core.
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&
Duetto: "Fuggi, crudele, fuggi!"
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Donna Anna:
Go away, cruel man, go away!
Let me die, too,
Now that he is dead, oh God,
He who gave me life!
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Donna Anna:
Fuggi, crudele, fuggi!
Lascia che mora anch'io
Ora ch'è morto, o Dio,
Chi a me la vita diè!
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Don Ottavio:
Listen, beloved, please listen!
Look at me one moment only!
Your beloved speaks to you,
He who lives only for you.
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Don Ottavio:
Senti, cor mio, deh senti;
Guardami un solo istante!
Ti parla il caro amante,
che vive sol per te.
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Donna Anna:
It is you - forgive me, my love -
My grief, my distress . . .
Ah, where is my father?
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Donna Anna:
Tu sei - perdon, mio bene -
L'affanno mio, le pene...
Ah, il padre mio dov'e?
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Don Ottavio:
Your father? Banish, my dear,
This bitter memory.
You have a husband and father in me.
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Don Ottavio:
Il padre? Lascia, o cara,
La rimembranza amara.
Hai sposo e padre in me.
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Donna Anna:
Ah, swear to avenge his blood,
If you can .
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Donna Anna:
Ah! Vendicar, se il puoi,
Giura, quel sangue ognor!
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Don Ottavio:
I swear it upon your eyes!
I swear it upon our love!
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Don Ottavio:
Lo giuro agli occhi tuoi,
Lo giuro al nostro amor!
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Both:
What an oath, ye gods,
What a terrible moment!
My heart is stirred
By countless seething emotions.
(They exit.)
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A due:
Che giuramento, o dei!
Che barbaro momento!
Tra cento affetti e cento
Vammi ondeggiando il cor.
(Partono.)
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English
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Italian
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Act 1: Scene 2
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Atto 1: Seconda
Scena
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Recitativo:
"Orsù, spicciati presto"
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A STREET NEAR AN INN. NIGHT.
THEN
LATER DAWN.
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NOTTE. STRATA VINCINO A UNA
LOCANDA. ALBA.
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Don Giovanni:
Come on now, hurry up. What do you want?
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Don Giovanni:
Orsù, spicciati presto. Cosa vuoi?
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Leporello:
It's a very important matter.
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Leporello:
L'affair di cui si tratta è importante.
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Don Giovanni:
I believe you.
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Don Giovanni:
Lo credo.
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Leporello:
Most important.
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Leporello:
È importantissimo.
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Don Giovanni:
So much the better. Out with it.
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Don Giovanni:
Meglio ancora. Finiscila.
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Leporello:
Promise you won't become angry.
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Leporello:
Giurate di non andar in collera.
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Don Giovanni:
I swear it on my honour, as long as you don't
speak of the Commandant.
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Don Giovanni:
Lo giuro sul mio onore, purché non
parli del Commendatore.
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Leporello:
Are we alone?
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Leporello:
Siamo soli.
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Don Giovanni:
You can see that.
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Don Giovanni:
Lo vedi.
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Leporello:
No one can hear us?
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Leporello:
Nessun ci sente?
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Don Giovanni:
Come on!
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Don Giovanni:
Via!
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Leporello:
May I rell you everyrhing freely?
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Leporello:
Vi posso dire tutto liberamente?
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Don Giovanni:
Yes.
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Don Giovanni:
Sì.
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Leporello:
Well then, my dear master, the life you are
leading is that of a knave.
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Leporello:
Dunque quando è così, caro signor padrone,
la vita che menate è da briccone.
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Don Giovanni:
Rascal, you dare . .
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Don Giovanni:
Temeraio, in tal guisa...
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Leporello:
And your oath?
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Leporello:
E il giuramento?
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Don Giovanni:
I know of no oath. Keep quier or I'll...
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Don Giovanni:
Non so di giuramento. Taci, o chi'io...
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Leporello:
I have no more ro say, nor even a whisper,
my dear master.
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Leporello:
Non parlo più, non fiato, o padron mio.
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Don Giovanni:
That way we'll remain friends. Now listen,
do you know why I am here?
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Don Giovanni:
Così saremo amici. Or odi un poco:
Sai tu perchè son qui?
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Leporello:
I don't know anyrhing. But since it is
nearly dawn, could it be some new
Conquest? I must know, so I may add it
to the list.
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Leporello:
Non ne so nulla. Ma essendo l'alba
chiara, non sarebbe qualche nuova
conquista? Io lo devo saper per
porla in lista.
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Don Giovanni:
Go on, but you're a fine one! Then you
must know that I love a beautiful lady
and I am certain she loves me. I saw and
spoke to her. She will come tonight to
the villa with me . . . Quiet!
I think I sniff a woman.
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Don Giovanni:
Va la, che sei il grand'uom!
Sappi chi'io sono innamorato d'una
bella dama, e son certo che m'ama.
La vidi, le parlai; meco al casino questa
notte verrà... Zitto, mi pare sentire
odor di femmina...
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Leporello:
(Aside)
My, what a perfect sense of smell!
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Leporello:
(A parte)
Cospetto, che odorato perfetto!
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Don Giovanni:
I thnk she's attractive.
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Don Giovanni:
All'aria mi par bella.
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Leporello:
(Aside)
And what an eye!
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Leporello:
(A parte)
E che occhio, dico!
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Don Giovanni:
Let us hide for a while and see which way
the land lies.
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Don Giovanni:
Ritiriamoci un poco, e scopriamo terren.
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Leporello:
(Aside)
He's already excited!
(They hide.)
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Leporello:
(A parte)
Già prese foco!
(Vanne in disparte.)
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Aria:
"Ah, chi mi dice mai"
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Donna Elvira:
Ah, who is there who will tell me
Where the rascal is
Whom, to my shame, I loved
And who betrayed me?
Ah, if I can find the villain
And he will not come back to me,
I will make a horrible example of him,
I will tear out his heart.
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Donna Elvira:
Ah, chi mi dice mai
Quel barbaro dov'è,
Che per mio scorno amai,
Che mi mancò di fe?
Ah, se ritrovo l'empio
E a me non torna ancor,
Vo' farne orrendo scempio,
Gli vo' cavare il cor.
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Don Giovanni:
(To Leporello)
Did you hear that? Some beauty abandoned
by her lover. Poor, girl! Let us try and
console her grief.
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Don Giovanni
(A Leporello.)
Udisti? Qualche bella dal vago
ahandonata. Poverina! Cerchiam di
consolare il suo tormento.
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Leporello:
(Aside)
Thus he has consoled eighteen hundred.
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Leporello:
(A parte.)
Così ne consolò mile e ottocento.
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(Don Giovanni steps forward.)
Don Giovanni:
Miss!
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Don Giovanni:
Signorina!
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Recitativo:
"Chi è la?"
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Donna Elvira:
Who's there?
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Donna Elvira:
Chi è là?
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Don Giovanni:
Good heavens! What's this?
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Don Giovanni:
Stelle! che vedo!
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Leporello:
(Aside )
Oh wonderful! Donna Elvira!
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Leporello:
(A Parte)
O bella! Donna Elvira!
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Donna Elvira:
Don Giovanni! You're here, you monster,
you criminal, you pack of lies!
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Donna Elvira:
Don Giovanni!... Sei qui, mostro, fellon,
nido d'ingann!
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- Leporello:
- (Aside)
- What becoming titles! It's
lucky she knows
- him well.
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Leporello:
(A Parte)
Che titoli cruscanti! Manco male che lo conosce bene!
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Don Giovanni:
Come, my dear Donna Elvira, calm yourself.
Llsten. Let me speak.
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Don Giovanni:
Via, cara Donna Elvira, calmate questa
collera - sentit - lasciatemi parlar.
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Donna Elvira:
What can you say, after so black a deed?
You sneaked into my house, and by your
artistry, your promises and your sighs
you succeeded in seducing me. I fell in
love, oh cruel one, and you declared me
your bride Then, contrary to all the
laws of earth and Heaven, after three
days you fled Burgos, abandoned me,
a and left me a prey to remorse and to
weeping, perhaps as a punishment for
having loved you so much!
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Donna Elvira:
Cosa puoi dire, dopo azion sì nera? In
casa mia entri furtivamente. A forza
d'arte, di giuramenti e di lushinghe
arrivi a sedurre il cor mio; m'innamori,
o crudele! Mi dichiari tua sposa,
e poi, mancando della terra e del cielo
al santo dritto, con enorme delitto
dopo tre dì da Burgos t'allontani.
M'abbandoni, mi fuggi, e lasci in preda
al rimorso ed al pianto, per pena forse
che t'amai cotanto!
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Leporello:
(Aside)
She sounds like a book!
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Leporello:
(A parte)
Pare un libro stampato!
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Don Giovanni:
Oh, as for that, I had my reasons,
didn't I?
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Don Giovanni:
Oh, in quanto a questo, ebbi le mie
ragioni. È vero?
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Leporello:
Oh yes, and what good reasons.
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Leporello:
È vero, e che ragioni forti!
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Donna Elvira:
And what were they, if not your perfidy,
your fickleness? But just Heaven wanted
me to find you, to carry out its
vengeance, and mine.
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Donna Elvira:
E quali sono, se non la tua perfidia,
la leggerezza tua? Ma il giusto cielo
volle ch'io ti trovassi, per far le sue, le
mie vendette.
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Don Giovanni:
I Come now, be rnore reasonable!
(This woman is a nuisance!)
If you don't believe what I say,
then believe this gentleman here.
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Don Giovanni:
Eh via, siate più ragionevole!
(Mi pone a cimento costei!)
Se non credete a labbro mio,
credete a questo galantuomo.
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Leporello:
(Aside)
Anything but the truth.
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Leporello:
(A parte)
Salvo il vero.
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Don Giovanni:
Go on, tell her.
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Don Giovanni:
Via, dille un poco...
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Leporello:
And what shall I tell her?
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Leporello:
E cosa devo dirle?
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Don Giovanni:
Yes, yes, tell her anything.
(He sneaks out without being noticed by Donna Elvira)
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Don Giovanni:
Sì, sì, dille pur tutto.
(Parte non visto da Donna Elvira.)
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Donna Elvira:
All right, but hurry up.
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Donna Elvira:
Ebben, fa presto.
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Leporello:
Madam - really - in this world,
when it happens that a square is
not a circle . . .
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Leporello:
Madama - veramente - in questo mondo,
conciossia cosa quando fosse che il
quadro non è tondo...
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- Donna Elvira:
Wretch! Thus you mock my grief?
Ah, you-
(Turning to address Don Giovanni.)
- Good Heavens! The villain
has fled!
- Alas, where could he be?
Where?
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Donna Elvira:
Sciagurato! Così del mio dolor giuoco
ti prendi, Ah! Voi -
(Verso Don Giovanni)
Stelle! L'iniquo fuggì! Misera me!
Dov'è? In qual parte?
nò, mi tradì...
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Leporello:
Oh, let him go. He doesn't deserve
to be worried over.
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Leporello:
Eh! lasciate che vada. Egli non merta
che di lui ci pensiate.
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Donna Elvira:
The wretch tricked me, betrayed me . . .
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Donna Elvira:
Il scellerato m'ingannò, mi tradi...
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Leporello:
Calm yourself! You are not, were not
and will not he either the first or the
last. Look: this fat little book
is entirely hltl of the names of his
sweethearts. Each town, each district,
each region testifies to his affairs
with women.
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Leporello:
Eh! Consolatevi! non siete voi, non
foste, e non sarete né la prima, nè
I'ultima. Guardate: questo non picciol
libro è tutto pieno dei nomi di sue
belle;ogni villa, ogni borgo, ogni
paese è testimon di sue donnesche
imprese.
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Aria:
"Madamina, il catalogo è questo
|
|
Leporello:
My dear lady, this is a list
Of the beauties my master has loved,
A list which I have compiled.
Observe, read along with me.
In Italy, six hunddred and forty;
In Germany, two hundred and thirty-one;
A hundred in France; in Turkey, ninety-one;
In Spain already one thousand and three.
Among these are peasant girls,
Maidservants, city girls,
Countesses, baronesses,
Marchionesses, princesses,
Women of every rank,
Every shape, every age.
With blondes it is his habit
To praise their kindness;
In brunettes, their faithfulness;
In the very blond, their sweetness.
In winter he likes fat ones.
In summer he likes thin ones.
He calls the tall ones majestic.
The little ones are always charming.
He seduces the old ones
For the pleasure of adding to the list.
His greatest favourite
Is the young beginner.
It doesn't matter if she's rich,
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Leporello:
Madamina, il catalogo è questo
Delle belle che amò il padron mio;
un catalogo egli è che ho fatt'io;
Osservate, leggete con me.
In Italia seicento e quaranta;
In Almagna duecento e trentuna;
Cento in Francia, in Turchia novantuna;
Ma in Ispagna son già mille e tre.
V'han fra queste contadine,
Cameriere, cittadine,
V'han contesse, baronesse,
Marchesine, principesse.
E v'han donne d'ogni grado,
D'ogni forma, d'ogni età.
Nella bionda egli ha l'usanza
Di lodar la gentilezza,
Nella bruna la costanza,
Nella bianca la dolcezza.
Vuol d'inverno la grassotta,
Vuol d'estate la magrotta;
È la grande maestosa,
La piccina e ognor vezzosa.
Delle vecchie fa conquista
Pel piacer di porle in lista;
Sua passion predominante
È la giovin principiante.
Non si picca - se sia ricca,
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Leporello:
Ugly or beautiful;
If she wears a petticoat,
You know what he does.
(He exits.)
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Leporello:
Se sia brutta, se sia bella;
Purché porti la gonnella,
Voi sapete quel che fa.
(Parte.)
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Recitativo:
"In questa forma"
|
|
- Donna Elvira:
- These are the tricks the
villain has used to betray
- me; is this the reward the
barbarian returns
- for my love? Ah, I must
get revenge for my
- deceived heart: before he
escapes - I'll seek-
- I'11 go - I hear only blood
revenge speaking
- within me, only fury and
hate.
-
- (Exit.)
|
Donna Elvira:
In questa forma dunque mi tradì il scellerato!
È questo il premio che quel barbaro rende
all'amor mio? Ah! Vendicar vogl'io l
'ingannato mio cor. Pria ch'ei mi fugga
si ricorra - si vada - Io sento in petto
sol vendetta parlar, rabbia e dispetto.
(Parte.)
|
English
|
Italian
|
Act 1: Scene 3
|
Atto 1: Terza Scena
|
Coro:
"Giovinette che fate all' amore"
|
|
OPEN COUNTRYSIDE, MORNING.
(Zerlina, Masetto, and a Chorus of Peasants enter.)
Zerlina:
You girls who trifle with love,
Do not let the time pass you by!
If in your breasts your hearts are fluttering,
Here is the cure, as you can see! Ah!
What a joy, what a joy it will be!
|
APERTA CAMPAGNA, MATTINA.
(Entrano Zerlina, Masetto, Coro di Contadini)
Zerlina:
Giovinette che fate all'amore,
Non lasciate che passi l'età!
Se nel seno vi bulica il core,
Il rimedio vedetelo qua!
Che piacer, che piacer che sarà!
|
Chorus:
Ah! What a joy, what a joy it will be!
La la la, etc.
|
Coro:
Che piacer, che piacer che sarà!
La ra la, ecc.
|
Masetto:
You lightheaded young men,
Don't go wandering here and there.
A fool's holiday is very short,
But for me it has not yet begun. Ah!
What a joy, what a joy it will be!
|
Masetto:
Giovinetti leggeri di testa,
Mon andate girando di là, ecc.
Poco dura de'matti la festa,
Ma per me cominciato non ha. Ah!
Che piacer, che piacer che sarà!
|
Chorus:
Ah! What a joy, etc.
|
Coro:
Ah! Che piacer, ecc.
|
Zerlina and Masetto:
Come, my dear, let's en joy ourselves,
And sing, dance and play!
What a joy, what a joy it will be!
|
Zerlina e Masetto:
Vieni, vieni, carino. godiamo,
E cantiamo e balliamo e suoniamo!
Che piacer, che piacer che sarà!
|
All:
Ah! What a joy, etc.
(Don Giovanni and Leporello enter.)
|
Tutti:
Ah! Che piacer, ecc.
(Entrano Don Giovanni e Leporello.)
|
Recitativo"
"Manco male è partita"
|
|
Don Giovanni:
Well, at last she is gone. Oh look, what handsome young people, and what
lovely women!
|
Don Giovanni:
Manco male, è partita. Oh guarda,
che bella gioventù; che belle donne!
|
Leporello:
Among so many, by my faith, there
ought to be one for me, too.
|
Leporello:
Fra tante, per mia fè, vi sarà qualche
cosa anche per me.
|
Don Giovanni:
My dear friends, good morning. Go on
enjoying yourselves, go on playing, my
good people. Is there a wedding?
|
Don Giovanni:
Cari amici, buon giorno, Seguitate a
stare allegramente, seguite a suonar,
buona gente. C'è qualche sposalizio?
|
Zerlina:
Yes, sir, and I am the bride.
|
Zerlina:
Si, signore, e la sposa. son io.
|
Don Giovanni:
I am happy to hear it. And the groom?
|
Don Giovanni:
Me ne consolo. Lo sposo?
|
Masetto:
I am he, at your service.
|
Masetto:
Io, per servirla.
|
Don Giovanni:
Well spoken. At my service - this is the
way a real gentleman talks.
|
Don Giovanni:
Oh bravo! Per servirmi; questo è
vero parlar da galantuomo.
|
Leporello:
It's quite enough he should be a good husband.
|
Leporello:
Basta che sia marito!
|
Zerlina:
Oh, my Masetto has a very good heart.
|
Zerlina:
Oh, il mio Masetto è un uom d'ottimo core.
|
Don Giovanni:
And I, too, you see I want to be your
friend. Your name?
|
Don Giovanni:
Oh anch'io, vedete! Voglio che siamo
amici. Il vostro nome?
|
Zerlina:
Zerlina.
|
Zerlina:
Zerlina.
|
Don Giovanni:
And yours?
|
Don Giovanni:
E il tuo?
|
Masetto:
Masetto.
|
Masetto:
Masetto.
|
Don Giovanni:
Oh, my dear Masetto! And my dear Zerlina!
I offer you my protection. Leporello!
What are you doing there, you rascal?
|
Don Giovanni:
O caro il mio Masetto! Cara la mia Zerlina!
V'esibisco la mia protezione, Leporello?
Cosa fai lì, birbone?
|
Leporello:
I too, dear master, am offering my
protection.
|
Leporello:
Anch'io, caro padrone, esibisco la mia protezione.
|
Don Giovanni:
Hurry, go with them. Take them at once
to my villa. See that they are served
chocolate, coffee, wines, and hams. Try
to keep them all amused; show them the
garden, the gallery, the rooms. Be sure
that my dear Masetto is made happy.
Do you understand?
|
Don Giovanni:
Presto, va con costor; nel mio palazzo
conducili sul fatto. Ordina ch'abbiano
cioccolatta, caffè, vini, prosciutti.
Cerca divertir tutti, mostra loro il
giardino, la galleria, le camere; in
effetto fa che resti contento il mio
Masetto. Hai capito?
|
- Leporello:
- I understand. Let's go!
|
Leporello:
Ho capito. Andiam!
|
- Masetto:
- Sir!
|
Masetto:
Signore!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- What is it?
|
Don Giovanni:
Cosa c'è?
|
- Masetto:
- Zerlina cannot stay here
without me.
|
Masetto:
La Zerlina senza me non può star.
|
- Leporello:
- His Excellency will take
your place, and he
- will know how to fill your
shoes.
|
Leporello:
In vostro loco ci sarà sua eccellenza;
e saprà bene fare le vostre parti.
|
Don Giovanni:
Oh, Zerlina is in the hands of a cavalier.
Go on; she and I will come later.
|
Don Giovanni:
Oh, la Zerlina è in man d'un cavalier.
Va pur, fra poco ella meco verrà.
|
Zerlina:
Go on, don't worry. I am in the hands of
a cavalier.
|
Zerlina:
Va, non temere. Nelle mani son io d'un cavaliere.
|
Masetto:
And that means?
|
Masetto:
E per questo...
|
Zerlina:
And that means there is nothing to worry about.
|
Zerlina:
E per questo non c'è da dubitar...
|
Masetto:
And I, by Heaven . . .
|
Masetto:
Ed io, cospetto...
|
Don Giovanni:
Hey there, let's end this bickering!
If you don't leave us at once, Masetto,
be careful, you'll regret it!
|
Don Giovanni:
Olà, finiam le dispute! Se subito
senza altro replicar non te ne vai,
Masetto, guarda ben, ti pentirai.
|
- Aria:
"Ho capito, signor, sì!"
|
|
Masetto:
I understand, yes, sir, I do.
I bow my head and go away.
Since this is the way you want it,
I make no objections.
After all you are a cavalier,
And I really must not doubt you.
I'm reassured by rhe kindness
Which you want to show me.
(Aside to Zerlina.)
You nasty little witch!
You always were my ruin!
(To Leporello.)
I'm coming, I'm coming.
(To Zerlina. )
Stay here, stay here.
It's a very innocent affair!
Perhaps this cavalier
Will make you his lady.
(Masetto leaves with Leporello and the Peasants.)
|
Masetto:
Ho capito, signor sì!
Chino il capo e me ne vo.
Giacch´ piace a voi così,
Altre repliche non fo.
Cavalier voi siete già.
Dubitar non posso affé;
Me lo dice la bontà
Che volete aver per me.
(A Zerlina, a parte)
Bricconaccia, malandrina!
Fosti ognor la mia ruina!
(A Leporello.)
Vengo, vengo.
(A Zerlina.)
Resta, resta.
È una cosa molto onesta!
Faccia il nostro cavaliere
Cavaliera ancora te.
(Masetto parte con Leporello e i Contadini.)
|
Recitativo:
"Alfin siam liberati..."
|
|
Don Giovanni:
At last we are free, my dearest Zerlina,
of that boor. Tell me, my dear, didn't I
handle it neatly?
|
Don Giovanni:
Alfin siam liberati, Zerlinetta gentil,
da quel scioccone. Che ne dite, mio ben,
so far pulito?
|
Zerlina:
Sir, he is my husband.
|
Zerlina:
Signore, è mio marito.
|
Don Giovanni:
Who? That one? Do you suppose an
honourable man, a noble cavalier, as I
believe myself to be, could permit such a
lovely little face, such sweet beauty
to be stolen by a clumsy oaf?
|
Don Giovanni:
Chi? Colui? Vi par che un onest'uomo,
un nobil cavalier, com'io mi vanto,
possa soffrir che quel visetto d'oro,
quel viso inzuccherato da un bifolcaccio
vil sia strapazzato?
|
Zerlina:
but, sir, I promised to marry him.
|
Zerlina:
Ma, signore, io gli diedi parola di sposarlo.
|
Don Giovanni:
That kind of promise means nothing.
You were not made ro be a peasant girl.
Another fate is called for by those
roguish eyes, those lovely lips, those
slender, perfumed fingers, so soft to
the touch and smelling of rose.
|
Don Giovanni:
Tal parola non vale un zero. Voi non
siete fatta per essere paesana; un altra
sorte vi procuran quegli occhi
bricconcelli, quei labretti sì belli, quelle
dituccie candide e odorose, par mi
toccar giuncata e fiutar rose.
|
Zerlina:
Ah, but I do not wish . .
|
Zerlina:
Ah!... Non vorrei....
|
Don Giovanni:
What don't you wish?
|
Don Giovanni:
Che non vorreste?
|
Zerlina:
To be deceived in the end. I know that
you cavaliers are only rarely honest
and sincere with women.
|
Zerlina:
Alfine ingannata restar. Io so che
raro colle donne voi altri cavalieri
siete onesti e sinceri.
|
Don Giovanni:
Oh, a mere slander spread by common
folk. True nobility can be seen in the
honesty of one's eyes. Come now, let's
not waste time. I want to marry you on the spot.
|
Don Giovanni:
È un impostura della gente plebea!
La nobilità ha dipinta negli occhi
l'onestà. Orsù, non perdiam tempo; in questo istante io
ti voglio sposar.
|
Zerlina:
You?
|
Zerlina:
Voi?
|
Don Giovanni:
Of course. That little villa there is mine,
and there, my jewel, we will be married.
|
Don Giovanni:
Certo, io. Quel casinetto è mio. Soli
saremo e là, gioiello mio, ci sposeremo.
|
&
Duetto: "Là ci darem la mano"
|
|
Don Giovanni:
There you will give me your hand.
There you will tell me "yes".
You see, it is not far.
Let us leave, my beloved.
|
Don Giovanni:
Là ci darem la mano,
Là mi dirai di sì.
Vedi, non è lontano,
Partiam, ben mio, da qui.
|
Zerlina:
I'd like to, but yet I would not.
My heart trembles a little.
It's true I would be happy,
But he may be just tricking me.
|
Zerlina:
Vorrei e non vorrei,
Mi trema un poco il cor.
Felice, è ver, sarei,
Ma può burlarmi ancor.
|
Don Giovanni:
Come, my dearly beloved!
|
Don Giovanni:
Vieni, mio bel diletto!
|
Zerlina:
I'm sorry for Masetto.
Mi fa pieta Maserto.
|
Zerlina:
Mi fa pietà Masetto.
|
Don Giovanni:
I will change your life.
|
Don Giovanni:
Io cangierò tua sorte.
|
Zerlina:
Soon I won't be able to resist.
|
Zerlina:
Presto... non son più forte.
|
Don Giovanni:
Let us go!
|
Don Giovanni:
Andiam!
|
Zerlina:
Let us go!
|
Zerlina:
Andiam!
|
Both:
Let us go, let us go, my beloved,
To soothe the pangs
Of an innocent love.
|
A due:
Andiam, andiam, mio bene,
A ristorar le pene
D'un innocente amor.
|
Recitativo:
"Fermati, scellerato!"
|
|
(Donna Elvira enters.)
Donna Elvira:
Stop, villain! Heaven willed that I should
overhear your lies. I am in time
to save this unfortunate innocent
from your dreadful scheming.
|
(Entra Donna Elvira.)
Donna Elvira:
Fermati, scellerato! II ciel mi fece
udir le tue perfidie. Io sono a
tempo di salvar questa misera innocente
dal tuo barbaro artiglio.
|
Zerlina:
Poor me! What's this I hear?
|
Zerlina:
Meschina! Cosa sento!
|
Don Giovanni:
(Aside)
Cupid, what shall I do?
(To Donna Elvira.)
My dear woman, can't you see I want to
enjoy myself?
|
Don Giovanni:
(A parte)
Amor, consiglio!
(A Donna Elvira.)
Idol mio, non vedete ch'io voglio
divertirmi?
|
Donna Elvira:
Enjoy yourself? Ir's true! Enjoy yourself
I know, cruel one, how you enjoy yourself.
|
Donna Elvira:
Divertirti, è vero? Divertirti... Io so,
crudele, come tu ti diverti.
|
Zerlina:
But, your lordship, is it true what
she is saying?
|
Zerlina:
Ma, signor cavaliere, è ver quel ch'ella dice?
|
Don Giovanni:
(To Zerlina, Aside)
The poor woman is in love with me
and out of pity I must pretend to love
her, for it is my misfortune to have
a kind heart.
|
Don Giovanni:
(A Zerlina , a parte)
La povera infelice è di me innamorata,
e per pietà deggio fingere amore,
ch'io son, per mia disgrazia,
uom di buon core.
|
- Aria:
"Ah! fuggi il traditor!"
|
|
Donna Elvira:
Ah, flee the traitor!
Don't listen to what he says!
His lips are Iying ones,
His eyes deceiving.
Learn from my suffering
To trust what I say,
And let my own misfortune
Make you afraid.
(Exit, taking Zerlina wth her. )
|
Donna Elvira:
Ah, fuggi il traditor!
Non lo lasciar più dir!
Il labbro è mentitor,
fallace il ciglio.
Da' miei tormenti impara
A creder a quel cor,
E nasca il tuo timor
Dal mio periglio.
(Parte conducendo via Zerlina.)
|
Recitativo:
"Mi par ch' oggi il demonio"
|
|
Don Giovanni:
It seems the Devil must be amusing
himself ar my expense today.
Everything is going badly.
|
Don Giovanni:
Mi par ch'oggi il demonio si diverta
d'opporsi a miei piacevoli progressi;
vanno mal tutti quanti.
|
(Donna Anna and Don Ottavio
enter. )
Don Ottavio:
Ah, now beloved, that tears are in vain,
let us talk of vengeance.
Oh, Don Giovanni!
|
(Enter Donna Anna
e Don Ottavio.)
Don Ottavio:
Ah! Ch'ora, idolo mio, son vani i
pianti, di vendetta si parli.
Oh, Don Giovanni!
|
Don Giovanni:
(Aside)
This is all I needed!
|
Don Giovanni:
(A parte)
Mancava questo in ver!
|
Donna Anna:
Sir, we find you in time.
Do you have a hearr, a generous nature?
|
Donna Anna:
Signore, a tempo vi ritroviam:
avete core, avete anima generosa?
|
Donna Giovanni:
(Aside)
Now we'll see that the Devil has told
her something.
|
Don Giovanni:
(A parte)
Sta a vedere che il diavolo gli ha
detto qualche cosa.
|
(To Donna Anna.)
What a question? Why?
|
(A Donna Anna.)
Che domanda! Perchè?
|
Donna Anna:
We need your friendship.
|
Donna Anna:
Bisogno abbiamo della vostra amicizia.
|
Don Giovanni:
(Aside)
I breathe again.
(To Donna Anna.)
At your service. My parents, my relatives,
this arm, this sword, my possessions,
my blood, all I will give to serve you.
But, Donna Anna, why do you weep
thus? Who was the cruel one who dared
to trouble your peace of mind?
|
Don Giovanni:
(A parte)
Mi torna il fiato in corpo.
(A Donna Anna.)
Comandate. I congiunti, i parenti,
questa man, questo ferro, i beni,
il sangue spenderò per servirvi.
Ma voi, bella Donn'Anna, perchè
così piangete? II crudele chi fu
che osò la calma turbar del viver vostro?
|
Donna Elvira:
(Entering.)
Ah, I've found you again, faithless monster!
|
Donna Elvira:
(Entrando)
Ah, ti ritrovo ancor, perfido mostro!
|
&
Quartetto: "Non ti fidar, o misera"
|
|
Donna Elvira:
Do not believe, unhappy one,
In that faithless heart!
The villain has already betrayed me,
Now he seeks to betray you.
|
Donna Elvira:
Non ti fidar, o misera,
Di quel ribaldo cor!
Me già tradì quel barbaro,
te vuol tradir ancor.
|
Donna Anna, Don Ottavio:
Heavens, what noble bearing
What sweet majesty!
Her pallor, her tears
Fill me with pity.
|
Donna Anna e Don Ottavio:
Cieli, che aspetto nobile,
Che dolce maestà!
II suo pallor, le lagrime
M'empiono di pietà.
|
Don Giovanni:
The poor girl
ls mad, my friend.
Leave me alone with her,
Perhaps she will calm down.
|
Don Giovanni:
La povera ragazza
È pazza, amici miei;
Lasciatemi con lei,
Forse si calmerà.
|
Donna Elvira:
Ah, do not believe the faithless one!
|
Donna Elvira:
Ah non credete al perfido!
|
Don Giovanni:
She is mad, pay no attention.
|
Don Giovanni:
È pazza, non badate.
|
Donna Elvira:
Stay, for Heaven's sake, stay!
|
Donna Elvira:
Restate ancor, restate!
|
Donna Anna, Don Ottavio:
In whom should we believe?
|
Donna Anna e Don Ottavio:
A chi si crederà?
|
Donna Anna, Don Ottavio,
Don Giovanni:
A feeling of strange torment
Stirs within my breast
Saying on behalf of that poor woman
A hundred things I cannot yet grasp.
|
Donna Anna, Don Ottavio,
Don Giovanni:
Certo moto d'ignoto tormento
Dentro l'alma girare mi sento
Che mi dice, per quell'infelice,
Cento cose che intender non sà.
|
Donna Elvira:
Scorn, rage, disdain, and fear
Stir within my breast.
They tell me of this betrayer
A hundred things I cannot yet grasp.
|
Donna Elvira:
Sdegno, rabbia, dispetto, pavento
Dentro l'alma girare mi sento,
Che mi dice, di quel traditore,
Cento cose che intender non sà.
|
Don Ottavio:
(Aside)
I will not leave here
Until I find out the truth.
|
Don Ottavio:
(A parte)
Io di qua non vado via Se non so com'è l'affar.
|
Donna Anna:
(Aside)
There is no sign of madness
In her manner, in her speech.
|
Donna Anna:
(A parte)
Non ha l'aria di pazzia II suo tratto, il suo parlar.
|
Don Giovanni:
(Aside)
If I should go, they might
Suspect something.
|
Don Giovanni:
(A parte)
Se m'en vado, si potria Qualche cosa sospettar.
|
Donna Elvira:
(Aside)
From his expression they should
Be able to estimate his bad character.
|
Donna Elvira:
(A parte)
Da quel ceffo si dovria La ner'alma guidicar.
|
Don Ottavio:
So then she -
|
Don Ottavio:
Dunque quella -
|
Don Giovanni:
Is a little bit mad.
|
Don Giovanni:
È pazarella.
|
Donna Anna:
So then he -
|
Donna Anna:
Dunque quegli -
|
Donna Elvira:
Is a betrayer.
|
Donna Elvira:
È un traditore.
|
Don Giovanni:
Poor woman!
|
Don Giovanni:
Infelice!
|
Recitativo:
"Povera sventurata!"
|
|
Don Giovanni:
Unfortunate woman! I must follow her.
I don't want her to do anything rash.
Excuse me, mosr beautiful Donna Anna.
If I may be of service to you, I await you
in my house. My friends, farewell.
(Exit hurriedly.)
|
Don Giovanni:
Povera sventurata! I passi suoi voglio,
seguir; non voglio che faccia un precipizio.
Perdonate, bellissima Donn'Anna;
se servirvi poss'io, in mia casa v'aspetto.
Amici, addio.
(Parte frettoloso)
|
Recitativo:
"Don Ottavio, son morta!"
|
|
Donna Anna:
Don Ottavio, I shall die!
|
Donna Anna:
Don Ottavio, son morta!
|
Donna Ottavio:
What is it?
|
Don Ottavio:
Cosa è stato?
|
Donna Anna:
For pity's sake, help me!
|
Donna Anna:
Per pietà, soccorretemi!
|
Don Ottavio:
My beloved, take heart!
|
Don Ottavio:
Mio bene, fate coraggio!
|
Donna Anna:
Ye gods! There is the execurioner of
my father!
|
Donna Anna:
Oh dei! Quegli è il carnefice del padre mio!
|
Don Ottavio:
What are you saying?
|
Don Ottavio:
Che dite?
|
Donna Anna:
There is no doubt of it. His parting
words, his voice recall to mind the
memory of that scoundrel who in
my apartment -
|
Donna Anna:
Non dubitate più. Gli ultimi accenti
che l'empio proferì, tutta la voce
richiamar nel cor mio di quell'
indegno che nel mio appartamento -
|
Don Ottavio:
Good heavens! Is it possible that under
the sacred cloak of friendship - but what
happened? Tell me of the strange event.
|
Don Ottavio:
O ciel! Possibile che sotto il sacro
manto d'amicizia... ma come fu? Narratemi lo strano avvenimento:
|
Donna Anna:
It was already quite late when into my
rooms, where I unluckily happened to be
alone, I saw a man enter, wrapped in a
cloak. At first I mistook him for you, but
then I realized that I was mistaken.
|
Donna Anna:
Era già alquanto avanzata la notte, quando
nelle mie stanze, ove soletta mi trovai per
sventura, entrar io vidi, in un mantello
avvolto, un uom che al primo istante avea
preso per voi. Ma riconobbi poi che un
inganno era il mio.
|
Don Ottavio:
Good Lord! Continue!
|
Don Ottavio:
Stelle! Seguite!
|
Donna Anna:
Silently he approached me and tried to
embrace me. I tried to free myself, but
he seized me all the harder. I screamed,
but no one came! With one hand he tried
to quieten me, and with the orher he
seized me so hard that I already thought
myself lost.
|
Donna Anna:
Tacito a me s'appressa e mi vuole abbracciar; sciogliermi cerco, ei
più mi stringe; io grido; non viene
alcun: con una mano cerca d'impedire
la voce, e coll'altra m'afferra
stretta così, che già mi credo vinta.
|
Don Ottavio:
The scoundrel! And then?
|
Don Ottavio:
Perfido! E alfin?
|
Donna Anna:
Finally my dcspair, my horror of the
deed so strengthened me that by dint
of twisting, turning and bending I freed
myself of him!
|
Donna Anna:
Alfine il duol, l'orrore dell'infame
attentato accrebbe sì la lena mia,
che a forza di svincolarmi, torcermi
e piegarmi, da lui mi sciolsi!
|
Don Ottavio:
Ah me, I breathe again!
|
Don Ottavio:
Ohimè! Respiro!
|
Donna Anna:
Then I redoubled my screams for help
The felon fled. Quickly I followed him
as far as the street in order to catch
him, becoming in my turn the pursuer.
My father ran out, wanted to learn
his idcntity, and the rascal, who was
stronger than the old man, completed his
misdeed by murdering him!
|
Donna Anna:
Allora rinforzo i stridi miei, chiamo soccorso; fugge il fellon; arditamente
il seguo fin nella strada per fermarlo,
e sono assalitrice d'assalità.
Il padre v'accorre, vuol conoscerlo
e l'indegno che del povero vecchio
era più forte, compiè il misfatto suo
col dargli morte!
|
&
Aria: "Or sai chi l' onore"
|
|
Donna Anna:
Now you know who tried
To steal my honour from me
Who was the betrayer
Who took my hther's life.
ask you for vengeance.
Your heart asks for it, too.
Remember the wound
In the poor man's breast,
The ground all around
Covered with blood,
If ever in your heart
Your just anger weakens.
(Exit.)
|
Donna Anna:
Or sai chi l'onore
Rapire a me volse,
Chi fu il traditore
Che il padre mi tolse.
Vendetta ti chiedo,
La chiede il tuo cor.
Rammenta la piaga Del misero seno, Rimira di sangue Coperto il terreno.
Se l'ira in te langue
D'un giusto furor.
(Parte.)
|
Recitativo:
"Come mai creder deggio..."
|
|
Don Ottavio:
How can I believe that a nobleman could
be guilty of so black a crime! Ah, I
must get at the truth any way I can. I
feel that as a friend and lover my duty
is plain: I must either undeceive her
or avenge her.
|
Don Ottavio:
Come mai creder deggio, di sì nero
delitto capace un cavaliero!
Ah! Di scoprire il vero ogni mezzo si cerchi.
Io sento in petto e di sposo e d'amico
il dover che mi parla: disingannarla
voglio, o vendicarla.
|
&
Aria: "Dalla sua pace"!
|
|
Don Ottavio:
Upon her peace of mind
Mine also depends;
What pleases her
Is what gives me life,
What displeases her
Is what gives me death.
If she sighs,
Then I, too, must sigh.
Her anger becomes my own,
Her tears belong to me.
And there can be no joy for me
If she is not happy.
(Exit.)
|
Don Ottavio:
Dalla sua pace
la mia dipende;
Quel che a lei piace vita mi rende,
Quel che le incresce morte mi dà.
S'ella sospira,
Sospiro anch'io;
È mia quell'ira,
Quel pianto è mio;
E non ho bene, s'ella non l'ha.
(Parte.)
|
"Io
deggio ad ogni patto..."
|
|
(Enter Leporello, then Don
Giovanni.)
Leporello:
I must find some way to leave this
fine lunatic. There he is now.
Look at the indifference with
which he comes.
|
(Entra Leporello,
poi Don Giovanni.)
Leporello:
Io deggio ad ogni patto per sempre
abbandonar questo bel matto. Eccolo
qui; guardate con qual indifferenza se ne viene.
|
Don Giovanni:
Oh, my dear Leporello, is everything
going well?
|
Don Giovanni: Oh, Leporello
mio! va tutto bene?
|
Leporello:
My dear Don Giovanni, everything is
going badly.
|
Leporello:
Don Giovannino mio! va tutto male.
|
Don Giovanni:
What do you mean, everything is going badly?
|
Don Giovanni:
Come va tutto male?
|
Leporello:
I went home, as you told me to, with all
those people.
|
Leporello:
Vado a casa, come voi m'ordinaste, con
tutta quella gente.
Bravo! E con lei chi viene?
|
Don Giovanni:
Well done!
|
Don Giovanni:
Bravo!
|
Leporello:
By chattering, flattery and lies, tricks
I picked up from you, I tried to
detain them.
|
Leporello:
A forza di chiacchiere, di vezzi e di
bugie, ch'ho imparato sì bene a star con
voi, cerco d'intrattenerli...
|
Don Giovanni:
Well done!
|
Don Giovanni:
Bravo!
|
Leporello:
I told Masetto a thousand lies in order
to free his mind of jealous thoughts.
|
Leporello:
Dico mille cose a Masetto per placarlo,
per trargli dal pensier la gelosia.
|
Don Giovanni:
Well done, on my oath!
|
Don Giovanni:
Bravo, in coscienza mia!
|
Leporello:
I saw to it that both the men and
women drank. They soon became
intoxicated. Some sang, some joked, others
continued to drink At the height of it
all, guess who dropped in?
|
Leporello:
Faccio che bevano e gli uomini e le
donne. Son già mezzo ubbriachi.
Altri canta, altri scherza,
altri seguita a ber. In sul più
bello, chi credete che capiti?
|
Don Giovanni:
Zerlina.
|
Don Giovanni:
Zerlina.
|
Leporello:
Right! And who was with her?
|
Leporello:
Bravo! E con lei chi viene?
|
Don Giovanni:
Donna EIvira .
|
Don Giovanni:
Donna Elvira.
|
Leporello:
Right! And she said about you -
|
Leporello:
Bravo! E disse di voi -
|
Don Giovanni:
Everything bad she could think of.
|
Don Giovanni:
Tutto quel mal che in bocca le venia.
|
Leporello:
Right, on my oath.
|
Leporello:
Bravo, in coscienza mia!
|
Don Giovanni:
And what did you do?
|
Don Giovanni:
E tu, cosa facesti?
|
Leporello:
I kept quiet.
|
Leporello:
Tacqui.
|
Don Giovanni:
And she?
|
Don Giovanni:
Ed ella?
|
Leporello:
She went right on screaming.
|
Leporello:
Seguì a gridar.
|
Don Giovanni:
And then you?
|
Don Giovanni:
E tu?
|
Leporello:
When I thought she had finished,
I quietly led her out and skilfully
locked the door in her face,
then I got out of it and left her alone
in the street.
|
Leporello:
Quando mi parve che già fosse sfogata,
dolcemente fuor dell'orto la trassì,
e con bell'arte chiusa la porta a
chiave io di là mi cavai, e sulla via
soletta la lasciai.
|
Don Giovanni:
Well done, excellently done! The affair
could not be going better. You began it
I will finish it. These lusty peasant lasses
are too much on my mind. I want to
amuse them until night comes.
|
Don Giovanni:
Bravo, bravo, arcibravo! L'affar non può
andar meglio. Incominciasti, io saprò
terminar.Troppo mi premono queste
contadinotte; le voglio divertir finchè
vien notte.
|
Aria:"Finch
'han dal vino"
|
|
Don Giovanni:
Now that the wine
Has set their heads whirling,
Go and prepare
A wonderful party.
If on the way
You meet some young lady,
Try also to bring
Her along.
Let the dancing
Be spontaneous
They can do the minuet,
The gavotte
Or the waltz,
Just as you like.
And I in the meantime
Behind the scenes
Will be flirting
With this one and that one.
Ah, to my list
Tomorrow morning
You will have to add
At least ten names!
(Exeunt.)
|
Don Giovanni:
Finch'han dal vino
Calda la testa
Una gran festa Fa preparar.
Se trovi in piazza Qualche ragazza,
Teco ancor quella
Cerca menar.
Senza alcun ordine La danza sia;
Chi'l minuetto,
Chi la follia,
Chi l'alemanna
Farai ballar.
Ed io frattanto
Dall'altro canto
Con questa e quella
Vo' amoreggiar.
Ah! la mia lista
Doman mattina D'una decina
Devi aumentar!
(Partono.)
|
English
|
Italian
|
Act 1: Scene 4
|
Atto 1: Quarta
Scena
|
Recitativo:
"Masetto, senti un po'"
|
|
- A GARDEN OUTSIDE DON GIOVANNI'S
HOUSE.
- (Zerlina, Masetto and
peasants.)
|
GIARDINO DELLA CASA DI DON
GIOVANNI
(Zerlina, Masetto e Contadini.)
|
- Zerlina:
- Masetto, listen to me. Masetto,
I say.
|
Zerlina:
Masetto... senti un po'... Masetto, dico.
|
- Masetto:
- Don't touch me.
|
Masetto:
Non mi toccar.
|
- Zerlina:
- Why?
|
Zerlina:
Perchè?
|
- Masetto:
- You ask me why? Cheat! I
should put up
- with anything from a hussy
like you?
|
Masetto:
Perchè mi chiedi? Perfida! Il tocco sopportar dovrei d'una mano
infedele?
|
- Zerlina:
- Ah, no! Don't speak that
way, cruel man.
- I don't deserve such treatment
from you.
|
Zerlina:
Ah no! taci, crudele, Io non merto da te tal trattamento.
|
- Masetto:
- What? You have the effrontery
to make
- excuses? To remain alone
with a man
- abandoning me on my wedding
day! To
- shame an honest working
man in such a
- manner! Ah, if it were not
for the
- scandal I would like to-
- (The peasants leave.)
|
- Masetto:
Come! Ed hai l'ardimento di scusarti?
- Star solo con un uom! abbandonarmi
- il dì delle mie nozze!
Porre in fronte
- a un villano d'onore questa
marca
- d'infamia! Ah, se non fosse
lo
- scandalo, vorrei -
(Partono i coontadini)
|
|
|
- Zerlina:
- But if I am not to blame?
If I have
- been tricked by him? And
then, what do
- you fear? Calm yourself,
my love, he
- did not touch even the tips
of my fingers.
- You don't believe it? Ungrateful
one!
- Come here! Vent your anger!
Kill me!
- Do everything you want to
me, but
- afterwards, my Masetto,
let us make peace.
|
- Zerlina:
Ma se colpa io non ho, ma se da lui
- ingannata rimasi; e poi,
che temi?
- Tranquillati, mia vita;
non mi toccò l
- a punta della dita. Non
me lo credi?
- Ingrato! Vien qui, sfogati,
ammazzami,
- fa tutto di me quel che
ti piace, ma
- poi, Masetto mio, ma poi
fa pace.
|
Aria:
"Batt, batti, o bel Masetto"
|
|
- Zerlina:
Beat me, beat me, my Masetto.
- Beat your poor Zerlina.
- I'll stay here like a lamb
- And await your every blow.
- I'll let you pull my hair
out,
- I'll let you gouge my eyes
out
- And then happily I will
kiss
- Your wonderfully sweet hands.
- Ah, I see you have no heart!
- Let's make up, my own true
love.
- In happiness and joy
- We must pass the days and
nights,
Yes, each day and every night.
|
- Zerlina:
Batti, batti, o bel Masetto,
- La tua povera Zerlina;
- Starò qui come agnellina
- Le tue botte ad aspettar.
- Lascierò straziarmi
il crine,
- Lascierò cavarmi
gli occhi,
- E le care tue manine
- Lieta poi saprò baciar.
- Ah, lo vedo, non hai core!
- Pace, pace, o vita mia,
- In contento ed allegria
- Notte e dì vogliam
passar,
Si, notte e dì vogliam
passar.
|
Recitativo:
"Guarda un po'..."
|
|
- Masetto:
- See how this little witch
knew how to get
- around me! We must be weak
in the head!
|
- Masetto:
Guarda un po' come seppe questa strega
- sedurmi! Siamo pure i deboli
di testa!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (Off Stage.)
- Get everything ready for
a big celebration.
|
Don Giovanni:
(Di dentro.)
Sia preparato tutto a una gran festa.
|
- Zerlina:
- Ah, Masetto, Masetto, that's
the voice of
- his lordship the cavalier!
|
- Zerlina:
Ah Masetto, Masetto, odi la voce del
- monsù cavaliero!
|
- Masetto:
- Well then, what of it?
|
Masetto:
Ebben, che c'è?
|
- Zerlina:
- He's coming!
|
Zerlina:
Verrà!
|
- Masetto:
- Let him come.
|
Masetto:
Lascia che venga.
|
- Zerlina:
- Ah, if only there were some
place to hide!
|
Zerlina: Ah, se vi fosse
un buco da fuggir!
|
- Masetto:
- What are you afraid of?
Why do you grow
- pale? Ah, I understand,
you hussy!
- You fear that I will learn
how things
- went between you two.
|
- Masetto:
Di cosa temi? Perché diventi pallida?
- Ah, capisco, capisco, bricconcella!
- Hai timor ch'io comprenda
com'è tra
- voi passata la faccenda.
|
Finale:
"Presto, presto, pria ch' ei venga"
|
|
- Masetto:
Hurry, hurry, before he comes
- I must hide somewhere; There's
a nook off to one side
Where I can stay and remain
quiet.
|
- Masetto:
Presto, presto, pria ch'ei venga,
- Por mi vo' da qualche lato;
- C'è una nicchia qui
celato,
Cheto cheto mi vo' star.
|
- Zerlina:
- Listen, listen! Where are
you going?
- Do not hide here, oh Masetto!
- If he finds you, woe is
you.
- You don't know what he can
do.
|
- Zerlina:
Senti, senti, dove vai?
- Ah, non t'asconder, o Masetto!
- Se ti trova, poveretto,
- Tu non sai quel che può
far.
|
- Masetto:
- Let him do or say what he
pleases.
|
- Masetto:
- Faccia, dica quel che vuole.
|
- Zerlina:
- Your brave words mean nothing!
|
- Zerlina (sottovoce):
- Ah, non giovan le parole!
|
- Masetto:
- Speak up and stay here.
|
- Masetto:
- Parla forte, e qui t'arresta.
|
- Zerlina:
- What can you have in mind?
|
- Zerlina:
- Che capriccio hai nella
testa?
|
- Masetto:
- I will learn if she is faithful
- And how the affair went.
|
- Masetto:
Capirò se m'è fedele,
- E in qual modo andò
l'affar.
|
- Zerlina:
- The ungrateful, cruel man
- Wants to cause a crisis
now.
- (Masetto hides. Don Giovanni
enters with his servants. The peasants return.)
|
Zerlina:
Quell'ingrato, quel crudele Oggi vuol precipitar.
(Masetto s' asconde. Entrano
Don Giovanni con servi, ee contadini.)
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Come, wake up, everybody!
- Come, courage, my good people!
- We want to have a good time,
- We want to laugh and joke.
- To the ballroom
- Now lead everybody
- And see to it that
- Refreshments are served
in plenty.
|
- Don Giovanni:
Sù! svegliatevi da bravi!
- Sù! coraggio, o buona
gente!
- Vogliam star allegramente,
- Vogliam ridere e scherzar.
- Alla stanza della danza
- Conducete tutti quanti,
- ed a tutti in abbondanza
- Gran rifreschi fate dar.
|
- Servants:
- Come, wake up, everybody,
etc.
- (The servants and peasants
exit. ZERLINA is looking for a place to hide.)
|
Servi:
Sù! svegliatevi da bravi, ecc.
(Partono servi e contadini. Zerlina vuol naascoondersi.)
|
Finale:
"Tra quest' arbori celata"
|
|
- Zerlina:
- Among these bushes
- Perhaps he won't see me.
|
Zerlina:
Tra quest'arbori celata, Si può dar che non mi veda.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Zerlina, my lovely,
- I've seen you; don't run
away!
|
Don Giovanni:
Zerlinetta, mia garbata, T'ho già visto, non scappar!
|
- Zerlina:
- Oh please let me go!
|
Zerlina:
Ah lasciatemi andar via!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- No. no, stay, joy of my
life!
|
Don Giovanni:
No, no, resta, gioia mia!
|
- Zerlina:
- If there's pity in your
heart -
|
Zerlina:
Se piedate avete in core!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Yes, my dear, I'm full of
love.
- Come over here for just
a moment;
- I want to make you happy.
|
Don Giovanni:
Sì, ben mio! son tutto amore... Vieni un poco - in questo loco
fortunata io ti vo' far.
|
- Zerlina:
- Oh, if he sees my hushand,
- I know well what he will
do.
- (Don Giovanni pulls Zerlina
away but comming face to face with Masetto, stops in amazement.)
|
Zerlina:
Ah, s'ei vede il sposo mio, So ben io quel che può far.
(Don Giovanni prende Zerlina e vedendo Masetto fa un moto di sstupore.)
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Masetto?
|
Don Giovanni:
Masetto!
|
- Masetto:
- Yes, Masetto.
|
Masetto:
Sì, Masetto.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Hiding in there? What for?
- Your beautiful Zerlina
- Cannot, poor girl, stay
- Any longer without you.
|
Don Giovanni:
È chiuso là, perchè?
La bella tua Zerlina
Non può, la poverina,
Più star senza di te.
|
- Masetto:
- I understand, sir, indeed
I do.
|
Masetto:
Capisco, sì signore.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Now cheer up, both of you.
- Do you hear the musicians?
- Now come along with me.
|
- Don Giovanni:
Adesso fate core.
- I suonatori udite?
- Venite ormai con me.
|
- Zerlina, Masetto:
- Yes, yes, let us cheer up
- And go and dance with the
others
- All three of us.
- (They exit. Don Ottavio,
Donna Anna and Donna Elvira enter together. They are masked.)
|
- Zerlina e Masetto:
Sì, sì, facciamo core,
- Ed a ballar cogli altri
- Andiamo tutti tre.
- (Partono. Entrano Don
Ottavio, Donna Anna e Donna Elvira in maschera.)
|
Finale:
"Bisogna aver coraggio"
|
|
- Donna Elvira:
- We must be brave,
- My deat friends
- And thus we shall be able
- To uncover his misdeeds.
|
- Donna Elvira:
Bisogna aver coraggio,
- O cari amici miei,
- E i suoi misfatti rei
- Scoprir potremo allor.
|
- Don Ottavio:
- Our friend is right
- We must be brave.
- Banish, my darling
- Yout anguish and fear.
|
- Don Ottavio:
L'amica dice bene,
- Coraggio aver conviene;
(a Donn'Anna) Discaccia, o vita mia,
- L'affanno ed il timor.
|
- Donna Anna:
- The step is a dangerous
one;
- There could be dire results.
- I fear for my beloved,
- And for us all.
- (Leporello open a window.)
|
- Donna Anna:
Il passo è periglioso,
- Può nascer qualche
imbroglio.
- Temo pel caro sposo, (a
Donna Elvira)
- E per voi temo ancor.
(Leproello apre la finestra.)
|
- Leporello:
- (To Don Giovanni. )
- Sir, look for a moment
- At this handsome masked
trio!
|
- Leporello:
(A Don Giovanni)
Signor, guardate un poco,
- Che maschere galanti!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (At the window.)
- Have them come in,
- Tell them they honour us.
|
- Don Giovanni:
(Alla finestra):
Falle passar avanti,
- Di' che ci fanno onor.
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira,
Don Ottavio:
- (Aside)
- His looks and voice
- Reveal the betrayer.
|
Donna Anna, Donna Elvira
e Don Ottavio:
(A parte)
Al volto ed alla voce
Si scopre il traditore.
|
- Leporello:
- Psst! Masqueraders! Psst!
|
Leporello:
Zì, zì! Signore maschere! Zì, zì...
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira:
- Go on, answer him.
|
Donna Anna e Donna Elvira:
Via, rispondete.
|
- Leporello:
- Psst! Masqueraders!
|
Leporello:
Zì, zì! Signore maschere!
|
- Don Ottavio:
- What do you want?
|
Don Ottavio:
Cosa chiedete?
|
- Leporello:
- If you would care to enter,
- My master invites you to
the dance.
|
- Leporello:
Al ballo, se vi piace,
- V'invita il mio signor.
|
- Don Ottavio:
- You do us an honour!
- Let us go, my dear friends.
|
- Don Ottavio:
Grazie di tanto onore.
- Andiam, compagne belle.
|
- Leporello:
- Our friend will also
- Try his hand on these.
- (He retires from the
window.)
|
- Leporello:
L'amico anche su quelle
- Prova farà d'amor.
(Entra.)
|
Finale:
"Protegga il giusto cielo"...
Vendiichi il giusto cielo"
|
|
- Donna Anna, Don Ottavio:
- May just Heaven protect
- My determined heart!
|
- Donna Anna e Don Ottavio:
Protegga il giusto cielo
- Il zelo - del mio cor.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- May just Heaven avenge
- My betrayed love!
(Exit.)
|
Donna Elvira:
Vendichi il giusto cielo
Il mio tradito amor!
(Partono.)
|
English
|
Italian
|
Act 1: Scene 5
|
Atto 1: Quinta
Scena
|
Finale:
"Riposate, vezzose ragazze"
|
|
- (A dance has just ended
and Don Giovanni escorts some girls to their places. Leporello is chatting
with several of the men.)
- Don Giovanni:
- Take a rest, my pretty ones.
|
(Don Giovanni fa seder le
ragazze e
Leporello i ragazzi che saranno in atto d'aver finito un ballo.)
Don Giovanni:
Riposate, vezzose ragazze.
|
- Leporello:
- Refresh yourselves, my brave
lads.
|
Leporello:
Rinfrescatevi, bei giovinotti.
|
- Don Giovanni, Leporello:
- You will soon be dancing
again.
- You will soon be joking
again.
|
Don Giovanni e Leporello:
Tornerete a far presto le pazze.
Tornerete a scherzar e ballar.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Hey there, coffee!
|
Don Giovanni:
Ehi! caffè!
|
- Leporello:
- Chocolate!
|
Leporello:
Cioccolata!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Ices!
|
Don Giovanni:
Sorbetti!
|
- Masetto:
- Oh, Zerlina, be careful!
|
Masetto:
Ah, Zerlina, guidizio!
|
- Leporello:
- Sweets!
|
Leporello:
Confetti!
|
- Zerlina, Masetto:
- (Aside)
- The scene has begun too
sweetly;
- The ending could be bitter.
|
Zerlina e Masetto:
(A parte)
Troppo dolce comincia la scena;
In amaro potria terminar.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- You are lovely, my gorgeous
Zerlina.
|
Don Giovanni:
Sei pur vaga, brillante Zerlina.
|
- Zerlina:
- You are too kind.
|
Zerlina:
Sua bontà.
|
- Masetto:
- She's lapping it up!
|
Masetto:
La briccona fa festa!
|
- Leporello:
- (To the girls.)
- You are also nice, Giannotta,
Sandrina.
|
Leporello:
(Alle ragazze.)
Sei pur cara, Gionnotta, Sandrina.
|
- Masetto:
- (Aside)
- Go on and touch her, so
l can lop off
- your head!
|
Masetto:
(A parte)
Tocca pur, che ti cada la testa!
|
- Zerlina:
- Masetto looks out of his
mind.
- This is getting worse all
the time.
|
Zerlina:
Quel Masetto mi par stralunato,
Brutto, brutto si fa quest'affar.
|
- Don Giovanni, Leporello:
- Masetto looks out of his
mind
- Now we'd better use our
heads
|
Don Giovanni e Leporello:
Quel Masetto mi par stralunato,
Qui bisogna cervello adoprar.
|
- Masetto:
- Ah, flirt, you're driving
me to distraction.
|
Masetto:
Ah, briccona, mi vuoi disperar!
|
(Donna Anna, Donna Elvira
and Don Ottavio now enter, still masked.)
|
(Entrano Donna Anna, Donna
Elvira e Don Ottavio in maschera.)
|
Finale:
"Venite pur avanti"
|
|
- Leporello:
- Come forward, come forward,
- My gracious masqueraders!
|
Leporello: Venite pur
avanti,
Vezzose mascherette!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Everyone is welcome!
- Hurray for freedom!
|
Don Giovanni:
È aperto a tutti quanti,
Viva la libertà!
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira,
Don Ottavio:
- We thank you for so many
signs
- Of boundless generosity.
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira
e Don Ottavio:
- Siam grati a tanti segni
Di generosità.
|
- All:
- Hurray for freedom!
|
- Tutti:
- Viva la libertà!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (To the musicians.)
- Resume your playing!
- (To Leporello.)
- You, pair off the dancers.
|
Don Giovanni:
(Ai musicista.)
Ricominciate il suono!
(A Leporello)
Tu accoppia i ballerini.
|
- Leporello:
- Now everyone dance!
- (They dance.)
|
Leporello:
Da bravi, via ballate!
(Ballano.)
|
- Donna Elvira:
- (To Donna Anna)
- That s the peasant girl.
|
Donna Elvira:
(A Donna Anna)
Quella è la contadina.
|
- Donna Anna:
- I'm dying!
|
Donna Anna:
Io moro!
|
- Don Ottavio:
- Hide your feelings!
|
Don Ottavio:
Simulate!
|
- Don Giovanni, Leporello:
- It's really going well.
|
Don Giovanni e Leporello:
Va bene in verità!
|
- Masetto:
- (Sarcastically)
- lt s really going well!
|
Masetto:
(Ironicamente)
Va bene in verità!
|
- Don Giovanni:
(To Leporello)
- Keep an eye on Masetto.
|
Don Giovanni:
(A Leporello)
A bada tien Masetto.
|
- Leporello:
- You're not dancing, poor
boy!
- Come here, my dear Masetto,
- Let us do what the others
are doing.
|
Leporello:
Non balli, poveretto!
Vien quà, Masetto caro,
Facciam quel ch'altri fa.
|
- Don Giovannni:
- I am your partner.
- Zerlina, come this way.
|
Don Giovannni:
Il tuo compagno io sono,
Zerlina, vien pur quà.
|
- Masetto:
- No, no, I don't want to
dance.
|
Masetto:
No, no, ballar non voglio.
|
- Leporello:
- Come, my friend, let's dance!
|
Leporello:
Eh, balla, amico mio!
|
- Masetto:
- No!
|
Masetto:
No!
|
- Leporello:
- Yes, dear Masetto!
|
Leporello:
Sì, caro Masetto!
|
- Donna Anna:
- | I can't stand it!
|
Donna Anna:
Resister non poss'io!
|
- Donna Elvira, Don Ottavio:
- Pretend, for pity's sake!
|
Donna Elvira e Don Ottavio:
Fingete per pietà!
|
- Leporello:
- Dance!
|
Leporello:
Balla!
|
- Masetto:
- No, no, I don't want to.
|
Masetto:
No, no, non voglio!
|
- Leporello:
- Nowdance,myfriend!
- Let us do what the others
are doing.
|
Leporello:
Eh, balla, amico mio!
Facciam quel ch'altri fa.
|
(LEPORELLO dances with MASETTO.
DON GIOVANNI danceing with ZERLINA leads her towards an exit. )
|
(Leporello balla con Masetto.
Don Giovanni ballando conduce via Zerlina.)
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Come wirh me, my own!
|
Don Giovanni:
Vieni con me, mia vita!
|
- Masetto:
- Leave me alone! Ah no! Zerlina!
|
Masetto:
Lasciami! Ah no! Zerlina!
|
- Zerlina:
- Ye powers! I am lost!
|
- Zerlina:
- Oh Numi! son tradita!...
|
(Exeunt Don Giovanni and
Zerlina.)
|
(Partono Don Giovanni e
Zerlina.)
|
- Leporello:
- This will be a disaster!
- (He exits hastily after
them.)
|
- Leporello:
- Qui nasce una ruina.
- (Entra.)
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira,
Don Ottavio:
- The scoundrel draws the
noose
- Around his own neck!
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira
e Don Ottavio (fra loro):
- L'iniquo da se stesso
- Nel laccio se ne va!
|
- Zerlina:
- (Offstage)
- Help, everyone, help!
|
- Zerlina (di dentro):
- Gente... aiuto!... aiuto!...
gente!
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira,
Don Ottavio:
- Let us rescue the innocent
girl!
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira
e Don Ottavio:
- Soccorriamo l'innocente!
- (I suonatori partono.)
|
- Masetto:
- Oh, Zerlina!
|
- Masetto:
- Ah, Zerlina!
|
- Zerlina:
- (Offstage.)
- Scoundrel!
|
- Zerlina (di dentro,
dalla parte opposta):
- Scellerato!
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira,
Don Ottavio:
- Now she's screaming from
over there!
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira
e Don Ottavio:
- Ora grida de quel lato!
|
- Zerlina:
- Scoundrel!
|
- Zerlina:
- Scellerato!
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira,
Don Ottavio:
- Let us break down the door!
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira
e Don Ottavio:
- Ah gettiamo giù la
porta!
|
- Zerlina:
- Save me or I am lost!
|
- Zerlina:
- Soccorretemi! o son morta!
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira,
Don Ottavio, Masetto:
- We are here to help you!
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira,
Don Ottavio e Masetto:
- Siam qui noi per tua difesa!
|
- (Don Giovanni, sword
in hand re-enters dragging Leporello with him.)
|
(Don Giovanni esce colla
spada in mano, conducendo per un braccio Leporello.)
|
Finale:
"Ecco il birbo che t'ha offesa!'
|
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Here's the lout who did
it!
- But I will punish him!
- Die, wretch!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Ecco il birbo che t'ha offesa!
- Ma da me la pena avrà!
- Mori, iniquo!
|
- Leporello:
- What are you doing?
|
- Leporello:
- Ah, cosa fate?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- I said you'll die!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Mori, dico!
|
- Don Ottavio:
- (Pointing a pistol at
Don Giovanni)
- Don't try to trick us!
|
- Don Ottavio (cavando
una pistola):
- Nol sperate...
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira,
Don Ottavio:
- The villain thinks his trick
- Will serve to hide his villainy!
- (They take off their
masks before each recognition.)
|
- Donna Anna, Donna Elvira
e Don Ottavio:
- L'empio crede con tal frode
- Di nasconder l'empietà!
- (Si cavano la maschera.)
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Donna Elvira!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Donna Elvira!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Yes, monster!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Sì, malvagio!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Don Ottavio!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Don Ottavio!
|
- Don Ottavio:
- Yes, sir!
|
- Don Ottavio:
- Sì, signore!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- You must believe me-
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Ah, credete...
|
- All except
Don Giovanni and Leporello:
- Betrayer!
- We know everything!
- (Thunder and lightning.
The window blows open and the stage darkens.)
|
- Tutti fuorché
Don Giovanni e Leporello:
- Traditore! Tutto già
si sa!
- (Lampi e tuono. La finestra
sì apre dondolando no vento e la scena diventa buia.)
|
Finale:
"Trema, trema, o scellerato!"
|
|
- All except
Don Giovanni and Leporello:
Tremble, tremble, scoundrel!
- No v the whole world shall
know
- Of the horrible, black crime
- Of your arrogant cruelty!
- Listen to the sound of vengeance
- As it thunders all around
you
- Upon your head this very
day
It's thunderbolt shall fall.
|
- All except
Don Giovanni and Leporello:
Trema, trema, o scellerato!
- Saprà tosto il mondo
intero
- Il misfatto orrendo e nero
- La tua fiera crudeltà!
- Odi il tuon della vendetta,
- Che ti fischia intorno intorno;
- Sul tuo capo in questo giorno
Il suo fulmine cadrà.
|
- Leporello:
- His head is whirling in
confusion,
- He no longer knows what's
happening.
- A dteadful storm, oh Lord,
- Is thundering over him.
- But he does not lack for
courage.
- He is not lost or worried.
- If the world itself should
end,
- Nothing could make him afraid.
|
- Leporello:
- Non sà più
quel ch'ei si faccia
- È confusa la sua
testa,
- E un orribile tempesta
- Minacciando, o Dio, lo va
- Ma non manca in lui coraggio,
- Non si perde o si confonde
- Se cadesse ancora il mondo,
- Nulla mai temer lo fa.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- My head is whirling in confusion,
- I nc, longer know what's
happening.
- A dreadful storm, oh Lord,
- Is thundering above me.
- But I do not lack for courage.
- I am not lost or worried.
- If the world irself should
end,
- Nothing could make me afraid.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- È confusa la mia
testa,
- Non so più quel ch'io
mi faccia,
- E un orribile tempesta
- Minacciando, o Dio, mi va
- Ma non manca in me coraggio,
- Non mi perdo o mi confondo,
- Se cadesse ancora il mondo,
- Nulla mai temer mi fa.
|
- (Don Giovanni draws his
sword, seizes Leporello and pushes his way out behind him through the
angry crowd. Curtain.)
|
Don Giovanni, squainando
la spada, seque Leproello, facendosi strada nella folla per fuggire. Sipario.
|
English
|
Italian
|
Act 2: Scene 1
|
Atto 2: Prima Scena
|
A STREET,
NIGHT.
|
STRADA, NOTTE.
|
Duetto: Eh via, buffone,
non mi seccar!"
|
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Go on, clown, don't annoy
me!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Eh via, buffone, non mi
seccar!
|
- Leporello:
- No, no, master, I won't
stay!
|
- Leporello:
- No, no, padrone, non vo'restar!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Listen, my friend -
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Sentimi, amico...
|
- Leporello:
- I want to go, I tell you!
|
- Leporello:
- Vo'andar, vi dico!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- But what have I done to
you
- That you want to leave me?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Ma che ti ho fatto
- Che vuoi lasciarmi?
|
- Leporello:
- Oh, nothing at all.
- You almost killed me.
|
- Leporello:
- O niente affatto,
- Quasi ammazzarmi.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Go on, you are mad!
- It was only a joke.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Va, che sei matto,
- Fu per burlar
|
- Leporello:
- And I am not joking,
- I want to go.
- (Leporello starts to
go.)
|
- Leporello:
- Ed io non burlo,
- Ma voglio andar.
- (Leporello va per partire.)
|
Recitativo:
"Leporello!"..."Signore?"
|
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Leporello!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Leporello!
|
- Leporello:
- Sir?
|
- Leporello:
- Signore?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (Offering him money)
- Come here! Ler's make up.
Here.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Vien qui, facciamo pace,
prendi!
|
- Leporello:
- What is it?
|
- Leporello:
- Cosa?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Four pistoles.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (Gli dà del denaro)
- Quattro doppie.
|
- Leporello:
- (Taking the money.)
- | Oh, well then, this time
I yield, but don't
- make a habit of it. Don't
think you can
- get around me as you do
with your
- women, nor even with money.
|
- Leporello:
- (prendendo la borsa)
- Oh, sentite, per questa
volta la cerimonia
- accetto; ma non vi ci avvezzate;
- non credete di sedurre i
miei pari, come
- le donne, a forza di danari.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Let's talk no more about
it. Have you the nerve
- to do what I tell you?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Non parliam più di
ciò! Ti basta l'animo
- di far quel ch'io ti dico?
|
- Leporello:
- As long as we leave the
women alone.
|
- Leporello:
- Purchè lasciam le
donne.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Leave the women alone? You're
mad!
- You know they are more necessary
to me
- than the bread I eat, than
the air I breathe!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Lasciar le donne? Pazzo!
- Sai ch'elle per me
- son necessarie più
del pan che mangio,
- più dell'aria che
spiro!
|
- Leporello:
- Do you have the gall, then,
to betray them all?
|
- Leporello:
- E avete core d'ingannarle
poi tutte?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Love is much the same in
any form. He who
- remains faithful to one
is being cruel to
- the others; I, who have
an overabundance
- of sentiment, love them
all. Since
- women cannot think clearly,
they call
- my natural kindly feelings
betrayal.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- È tutto amore!
- Chi a una sola è
fedele,
- verso l'altre è crudele:
- io che in me sento
- sì esteso sentimento,
- vo'bene a tutte quante.
- Le donne poichè calcolar
non sanno,
- il mio buon natural chiamano
inganno.
|
- Leporello:
- I have never come across
kindness more
- abundantly dispensed! Now
then, what
- is it you want me to do?
|
- Leporello:
- Non ho veduto mai
- naturale più vasto,
e più benigno.
- Orsù, cosa vorreste?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Listen! Have you seen Donna
Elvira's maid?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Odi ! Vedesti tu la cameriera
di
- Donna Elvira?
|
- Leporello:
- No.
|
- Leporello:
- Io? No!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Then you have missed something,
my
- dear Leporello. Now I want
to try out
- my luck with her, and I
thought, since
- it is almost evening, that
I would whet
- her appetite all the more
by presenting
- myself disguised in your
clothes.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Non hai veduto
- qualche cosa di bello,
- caro il mio Leporello; ora
io con lei
- vo' tentar la mia sorte,
ed ho pensato,
- giacchè siam verso
sera,
- per aguzzarle meglio l'appetito
- di presentarmi a lei col
tuo vestito.
|
- Leporello:
- And why couldn't you present
yourself
- in your own clothes?
|
- Leporello:
- E perchè non potreste
presentarvi col vostro?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- A nobleman's clothes are
not very popular
- among people of her class.
- (He removes his cloak.)
- Come on, hurry up!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Han poco credito
- con genti di tal rango
- gli abiti signorili.
- (Si cava il proprio abiro.)
- Sbrigati, via!
|
- Leporello:
- Sir, for more than one reason-
|
- Leporello:
- Signor, per più ragioni...
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Keep quiet! I can't stand
being argued with!
- (They exchange cloaks
and hats. Donna Elvira appears at a window of the inn.)
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Finiscila! Non soffro opposizioni!
- (Fanno cambio del mantello
e del cappello. Donna Elvira alla finestra della locanda.)
|
Trio:
"Ah taci, ingiusto core!"
|
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Keep still, unjust heart!
- Do not beat so within my
breast!
- He is a villain, a betrayer,
- And it is wrong to feel
pity.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Ah taci, ingiusto core!
- Non palpitarmi in seno!
- È un empio, e un
traditore
- È colpa di aver pietà.
|
- Leporello:
- Quiet! I hear, sir,
- Donna Elvira's voice.
|
- Leporello (sottovoce):
- Zitto! di Donna Elvira,
- Signor, la voce io sento!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- I want to seize my opporrunity.
- You stand there!
- (He stands behind Leporello.)
- Elvira, my beloved!
|
- Don Giovanni (come
sopra):
- Cogliere io vo'il momento,
- Tu fermati un po' là!
- (Si mette dietro Leporello.)
- Elvira, idolo mio!...
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Is it the ingrate?
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Non è costui l'ingrato?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Yes, my own, it is I,
- And I beg for your mercy.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Si, vita mia, son io,
- E chieggo clarità.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Lord, what strange feeling
- Awakens in my breast!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Numi, che strano affetto,
- Mi si risveglia in petto!
|
- Leporello:
- Wait and see, this madwoman
- Will still believe what
he says!
|
- Leporello:
- State a veder la pazza,
- Che ancor gli crederà!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Come down here, my lovely.
- You will see you are the
one
- Whom my soul adores.
- I am really penitent.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Discendi, o gioia bella,
- Vedrai che tu sei quella
- Che adora l'alma mia
- Pentito io sono già.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- No, I don't believe you,
cruel one!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- No, non ti credo, o barbaro!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Oh believe me, or I'll kill
myself!
- My darling, please come
here!
|
- Don Giovanni (con
trasporto e quasi piangendo):
- Ah credimi, o m'uccido!
- Idolo mio, vien qua!
|
- Leporello:
- (To Don Giovanni.)
- If you go on, I'll laugh!
|
- Leporello (sottovoce):
- Se seguitate, io rido!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- What a quandary is this!
- I don't know what to do!
- O Lord, please protect
- My credulous heart.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Dei, che cimento è
questo!
- Non so s'io vado o resto!
- A proteggete voi
- La mia credulità.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- I hope she yields to me
quickly!
- What a nice little coup
this is!
- Nowhere have I found
- As fertile a talent as mine!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Spero che cada presto!
- Che bel colpetto è
questo!
- Più fertile talento
- Del mio, no, non si dà.
|
- Leporello:
- Already those lying lips
- Are again seducing this
poor woman
- Oh gods, protect her
- From her own credulous heart!
- (Donna Elvira disappears
from the window.)
|
- Leporello:
- Già quel mendace
labbro
- Torna a sedur costei,
- Deh proteggete, o dei!
- La sua credulità.
- (Donna Elvira parte dalla
finestra.)
|
Recitativo:
"Amico, che ti par?"
|
|
- Don Giovanni:
- My friend, what do you think?
|
- Don Giovanni (allegrissimo):
- Amore, che ti par?
|
- Leporello:
- I think you have a soul
of bronze.
|
- Leporello:
- Mi par che abbiate
- un'anima di bronzo.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Go on, what a buffoon you
are! Now listen
- closely: when she comes
out, you run to
- embrace her, give her a
caress or two,
- imitate my voice. Then skilfully
try
- to lead her away with you.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Va là, che sei il
gran gonzo! Ascolta bene:
- quando costei qui viene,
- tu corri ad abbracciarla,
- falle quattro carezze,
- fingi la voce mia: poi con
bell'arte
- cerca teco condurla in altra
parte.
|
- Leporello:
- Look, sir -
|
- Leporello:
- Ecco, Signore-
|
- Don Giovanni:
- No more arguments!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Non più repliche!
|
- Leporello:
- And if she recognizes me?
|
- Leporello:
- Ma se poi mi conosce?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- She won't recognize you
if you are careful.
- Quiet, she's coming! Careful!
- (Don Giovanni hides to
one side. Donna Elvira enters.)
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Non ti conoscerà,
se tu non vuoi.
- Zitto: ell'apre, ehì
giudizio!
- (Don Giovanni va in disparte.
Entra Donna Elvira.)
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Here I am.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Eccomi a voi.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Let's see what she does.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Veggiamo che farà.
|
- Leporello:
- What a mess!
|
- Leporello:
- Che bell'imbroglio!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- So then I can believe that
my tears have
- won over your heart? That,
penitent,
- my beloved Don Giovanni
returns to
- his duty and to my love?
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Dunque creder potrò
che i pianti miei
- abbian vinto quel cor? Dunque
pentito.
- l'amato Don Giovanni al
suo dovere
- e all'amor mio ritorna?
|
- Leporello:
- Yes, my dear!
|
- Leporello (alterando
sempre la voce):
- Sì, carina!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Cruel one, if you but knew
how many
- tears and sighs you cost
me!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Crudele, se sapeste
- quante lagrime e quanti
- sospir voi mi costaste!
|
- Leporello:
- I, my own?
|
- Leporello:
- Io, vita mia?
|
- Donna Elvira:
- You .
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Voi.
|
- Leporello:
- Poor girl, how sorry I am!
|
- Leporello:
- Poverina! Quanto mi dispiace!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Will you ever run away from
me again?
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Mi fuggirete più?
|
- Leporello:
- No, my angel .
|
- Leporello:
- No, muso bello.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Will you be mine forever?
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Sarete sempre mio?
|
- Leporello:
- Forever.
|
- Leporello:
- Sempre.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Beloved!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Carissimo!
|
- Leporello:
- Beloved !
- (Aside)
- The deception is proving
pleasant.
|
- Leporello:
- Carissima!
- (A parte)
- La burla mi dà gusto.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- My treasure!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Mio tesoro!
|
- Leporello:
- My Venus!
|
- Leporello:
- Mia Venere!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- I am all aflame for you.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Son per voi tutta foco.
|
- Leporello:
- I'm burnt to ashes.
|
- Leporello:
- Io tutto cenere.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (Aside)
- The rascal is warming up.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (A parte)
- Il birbo si riscalda.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- And you won t betray me?
|
- Donna Elvira:
- E non m'ingannerete?
|
- Leporello:
- Certainly not.
|
- Leporello:
- No, sicuro.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Swear it.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Giuratelo.
|
- Leporello:
- I swear it on this hand,
which I kiss in
- ecstasy, and those lovely
eyes.
|
- Leporello:
- Lo giuro a questa mano,
- che bacio con trasporto,
e a que' bei lumi...
|
- (Don giovanni pretends
to be killing someone.)
- Don Giovanni:
- Ha! Death to you! Run!
|
- (fingendo di uccidere
qualcheduno)
- Don Giovanni:
- Ah! eh! ih! ah! ih! ah,
sei morto...
|
- Donna Elvira, Leporello:
- Ye gods!
- (Exeunt running.)
|
- Donna Elvira e Leporello:
- Oh numi!
- (Fuggon assieme.)
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Ha, ha, ha! As long as fate
is with me,
- let's see. These are the
windows.
- Let us serenade them.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Ha, ha, ha! Par che la sorte
- mi secondi; veggiamo!
- Le finestre son queste.
Ora cantiamo.
- (Canta accompagnandosi
col mandolino)
|
Serenata:
"Deh vieni alla finestra"
|
|
- Don Giovanni:
Come to the window, my treasure,
- Come to console my lament.
- If you deny me some relief,
- I want to die before your
eyes!
- You whose mouth is sweeter
than honey,
- You whose heart cradles
sweet desires!
- Do not, my beloved, be cruel
to me!
At least let me see you, my
loved one!
|
- Don Giovanni:
Deh, vieni alla finestra, o mio tesoro,
- Deh, vieni a consolar il
pianto mio.
- Se neghi a me di dar qualche
ristoro,
- Davanti agli occhi tuoi
morir vogl'io!
- Tu ch'hai la bocca dolce
più del miele,
- Tu che il zucchero porti
in mezzo al core!
- Non esser, gioia mia, con
me crudele!
Lasciati almen veder, mio bell'amore!
|
Recitativo:
"V' è gente all finestra"
|
|
- Don Giovanni:
There's someone at the window! Perhaps she! Psst!
|
Don Giovanni:
V' è gente alla finestra: forse dessa! zi, zi!
|
- (Masetto enters followed
by a group of peasants.)
- Masetto:
- Let us not become tired.
My heart tells
- me we must find him.
|
(Entra Masetto con contandini.)
Masetto:
Non ci stanchiamo; il cor mi dice che
trovarlo dobbiam.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (Aside)
- Someone speaks!
|
Don Giovanni:
(A parte)
Qualcuno parla!
|
- Masetto:
- Halt! I think someone moves
over there.
|
Masetto:
Fermatevi; mi pare che alcuno qui si muova.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (Aside)
- Unless I m mistaken, it
s Masetto!
|
Don Giovanni:
(A parte)
Se non falle, è Masetto!
|
- Masetto:
- Who goes there? No answer.
Now then
- shoulder arms! Who goes
there?
|
Masetto:
Chi va là? Non risponde; anima, schioppo al
muso! Chi va là?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (Aside)
- He's not alone. I must be
careful.
- Friends .
- (Aside)
- I mustn't give myself away.
- Is that you, Masetto?
|
Don Giovanni:
(A parte)
Non è solo; ci vuol giudizio.
Amici.
(A parte)
Non mi voglio scoprir.
Sei tu Masetto?
|
- Masetto:
- Exactly right; and you?
|
Masetto:
Appunto quello: e tu?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Don't you know me? I'm the
servant of
- Don Giovanni:.
|
Don Giovanni:
Non mi conosci? Il servo son io di Don Giovanni.
|
- Masetto:
- Leporello, the servant of
that unworthy
- nobleman !
|
Masetto:
Leporello, servo di quell' indegno cavaliere?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Certainly! Of that scoundrel!
|
Don Giovanni:
Certo; di quel briccone!
|
- Masetto:
- Of that man without honour.
Ah, tell me
- where we can find him. We
are looking
- for him to kill him!
|
Masetto:
Di quell' uom senza onore: ah, dimmi
un poco, dove possiam trovarlo; lo
cerco con costor per trucidarlo!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (Aside)
- What nonsense!
- Well said, Masetto! I will
join
- you to put an end to that
rascal
- of a master. Now listen
- to my plan.
|
Don Giovanni:
(A parte)
Bagatelle!
Bravissimo, Masetto! Anch' io con voi
m' unisco per fargliela a quel birbo
di padrone; ma udite un po' qual è
la mia intenzione.
|
Aria:
"Metà di voi qua vadano"
|
|
Don Giovanni:
Some of you go this way,
The rest of you go that way!
And quietly, softly look for him,
He is not far from here!
If a man and a girl
You see strolling in the square,
If under some wmdow
You hear someone making love,
Fire away, by all means fire,
For it will be my master.
On his head he wears a hat
Covered with large plumes,
Over his shoulders a great cloak
And at his side a sword.
Hurry, go and find him,
But you, come with me, Masetto.
We will do the rest
And soon you will learn what that is.
(The peasants leave. )
|
Don Giovanni:
Metà di voi qua vando,
E gli altri vandan là!
E pian pianin lo cerchino,
Lontan non fia di qua!
Se un uom e una ragazza
Passeggian per la piazza,
Se sotto a una finestra
Fare all' amor sentite,
Ferite pur, ferite,
Il mio padron sarà.
In testa egli ha un cappello
Con candidi pennacchi,
Addosso un gran mantello,
E spada al fianco egli ha.
Andante, fate presto,
Tu sol verrai con me.
Noi far dobbiamo il resto,
E già vedrai cos' è.
(Partono i contadini.)
|
Recitativo:
"Zitto, lascia ch'io senta"
|
|
- Don Giovanni:
Quiet! Let me listen! Good! Now then,
we must kill him?
|
Don Giovanni:
Zitto, lascia chi' io senta! Ottimamente:
dunque dobbiam ucciderlo?
|
- Masetto:
Certainly!
|
Masetto:
Sicuro!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Wouldn't it be sufficient
to break his bones
smash his shoulders?
|
Don Giovanni:
E non ti basteria rompergli l'ossa,
fracassargli le spalle?
|
- Masetto:
No, no, I want to kill him, I want to cut
him into a hundred pieces.
|
Masetto:
No, no, voglio ammazzarlo, vo' farlo
in cento brani.
|
- Don Giovanni:
Are your weapons good ones?
|
Don Giovanni:
Hai buone arme?
|
- Masetto:
- Indeed they are! I have
this musket and
- then this pistol, too.
(He hands the weapons to
Don Giovanni for inspection.)
|
Masetto:
Cospetto! Ho pria questo moschetto,
e poi fquesta pistola.
(Dà il moschetto e la pistola a Don Giovanni.)
|
- Don Giovanni:
And then?
|
Don Giovanni:
E poi?
|
- Masetto:
Isn't that enough?
|
Masetto:
Non basta?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (Beating Masetto.)
- Oh, certainly it's enough.
Now this one is for
the pistol, this one for the musket!
|
Don Giovanni:
(Batte Masetto.)
Eh, basta certo; or prendi, questa per
la pistola, questa per il moschetto!
|
- Masetto:
- Oh, my head!
|
Masetto:
Ahi, ahi! soccorso, ahi, ahi!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Keep qulet or I'll klll
you! This one is for
- killing hlm, thls one for
wanting to cut
- him into pieces! Villain!
Blackguard!
- Food for dogs!
- (Don Giovanni exits.)
|
Don Giovanni:
Taci, o t'uccido! Questa per ammazzarlo,
questa per farlo in brani! Villano,
mascalzon! Ceffo da cani!
(Parte Don Giovanni.)
|
- Masetto:
- Oh, oh, my head! Oh, my
shoulders!
- Oh, my chest!
|
Masetto:
Ahi! ahi! la testa mia! Ahi, le spalle!
E il petto!
|
- Zerlina:
- (Entering with a torch.)
- I thought I heard Masetto's
voice!
|
Zerlina:
(Entra con lume.)
Di sentire mi parve la voce di Masetto!
|
- Masetto:
- Oh Lord, Zerlina, my Zerlina,
help me!
|
Masetto:
O Dio, Zerlina, Zerlina mia, soccorso!
|
- Zerlina:
- What happened?
|
Zerlina:
Cosa è stato?
|
- Masetto:
- The villain, the scoundrel
broke my bones
- and shattered my nerves.
|
Masetto:
L' iniquo, il scellerato mi ruppe
l'ossa e i nervi.
|
- Zerlina:
- Oh, poor me! Who?
|
Zerlina:
Oh poveretta me! Chi?
|
- Masetto:
- Leporello, or some devil
who looks
- like him!
|
Masetto:
Leporello! o qualche diavol che somiglia a lui!
|
- Zerlina:
- Cruel man, didn't I warn
you that this
- insane jealousy of yours
would bring
- some trouble? Where does
it hurt?
|
Zerlina:
Crudel, non tel diss' io che con questa
tua pazza gelosia ti ridurresti a qualche
brutto passo? Dobe ti duole?
|
English
|
Italian
|
Act 2: Scene 2
|
Atto 2: Seconda
Scena
|
Recitativo:
"Di molte faci il lume..."
|
|
A DARK COURTYARD OF DONNA ANNA'S
HOUSE.
|
ALTRIO OSCURO IN CASA DI DONNA
ANNA.
|
- Leporello:
- I see lights all around
us, my love. .
- Let us remain hidden here
awhile until they
- go away.
|
Leporello:
Di molte faci il lume s'avvivina, o
mio ben; stiamo qui un poco finchè
da noi si scosta.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- What are you afraid of,
my adored husband?
|
Donna Elvira:
Ma che temi, adorato mio sposo?
|
- Leporello:
- Nothing, nothing. Merely
precautions.
- I'll go and see if the lights
are moving
- away from us.
- (Aside)
- Oh, how to free myself of
her?
- Stay here, beloved!
|
Leporello:
Nulla, nulla - certi riguardi, io vo'
veder se il lume è già lontano.
(A parte)
Ah, come da costei liberarmi?
Rimanti, anima bella!
|
- Donna Elvira:
Ah, do not leave me!
|
Donna Elvira:
Ah! non lasciarmi!
|
"Sestetto:
"Sola, sola in buio loco"
|
|
Donna Elvira:
Alone in this dark place
I feel my heart beating loudly,
And such a fear assails me,
That I feel like dying.
|
Donna Elvira:
Sola, sola in buio loco
Palpitar il cor mi sento,
E m'assale un tal spavento,
Che mi sembra di morir.
|
- Leporello:
- The more I search for this
door,
- The harder it is to find
it.
- Softly, softly, I have found
it!
- Here's the moment to escape!
|
Leporello:
Più che cerco, men ritrovo
Questa porta sciagurata;
Piano, piano, l'ho trovata!
Ecco il tempo di fuggir!
|
- (Donna Anna and Don Ottavio
enter.)
- Don Ottavio:
- Dry your eyes, my own,
- I And ease your suffering!
- By now the shade of your
father
- Should have pity on your
grief.
|
(Entrano Donna Anna e Don
Ottavio.)
Don Ottavio:
Tergi il ciglio, o vita mia,
E dà calma al tuo dolore!
L'ombra omai del genitore
Pena avrà de' tuoi martir.
|
- Donna Anna:
- Leave me at least this outlet
- To my grief.
- Only death, my treasure,
- Can put an end to my tears.
|
Donna Anna:
Lascia almen alla mia pena
Questo piccolo ristoro;
Sol la morte, o mio tesoro,
Il mio pianto può finir.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Ah, where is my betrothed?
|
Donna Elvira:
Ah dov'e lo sposo mio?
|
- Leporello:
- If she finds me, I am lost!
|
Leporello:
Se mi trova, son perduto!
|
- Donna Elvira, Leporello:
- I see a door there.
- Softly, softly, I must leave!
- (As Leporello is about
to leave. Zerlina and Masetto appear and confront him.)
|
Donna Elvira, Leporello:
Una porta là vegg'io,
Cheto, cheto, vo' partir!
(Leporello, nell' uscire, s'incontra con Masetto e Zerlina.)
|
- Zerlina, Masetto:
- Halt, rascal! Where are
you going?
|
Zerlina, Masetto:
Ferma, briccone, dove ten vai?
|
- Donna Anna, Don Ottavio:
- There is the wretch! How
did he get here?
|
Donna Anna e Don Ottavio:
Ecco il fellone, com'era qua?
|
- Quartet:
- Ah, death to the ingrate
- Who has betrayed me!
|
Quartetto:
Ah, mora il perfido!
Che m'ha tradito!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- He is my husband! Have mercy!
|
Donna Elvira:
È mio marito! Pietà!
|
- Quartet:
- Is that Donna Elvira?
- hardly believe it! No! He
must die!
|
Quartetto:
È Donna Elvira? quella ch' io vedo?
Appena il credo! No! Morrà!
|
- (Don Ottavio draws his
sword on Leporello who removes his disguise and falls on his knees.)
- Leporello:
- Pardon, pardon me, good
people!
- am not my master; she is
mistaken!
- Let me live, I beg you!
|
(Don Ottavio in atto di
uccidere Leporello che si scopre e si mette in ginocchio.)
Leporello:
Perdon, perdono, signori miei!
Non son custode, sbaglia costei!
Viver lasciatemi per carità!
|
- Quintet:
- Lord. Leporello!
- What ruse is this?
- I am dismayed!
- What does it mean?
|
Quintetto:
Dei! Leporello!
Che inganno è questo!
Stupido resto!
Che mai sarà?
|
Sestetto:
"Mille torbidi pensieri"
|
|
- Leporello:
- A thousand srrange thoughts
- Are whirling in my head.
- If I save myself from this
storm
- It will truly be a miracle.
|
Leporello:
Mille torbidi pensieri
Mi s'aggiran per la testa;
Se mi salvo in tal tempesta,
È un prodigio in verità.
|
- Quintet:
- A thousand strange thoughts
- Are whirling in my head.
- What a day, my stars, this
is!
- What an unforeseen occurrence!
- You will see you are rhe
one
- (Exit Donna Anna.)
|
Quintetto:
Mille torbidi pensieri
Mi s'aggiran per la testa;
Che giornata, o stelle, é questa!
Che impensata novità!
(Parte Donna Anna.)
|
Recitativo:
"Dunque quello sei tu..."
|
|
- Zerlina:
- So it was you who, a short
rime ago,
- beat up my Masetto!
|
Zerlina:
Dunque quello sei tu, che il mio Masetto
poco fà crudelmente maltrattasti!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- So it was you who tricked
me, rascal
- passing yourself offas Don
Giovanni!
|
Donna Elvira:
Dunque tu m'ingannasti, o scellerato,
spacciandoti con me da Don Giovanni!
|
- Don Ottavio:
- So it was you who in this
disguise came
- here to commit some felony!
|
Don Ottavio:
Dunque tu in questi panni venisti qui
per qualche tradimento!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- It's up to me to punish
him.
|
Donna Elvira:
A me tocca punirlo.
|
- Zerlina:
- No, to me.
|
Zerlina:
Anzi a me.
|
- Don Ottavio:
- No, no, to me.
|
Don Ottavio:
No, no, a me.
|
- Masetto:
- Let us all have a hand in
it.
|
Masetto:
Accoppatelo meco tutti e tre.
|
Aria:
"Ah pietà, signori miei!"
|
|
- Leporello:
- Mercy, dear people!
- Have mercy on me!
- You are right to be angry,
- But the crime is not mine.
- My bold master
- Made me an accomplice.
- Donna Elvira, have pity!
- You now know what happened.
- Of Masetto I know nothing,
- This lady will confirm it.
- For the past hour or thereabouts,
- We have been together.
- To you, sir, I say nothing.
- I was afraid, an unlucky
chance,
- A light approaching, darkness
within,
- No way out, the door, the
wall,
- Then . . . well . . . I.
. .I started that way
- Then hid over here, you
know the rest.
- But had I known, I'd have
fled this way!
- (Leporello approaches
the door and runs out.)
|
Leporello:
Ah, pietà! signori miei!
Ah, pietà, pietà di me!
Do ragione a voi, a lei,
Ma il delitto mio non è.
Il padron cn prepotenza,
L'innocenza mi rubò.
Donna Elvira, compatite!
Già capite come andò.
Di Masetto non so nulla,
Vel dirà questa fanciulla.
È un oretta circumcirca,
Che con lei girando vo.
A voi, signore, non dico niente,
Certo timore, certo accidente,
Di fuori chaiaro, di dentro scuro,
Non c' è riparo, la porta, il muro,
Lo...il...la...vo da quel lato,
Poi qui celato, l'affar si sa!
Ma s'io sapeva, fuggia per qua!
(Leporello's avvivina alla porta e fugge.)
|
Recitativo:
"Ferma, perfido, ferma!"
|
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Halt, villain, halt!
|
Donna Elvira:
Ferma, perfido, ferma!
|
- Masetto:
- The rascal has wings on
his feet!
|
Masetto:
Il birbo ha l'ali ai piedi!
|
- Zerlina:
- How slyly he escaped us,
the wretch.
|
Zerlina:
Con qual arte si sottrasse l'iniquo.
|
|
|
- Don Ottavio:
- My friends, after such doings
we can
- no longer doubt that Don
Giovanni is the
- villainous murderer of Donna
Anna's
- father. Stay inside the
house for a
- little while, and shortly
I promise
- you vengeance. This is the
demand of
- pity, duty, and love!
|
Don Ottavio:
Amici miei, dopo eccessi si enormi, dubitar
non possiam che Don Giovanni non sia
l' empio uccisore del padre di Donn' Anna;
in questa casa per poche ore fermatevi,
un ricorso vo' far a chi si deve, e in pochi
istanti vendicarvi prometto. Così vuole
dover, pietade, affetto!
|
Aria:
"Il mio tesoro"
|
|
- Don Ottavio:
Meanwhile my treasure
- Go and console,
- And from her lovely eyes
- Try to dry the tears.
- Tell her that her wrongs
- I am going to avenge,
- That I shall not retum
- Except with tidings of his
death.
(They all leave except for
Donna Elvira)
|
Don Ottavio:
Il mio tesoro intanto
Andate a consolar,
E del bel ciglio il pianto
Cercate di asciugar.
Ditele che i suoi torti
A vendicar io vado;
Che sol di stragi e morti
Nunzio vogl' io tornar.
(Partono meno Donna Elvira.)
|
Recitativo:
"In quali eccessi..."
|
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Into what excesses, oh Lord,
into what
- horrible misdeeds the scoundrel
has
- fallen! Ah no, the wrath
and the justice
- of Heaven cannot delay any
longer.
- I already seem to see the
fatal thunderbolt
- striking his head! I see
the grave opening
- at his feet! Wretched Elvira!
What
- contrasting emotions rend
me apart
- Why those sighs? Why this
anguish?
|
Donna Elvira:
In qulai eccessi, o Nui, in quai misfatti
orribili tremendi è avvolto il sciagurato!
Ah no! non puote tardar i'ira del cielo,
la giustizia tardar. Sentir già parmi la
fatale saetta, che gli piomba sul capo!
Aperto veggio il baratro mortal!
Misera Elvira! Che contrasto d'affetti,
in sen ti nasce! Perchè questi sospiri?
E queste ambascie?
|
&
Aria: "Mi tradì quell' alma ingrata"
|
|
- That ungrateful wretch betrayed
me,
- Made me miserable, oh Lord.
- He betrayed and abandoned
me,
- But I still would forgive
him.
- When I feel my dreadful
anguish,
- My heart cries out for vengeance,
- But if I gaze upon his features,
My heart still beats with excitement.
|
Mi tradì, quell' alma
ingrata,
Infelice, o Dio, mi fa.
Ma tradita e abbandonata,
Provo ancor per lui pietà.
Quando sento il mio tormento,
Di vendetta il cor favella,
Ma se guardo il suo cimento,
Palpitando il cor mi va.
|
English
|
Italian
|
Act 2: Scene 3
|
Atto 2: Terza Scena
|
Scena: "Ah, ah, ah, questa è buona..."
|
|
A GRAVEYARD, NIGHT
|
CIMINTERO, NOTTE.
|
- (This lonely spot is decorated with a numher of equestrian statues
including one of the COMMANDANT.)
|
(Luogo chiuso con diverse statue, tra le quali quella del Commendatore.)
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (Entering over the wall.)
- Ha, ha, ha. That's a good one. Now let
- her try to find me! What a lovely night!
- It's clearer than daytime, almost made
- for chasing after girls. Is it late? Oh,
- not yet two o'clock. I would like to
- hear how the affair ended between
- Leporello: and Donna Elvira. I wonder
- if he was prudent!
|
Don Giovanni:
(Salendo il muro.)
Ah, ah, ah questa è buona, or lasciala
cercar; ceh bella notte! È più chiara
del giorno, sembra fatta per gir a
zonzo a caccia di ragazze. È tardi?
Oh, ancor non sono due della notte;
avrei voglia un po' di saper
come è finito l' affar tra Leporello e Donna Elvira: s' egli
ha avuto giudizio!
|
- Leporello:
- (From behind the wall.)
- He wants to be the ruin of me.
|
Leporello:
(Dietro il muro.)
Alfin vuole ch'io faccia un precipizio.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- It is he. Oh, Leporello:!
|
Don Giovanni:
È desso. Eh, Leporello!
|
- Leporello:
- Who wants me?
|
Leporello:
Chi mi chiama?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Don't you know your master?
|
Don Giovanni:
Non conosci il padron?
|
- Leporello:
- If only I didn't!
|
Leporello:
Così nol conoscessi!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- What, you wretch?
|
Don Giovanni:
Come, birbo?
|
- Leporello:
- (Entering.)
- Ah, it's you? Pardon me.
|
Leporello:
(Entrando.)
Ah, siete voi? Scusate.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- What happened?
|
Don Giovanni:
Cosa è stanto?
|
- Leporello:
- Because of you I was nearly killed.
|
Leporello:
Per cagion vostra io fui quasi accoppato.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Well, would you not have been honoured?
|
Don Giovanni:
Ebben, non era questo un onore per te?
|
- Leporello:
- It's an honour I can do without.
|
Leporello:
Signor, vel dono.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Come, come! Now listen! What wonderful
- things I have to tell you.
|
Don Giovanni:
Via, via, vien qua, vien qua; Che belle
cose ti deggio dir.
|
- Leporello:
- But what are you doing here?
|
Leporello:
Ma cosa fate qui?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Come over here and I'll tell you. A number
- of amusing incidents have befallen me
- since we separated, but I will relate
- them another time. Just now there is
- only one I will tell you.
|
Don Giovanni:
Vien dentro e lo saprai: diverse
istorielle che accadute mi son dacchè
partisti, ti dirò un' altra volta: or la
più bella ti vo' solo narrar.
|
- Leporello:
- A feminine incident, undoubtedly?
|
Leporello:
Donnesca al certo?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Of course. I met a girl on the street
- a lovely young thing. I followed her
- took her hand. She tried to escape.
- I spoke a few words, and she mistook
- me for, but guess who?
|
Don Giovanni:
C' è dubbio? Una fanciulla, bella, giovin,
galante, per la strada incontrai; le
vado appresso, la prendo per la man,
fuggir mi vuole; dico poche parole,
ella mi piglia, sai per chi?
|
- Leporello:
- I have no idea.
|
Leporello:
Non lo so.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- For Leporello.
|
Don Giovanni:
Per Leporello.
|
- Leporello:
- For me?
|
Leporello:
Per me?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- For you.
|
Don Giovanni:
Per te.
|
- Leporello:
- How nlce.
|
Leporello:
Va bene.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- So then she took my hand.
|
Don Giovanni:
Per la mano essa allora mi prende.
|
- Leporello:
- Better still.
|
Leporello:
Ancora meglio.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- She caressed me, embraced me: "My dear
- Leporello! Leporello, my dear!" So I
- realized she was one of your conquests.
|
Don Giovanni:
M' accarezza, mi abbraccia: "Caro il mio
Leporello! Leporello!, mio caro!" Allor
m' accorsi ch' era qualche tua bella.
|
- Leporello:
- Damn you!
|
Leporello:
Oh maledetto!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Naturally I took advantage of her mistake.
- I don't know how she recognised me, but
- suddenly she began to scream. I heard
- people coming and I ran away. Then
- quickly I climbed over the wall.
|
Don Giovanni:
Dell' inganno approfitto; non so come
mi riconosce, grida; sento gente, a
fuggire mi metto, e pronto pronto
per quel muretto in questa loco
io monto.
|
- Leporello:
- And you tell me this with such indifference?
|
Leporello:
E mi dite la cosa con tanta indifferenza?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Why not?
|
Don Giovanni:
Perchè no?
|
- Leporello:
- But what if the girl had been my wife?
|
Leporello:
Ma se fosse costei strata mia moglie?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Better still!
|
Don Giovanni:
Meglio ancora!
|
- The Statue:
- You will have your last laugh before
- the next dawn!
|
La Statua:
Di rider finirai pria dell' aurora!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Who spoke?
|
Don Giovanni:
Chi ha parlato?
|
- Leporello:
- Ah, it must be some spirit from another
- world who knows you well.
|
Leporello:
Ah, qualche anima sarà dell' altro mondo,
che vi conosce a fondo.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Keep quiet, you fool. Who goes there?
- (He takes out his sword.)
|
Don Giovanni:
Taci, sciocco! Chi va là?
(Mette mano alla spada.)
|
- The Statue:
- Audacious libertine! Leave the dead in peace!
|
La Statua:
Ribaldo, audace! Lascia ai morti la pace!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- It must be someone outside having a joke
- on us! Hey, isn't this the Commandant's
- statue? Read the inscription.
|
Don Giovanni:
Sarà qualcun di fuori che si burla di noi!
Ehi, del Commendator non è questa la statua? Leggi un poco
quella iscrizion.
|
- Leporello:
- Excuse me, but I never learned to
- read by moonlight.
|
Leporello:
Scusate, non ho imparato a leggere a'
raggi della luna.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Read, I tell you!
|
Don Giovanni:
Leggi, dico!
|
- Leporello:
- "Upon the base one who sent me to my
- death I here await vengeance." Did you
- hear that? I'm afraid!
|
Leporello:
"Dell' empio che mi trasse al passo
estremo qui attendo la vendetta."
|
- Don Giovanni:
- You old buffoon! Tell him that tonight
- I expect him for dinner!
|
Don Giovanni:
O vecchio buffonissimo! Digli che questa
sera l'attendo a cenar meco!
|
- Leporello:
- What madness! But I think - oh Lord, look
- at the terrible glance he threw us!
- He seems alive! As if he heard us and
- wants to speak!
|
Leporello:
Che pazzia! Ma vir par - o Dei, mirate,
che terribili occhiate egli ci dà! Par
vivo! Par che senta, e che voglia
parlar!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Go on, go over there! Or I'll kill
- spot and bury you right here!
|
Don Giovanni:
Orsù, va là! O qui t'ammazzo, e poi ti
seppellisco!
|
- Leporello:
- Softly, softly, sir. Now I obey.
|
Leporello:
Piano, piano, signore, ora ubbidisco.
|
Duetto: "O statua gentilissima"
|
|
Leporello:
Oh, most noble statue
Of the great Commandant . . .
Master, I'm afraid.
I cannot go through with it!
|
Leporello:
O statua gentilissima
Del gran Commendatore...
Pardon! Mi trema il core,
Non posso terminar!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Finish it, or in your breast
- I'll sink this blade!
|
Don Giovanni:
Finiscila, o nel petto
Ti metto questo acciar!
|
Leporello:
What a mess! What an idea!
|
Leporello:
Che impiccio, che capriccio!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- What fun! What a joke!
|
Don Giovanni:
Che gusto! Che spassetto!
|
- Leporello:
- I'm frozen with fright!
|
Leporello:
Io sentomi gelar!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- I want to make him tremble!
|
Don Giovanni:
Lo voglio far tremar!
|
- Leporello:
- Oh, most noble statue,
- Although you're made of marble...
- Ah, master, look!
- He's gazing at me still!
|
Leporello:
O statua gentilissima,
Benchè di marmo siate...
Ah padron! Padron mio! Mirate!
Che seguita a guardar!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Die then!
|
Don Giovanni:
Mori, mori!
|
- Leporello:
- No, wait!
- Sir, my master,
- I said my master, not I,
- Would like to dine with you!
- Ah, what a scene this is!
- Oh Heaven, he nodded his head!
|
Leporello:
No, attendete!
Signor, il padron mio,
Badate ben, non io,
Vorria con voi cenar!
Ah, che scena è questa!
O ciel! Chinò la testa!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Go on! You're a buffoon!
|
Don Giovanni:
Va là, che sei un buffone!
|
- Leporello:
- Look again, master!
|
Leporello:
Guardate ancor, padrone!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- What should I look at?
|
Don Giovanni:
E che degg'io guardar?
|
- Leporello, Don Giovanni:
- With his marble head,
- He nods like this, like this!
|
Leporello, Don Giovanni:
Colla marmorea testa,
Ei fa così, così!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (To the statue)
- Speak, if you can.
- You'll come to dinner?
|
Don Giovanni:
(Alla Statua.)
Parlate, se potete.
Verrete a cena?
|
- The Statue:
- Yes!
|
La Statua:
Sì!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- The scene is truly strange.
- The old man will come to dinner.
- Let us go and prepare it,
- Let us leave this place.
|
Don Giovanni:
Bizzarra è in ver la scena,
Verrà il buon vecchio a cena.
A prepararla andiamo,
Partiamo via di qua!
|
- Leporello:
- I can barely move.
- My strength, oh Lord, has fled!
- For pity's sake, let's go,
- Let's fly away from here!
- (Exeunt.)
|
Leporello:
Mover mi posso appena,
Mi manca, o Dei, la lena!
Per carità, partiamo,
Andiamo via di qua!
(Partono.)
|
English
|
Italian
|
Act 2: Scene 5
|
Atto 2: Quinta
Scena
|
Finale:
"Già la mensa è preparata:
|
|
A ROOM IN DON GIOVANNI'S HOUSE.
|
SALA IN CASA DI DON GIOVANNI
|
- (A table has been prepared
for supper.)
- Don Giovanni:
- The dinner is prepared.
- Play, my dear friends!
- Since I spend my money freely,
- I want to be amused.
- Leporello, serve me, quickly.
|
(Una mensa preparata per
mangiare.)
Don Giovanni:
Già la mensa è preparata.
Voi suonate, amici cari!
Giacchè spendo i miei danari,
Io mi voglio divertir.
Leporello, presto in tavola.
|
- Leporello:
- 1 am ready to serve you.
|
Leporello:
Son prontissimo a servir.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Since I spend my money freely,
- I want to be amused.
- Play, my dear friends!
- (His musicians begin
to play an aria from Martin's "Una rosa rara". )
|
Don Giovanni:
Giacchè spendo i miei danari,
Io mi voglio divertir.
Voi suonate, amici cari!
(i suonatori cominciano a suonare un' aria da "Una cosa rara" di
Martin.)
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Excellent! "Cosa rara"!
- What do you think of this
fine concert?
|
Don Giovanni:
Bravi!" Cosa rara"!
Che ti par del bel concerto?
|
- Leporello:
- It is worthy of you.
|
Leporello:
È conforme al vostro al vostro merto.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Ah, what a delicate dish!
|
Don Giovanni:
Ah che piatto saporito!
|
- Leporello:
- (Aside)
- Ah, what a barbarous appetite!
- What gigantic mouthfuls!
- I think I'm going to faint.
|
Leporello:
(A parte)
Ah che barbaro appetito!
Che bocconi da gigante!
Mi par proprio di svenir.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (Aside)
- As he sees my huge mouthfuls,
- He thinks he's going to
faint.
- Service!
|
Don Giovanni:
(A parte)
Nel veder i miei bocconi
Gli par proprio di svenir.
|
- Leporello:
- At once!
- (The orchestra begins
to play a piece from Paisiello's "Fra i due litiganti il terzo gode".)
|
Leporello:
Servo!
(I suonatori cominciano a suonare una composizione di Pasisiello da
"Fra i due litiganti il terzo gode".)
|
- Leporello:
- Hurray for "the litiganti"!
|
- Leporello:
- Evvivano i litiganti.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Pour the wine!
- Excellent marzimino!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Versa il vino!
- Eccellente marzimino!
|
- Leporello:
- (Aside)
- This piece of pheasant
- I myself will swallow.
|
- Leporello:
(A parte)
- (Questo pezzo di fagiano,
- Piano piano vo'inghiottir.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (Aside)
- The rogue is eating!
- H'll pretend I do not notice.
- (The orchestra begins
to play from Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro".)
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (A parte)
Sta mangiando, quel marrano!
- Fingerò di non capir.
|
- Leporello:
- I know this piece only too
well.
|
- Leporello:
- Questa poi la conosco pur
troppo.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Leporello!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Leporello!
|
- Leporello:
- (His mouth full.)
- Master!
|
- Leporello:
- (Colla bocca piena.)
Padron mio!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Speak clearly, you rascal!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Parla schietto, mascalzone.
|
- Leporello:
- A cold prevents me
- From speaking any better.
|
- Leporello:
- Non mi lascia una flussione
- Le parole proferir.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- While I eat whistle something.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Mentre io mangio fischia
un poco.
|
- Leporello:
- I don't know how I can.
|
- Leporello:
- Non so far.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Why not?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Cos'è?
|
- Leporello:
- Excuse me, but your cook
is so excellent
- That I too wanted to taste
it.
|
- Leporello:
- Scusate!
- Sì eccellente è
il vostro cuoco,
- Che lo volli anch'io provar.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- So excellent is my cook,
- That he too wanted to taste
it.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Sì eccellente è
il cuoco mio,
- Che lo volle anch'ei provar.
|
Finale:
"L' ultima prova dell' amor mio"
|
|
- Donna Elvira:
- (Entering excitedly.)
- The last test of your love
- I want to make now.
- no longer remember your
lies,
- Pity I feel.
|
- Donna Elvira:
(antrando disperata)
- L'ultima prova dell'amor
mio
- Ancor vogl'io fare con te.
- Più non rammento
gl'inganni tuoi,
- Pietade io sento.
|
- Don Giovanni, Leporello:
- What is it?
|
- Don Giovanni e Leporello:
- Cos'è?
|
- Donna Elvira:
- My sorrowful heart
- Does not beg for boons.
|
- Donna Elvira (:
- Da te non chiede
- quest'alma oppressa
- Della sua fede
- qualche merce'.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- I am amazed! What do you
ask?
- If you don't arise, I won
t remain standing.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Mi maraviglio!
- Cosa volete?
- (Per beffarla s'inginocchia)
Se non sorgete non resto in pie'.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Ah, do not laugh at my despair!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Ah non deridere
- gli affani miei!
|
- Leporello:
- She almost makes me weep.
|
- Leporello:
- (Quasi da piangere
- mi fa costei.)
|
- Don Giovanni:
- I laugh at you? What for?
- What do you want, my dear?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Io te deridere!
- Cielo, e perché?
- (con affettata tenerezza)
- Che vuoi, mio bene!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- That you change your ways!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Che vita cangi!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Good for you!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Brava!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Faithless heart!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Cor perfido!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Faithless heart?
- Now let me eat,
- And if you wish to, eat
with me.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Lascia ch'io mangi,
- E se ti piace,
- mangia con me.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Stay here then, ingrate!
- Wallow in your crimes,
- A horrible example of iniquity!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Rèstati, barbaro!
- Nel lezzo immondo
- Esempio orribile
- d'inquinità!
- (Parte.)
|
- Leporello:
- If her grief fails to move
him,
- His heart is of stone, or
he has none at all.
|
- Leporello:
- (Se non si muove
- al suo dolore,
- Di sasso ha il core,
- o cor non ha.)
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Hurray for women,
- Hurrayforwine!
- The substance and glory
of humanity!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Vivan le femmine,
- Viva il buon vino!
- Sostegno e gloria
- d'umanità!
|
(Donna Elvira starts to
leave through one door, screams recoils and rushes out through another
one.)
|
- (Donna Elvira sorte,
grida, rientra, e fugge dall'altra parte.)
|
Finale:
"Che grido è questo mai?"
|
|
- Don Giovanni, Leporello:
- Why did she scream?
|
- Don Giovanni e Leporello:
- Che grido è questo
mai?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Go and see what it was.
- (Lepoello goes out to
look, screams, and returns.)
- What a scream!
- Leporello, what is it?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Va a veder che cosa è
stato.
- (Leporello esce.)
- Che grido indiavolato!
- Leporello, che cos'è?
|
- Leporello:
- Oh, sir, for pity's sake
- Don't leave the room!
- The man of stone, the man
in white,
- Ah, master I'm afraid, I'm
going to faint.
- If you could see what he
looks like,
- If you could hear how he
moves&emdash;
- Ta! Ta! Ta! Ta!
|
- Leporello (entra
spaventato e chiude l'uscio):
- Ah, signor, per carità!
- Non andate fuor di qua!
- L'uom di sasso, l'uomo bianco,
- Ah padrone! Io gelo, io
manco.
- Se vedeste che figura,
- se sentiste come fa
- Ta! Ta! Ta! Ta!
- (imitando i passi del Commendatore.)
|
- Don Giovanni:
- I understand none of this.
- You've gone out of your
mind.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Non capisco niente affatto.
- Tu sei matto in verità.
- (Si batte alla porta.)
|
- Leporello:
- Ah, listen!
|
- Leporello:
- Ah sentite!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Someone knocks.
- Open the door!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Qualcun batte!
- Apri!
|
- Leporello:
- I'm afraid!
|
- Leporello:
- Io tremo!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Open it, I say!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Apri, dico!
|
- Leporello:
- Ah!
|
- Leporello:
- Ah!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Lunatic! To put an end to
it
- I shall have to go myself.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Per togliermi d'intrico
- Ad aprir io stesso andrò.
|
- Leporello:
- I have no wish to see that
again,
- So quietly I'll hide.
- (The statue enters. Leporello
hides under the table.)
|
- Leporello:
- Non vo' più veder
l'amico
- Pian pianin m'asconderò.
- (Si cela sotto la tavola.)
|
Finale:
"Don Giovanni, a cenar teco?"
|
|
- The Statue:
- Don Giovanni, you invited
me to dinner
- And I have come.
|
- La Statua:
- Don Giovanni, a cenar teco
- M'invitasti e son venuto!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- I never would have believed
it,
- But I will do what I can.
- Leporello, see to it
- That another dinner is served
at once!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Non l'avrei giammai creduto;
- Ma farò quel che
potrò.
- Leporello, un altra cena
- Fa che subito si porti!
|
- Leporello:
- Ah, master, we are lost.
|
- Leporello (facendo
capolino di sotto alla tavola):
- Ah padron! Siam tutti morti.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Go, I said!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Vanne dico!
|
- The Statue:
- Wait a moment! He who dines
on
- Heavenly food
- Has no need for the food
of mortals!
- Other more serious considerations
- Have caused me to come here!
|
- La Statua:
- Ferma un po'!
- Non si pasce di cibo mortale
- chi si pasce di cibo celeste;
- Altra cure più gravi
di queste,
- Altra brama quaggiù
mi guidò!
|
- Leporello:
- I feel as if I have a fever,
- For I cannot control my
limbs.
|
- Leporello:
- La terzana d'avere mi sembra
- E le membra fermar più
non so.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Speak then! What do you
ask? What do you wish?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (Parla dunque! Che chiedi!
Che vuoi?
|
- The Statue:
- I will speak. Listen! My
time is short!
|
- La Statua:
- Parlo; ascolta! Più
tempo non ho!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Speak then, for I am listening.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Parla, parla, ascoltandoti
sto.
|
- The Statue:
- You invited me to dinner,
- Now you know your duty.
- Answer me: will you come
to dine with me?
|
- La Statua:
- Tu m'invitasti a cena,
- Il tuo dover or sai.
- Rispondimi: verrai
- tu a cenar meco?
|
- Leporello:
- Oh my! Excuse him, but he
hasn't time.
|
- Leporello:
- Oibò; tempo non ha,
scusate.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- No one will ever say of
me
- That I have ever been afraid.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- A torto di viltate
- Tacciato mai sarò.
|
- The Statue:
- Make up your mind!
|
- La Statua:
- Risolvi!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- I have done so already.
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Ho già risolto!
|
- The Statue:
- You will come?
|
- La Statua:
- Verrai?
|
- Leporello:
- Tell him no!
|
- Leporello:
- Dite di no!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- My heart beats firmly.
- I'm not afraid: I'll come!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Ho fermo il cuore in petto:
- Non ho timor: verrò!
|
- The Statue:
- Give me your hand upon it!
|
- La Statua:
- Dammi la mano in pegno!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Here it is!
- (He give the Statue his
hand.)
- Oh me!
|
- Don Giovanni
(porgendogli la mano):
- Eccola! Ohimé!
|
- The Statue:
- What is wrong?
|
- La Statua:
- Cos'hai?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- What is this deadly chill?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Che gelo è questo
mai?
|
- The Statue:
- Repent! Change your ways,
- For this is your last hour!
|
- La Statua:
- Pentiti, cangia vita
- È l'ultimo momento!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- (Trying to free himself.)
- No, no , I will not repent.
- Leave me be!
|
- Don Giovanni
(vuol scoigliersi, ma invano):
- No, no, ch'io non mi pento,
- Vanne lontan da me!
|
- The Statue:
- Repent, you scoundrel!
|
- La Statua:
- Pentiti, scellerato!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- No, you old fool!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- No, vecchio infatuato!
|
- The Statue:
- Repent!
|
- La Statua:
- Pentiti!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- No!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- No!
|
- The Statue:
- Yes!
|
- La Statua:
- Sì!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- No!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- No!
|
- The Statue:
- Ah, your time is up!
- (The statue disappears.
Flames surround Don Giovanni. )
|
- La Statua:
- Ah! tempo più non
v'è!
- (Fuoco da diverse parti,
il Commendatore sparisce, e s'apre
- una voragine.)
|
Finale:
"Da qual tremore insolito"
|
|
- Don Giovanni:
- What strange fear
- Now assails my soul!
- Where do those
- Flames of horror come from?
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Da qual tremore insolito
- Sento assalir gli spiriti!
- Dond'escono quei vortici
- Di foco pien d'orror?
|
- Chorus of Demons:
- No horror is too dreadful
for you!
- Come, there are worse in
store!
|
- Coro di diavoli:
- Tuuo a tue colpe è
poco!
- Vieni, c'è un mal
peggior!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Who lacerates my soul?
- Who torments my body?
- What torment, oh me, what
agony!
- What a Hell! What a terror!
|
- Don Giovanni:
- Chi l'anima mi lacera?
- Chi m'agita le viscere?
- Che strazio, ohimè,
che smania!
- Che inferno, che terror!
|
- Leporello:
- What a look of desperarion!
- The gestures of the dammed!
- What cries, what laments!
- How he makes mr afraid!
- (The flames engulf Don
Giovanni. The scene returns to normal and the other characters enter.)
|
- Leporello:
- (Che ceffo disperato!
- Che gesti da dannato!
- Che gridi, che lamenti!
- Come mi fa terror!)
- (Cresce il fuoco, compariscono
diverse furie, s'impossessano
- di Don Giovanni e seco lui
sprofondano.)
|
- Epilogo:
"Ah, dov' è il perfido?"
|
|
- Donna Elvira, Zerlina,
Don Ottavio, Masetto:
- Where is the villain?
- Where is the ingrate?
- All my rageI want to vent
on him!
|
- Donna Elvira, Zerlina,
Don Ottavio e Masetto:
- Ah, dov'è il perfido?
- Dov'è l'indegno?
- Tutto il mio sdegno
Sfogar io vo'!
|
- Donna Anna:
- Only when I see him
- Bound in chains
- Will my anguish
- Be soothed.
|
- Donna Anna:
- Solo mirandolo
- Stretto in catene
- Alle mie pene
- Calma darò.
|
- Leporello:
- Abandon hope
- Of ever finding him.
- Give up your search,
- He has gone far away.
|
- Leporello:
- Più non sperate
- Di ritrovarlo,
- Più non cercate.
- Lontano andò.
|
- The Others:
- What has happened? Tell
us!
|
- Tutti:
- Cos'è? Favella! Via
presto, sbrigati!
|
- Leporello:
- A giant came,
- But I can't go on&emdash;
|
- Leporello:
- Venne un colosso... Ma se
non posso...
|
- The Others:
- Come now, hurry up!
|
- Gli Altri:
- Via presto, sbrigati!
|
- Leporello:
- In flame and smoke,
- Listen to this,
- The man of stone -
- Wait a moment-
- Right there
- Gave the sign,
- And right there the Devil
- Came and swallowed him up!
|
- Leporello:
- Tra fumo e fuoco... Badate
un poco...
- L'uomo di sasso... Fermate
il passo... Giusto là sotto... Diede il gran botto... Giusto
là il diavolo -
- Sel'trangugiò.
|
- The Others:
- My stars, what did I hear!
|
- Tutti:
- Stelle, che sento!
|
- Leporello:
- I've told you the truth!
|
- Leporello:
- Vero è l'evento!
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Ah, it must have been the
ghost
- That met me out there.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Ah, certo è l'ombra
- Che m'incontrò.
|
Donna Anna, Zerlina, Don
Ottavio, Masetto:
Ah, it must have been the ghost
That met her out there.
|
- Donna Anna, Zerlina,
Don Ottavio e Masetto:
- Ah, certo è l'ombra
- Che l'incontrò.
|
Epilogo:
"Or che tutti, o mio tesoro"
|
|
- Don Ottavio:
- Now, my treasure, that we
- Have all been avenged by
Heaven,
- Grant me my reward,
- Do not let me pine any more.
|
- Don Ottavio:
- Or che tutti, o mio tesoro,
- Vendicati siam dal cielo,
- Porgi, porgi a me un ristoro,
- Non mi far languire ancor.
|
- Donna Anna:
- My dearest, let me mourn
- For one year more.
|
- Donna Anna:
- Lascia, o caro, un anno
ancora
- Allo sfogo del mio cor.
|
- Don Ottavio:
- As a lover must yield to
the desires
- Of one who adores me.
|
- Don Ottavio:
- Al desio di chi m'adora
- Ceder deve un fido amor.
|
- Donna Anna:
- As a lover you must yield
to the desires
- Of one who adores you.
|
- Donna Anna:
- Al desio di chi t'adora
- Ceder deve un fido amor.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- I shall retire to a convent
- To end my life there.
|
- Donna Elvira:
- Io men vado in un ritiro
- A finir la vita mia!
|
- Zerlina:
- We, Masetto, will go home
- To dine together!
|
- Zerlina:
- Noi, Masetto, a casa andiamo!
- A cenar in compagnia!
|
- Masetto:
- We, Zerlina, will go home
- To dine together!
|
- Masetto:
- Noi, Zerlina, a casa andiamo!
- A cenar in compagnia!
|
- Leporello:
- And I'll go to the tavern
- And find myself a better
master.
|
- Leporello:
- Ed io vado all'osteria
- A trovar padron miglior.
|
Epilogo:
"Resti dunque quel birbon"
|
|
- Zerlina, Masetto and
Leporello:
- So the wretch can stay
- Down there with Prosperine
and Pluto.
- And we, good people, will
now
- Gaily sing to you
- The old, old refrain:
|
- Zerlina, Masetto e Leporello:
- Resti dunque quel birbon
- Con Proserpina e Pluton.
- E noi tutti, o buona gente,
- Ripetiam allegramente
- L'antichissima canzon:
|
Epilogo:
"Questo è fin"
|
|
- All:
- This is the end which befalls
evildoers,
- And in this life scoundrels
- Always receive their just
deserts.
|
- Tutti:
- Questo è il fin di
chi fa mal;
- E de' perfidi la morte
- Alla vita è sempre
ugual.
|
Readings
|
1. From Hermann Abert's
"Mozart's Don Giovanni"
The construction of the second Finale shows considerable dramatic and
poetic skill. Once again we see Don Giovanni and his shadow Leporello,
surrounded by material pleasures. From the very beginning a glittering
D major envelopes us in the festive atmosphere of a grand banquet of the
time. Then the resident orchestra strikes up, as on all such occasions
in Vienna: in this case it is a wind band, the sound of whose instruments
is in itself humorous in colour. Here again we have a "musical joke" but
of a far more subtle kind, and it seems quite plausible that the idea
of the Tafelmusik occurred to Mozart only during the rehearsals.
The first two pieces that are played are pretty monotonous trifles from
the operas mentioned, which for that very reason had become great popular
favorites Ü Mozart knew his public well. More witty, though is the frivolous
reinterpretation of the texts in terms of the present, down to earth situation;
when the voices occasionally move in unison with the tune it sounds as
it they were ridiculing the old parodies that Mozart knew, after all,
from the manuscript books of this youth. But then the musicians oblige
with a theme from Figaro. Here again, the portrait of Cherubino,
the young aristocrat, is transferred in a delightful manner to the greedily
munching Leporello and so to the chef in praise of his excellent cuisine.
Thus the intervention of the supernatural is preceded by a mundane picture
of a thoroughly ordinary day in the life of a nobleman. Don Giovanni and
his servant are so engrossed in their eating, drinking and music that
they have long forgotten the statue. But when Elvira appears the mood
suddenly changes. The "last token of her love" that she wants to give
Don Giovanni, whose frivolous behavior makes it even more difficult for
her, is to warn him of the consequences of his deeds Ü consequences she
clearly foresees since her nature is so close to his. (That she wants
to "see him die as a penitent" is simply not supported by the text.) The
conception is the same as Moliere's: in her anxiety for her lover's life,
her affection is such that she only wishes to save him from annihilation,
The idea is as simple as it is beautiful, and one should guard against
labelling her as another Gretchen [from Goethe's Faust], which
would be completely alien to Mozart's way of thinking. With true psychological
insight he has not reduced Elvira's passionate nature to a lofty resignation,
but, on the contrary, extended it to an undreamt-of intensity Ü what a
contrast to Donna Anna's development! In breathless haste, mostly in disjointed
phrases which often sound more like cries, the melodic line sweeps along,
urged on by Don Giovanni's resistance to ever new displays of passion.
Nowhere else in the opera does her closeness to his elemental nature emerge
so clearly; it is as if a part of his own being had risen up against him.
Don Giovanni summons up all his strength to fight this unexpected opposition.
His superiority expresses itself in icy scorn, and only his equally disconnected
fragments of melody betray the fact that he, too, is in a state of great
agitation. His derision is all the more frightening because he never descends
so far as to be offensive: even here, he remains the perfect aristocrat.
His mockery reaches a climax in a theme, several times repeated, which
stands out against the otherwise rich orchestral sound and amounts almost
to a popular ditty. It is also noteworthy that Don Giovanni never refers
to Elvira's words. First he invites her to dine with him, then he drinks
the health of all women Ü that is all that remains of the traditional
toast....
This is the point at which the conflict comes to a head. The Allegro represents
the voice of the Inferno, with a male unison chorus in the style of Gluck.
In the bass line the dotted rhythm of the statue still booms on, but then
the upheaval that is taking place in nature, in fiery turns of phrase
and wildly tugging syncopation. The fact that nature now raises its voice
signifies far more than an external increase of intensity. It lends the
Finale an almost mythical quality, and with a sense of trepidation we
feel the oneness of hate, nature and man. After Don Giovanni's disappearance
the storm subsides in a beautiful plagal cadence, its fury still vibrating
softly in the chromatic lines of the inner parts. A mighty crescendo leads
to the D major chord which produces an incomparable effect, not in the
sense of a "happy" resolution, but as an expression of cold pitiless majesty.
To this day this part of the Finale is regarded as one of the highlights
of musical drama, not to be surpassed. JahnĶs comment is pertinent: "The
mood of the sublime and the supernatural to which we submit without reserve
is so securely maintained all through a comparatively long scene that
the listener is carried away in Mozart's grip, soaring clear-eyed above
the abyss in breathless suspense." One has to make sure, however, that
the shattering impact of the music is not weakened by spectacular stage
effects such as fireworks, devilish masks, conflagrations, the collapse
of the palace, etc. In Prague the technical equipment of the theatre precluded
anything of the kind, but theatrical directors soon seized upon this "grateful"
scene and loaded it with various effects borrowed from popular plays;
(At a performance in Berne in 1810, panic broke out when the six devils
engaged for the occasion were joined by a self-appointed seventh; two
of them came to grief.) later on, the engineering skills of romantic opera
were brought into play. Don Giovanni's house was made to fall in, the
churchyard with the equestrian statue reappeared, and so on.
All this is partly bound up with the question of what attitude one should
adopt towards the movements of the Finale that are still to follow. It
was soon recognized that after the ghost scene they present a difficult
problem. The original score suggests cutting the Larghetto in so far as
it deals only with the personal affairs of those concerned. Mozart must
therefore have toyed with the idea of at least shortening the scene, even
in Prague. In Vienna he wanted to bring the pursuers on to the stage at
the last moment, to utter a cry of horror on the D major chord; but he
rejected this too, and we do not know whether the idea was ever carried
out. In any case, the opera finished on this occasion with the catastrophic
end of Don Giovanni, as it generally did later on. An exception was the
Dresden Opera, which until 1836 included the complete Finale.
In the romantic era there were, however, most unfortunate attempts to
change the final scene altogether. At a performance in Paris, after Don
Giovanni's fall, Donna Anna's coffin was surrounded by a group of mourners
who sang the "Dies Irae" from Mozart's Requiem. Kugler suggested
that the scene should be changed to the Commendatore's memorial chapel,
and that for his funeral rites the chorus should sing again from the Requiem,
"Lux eterna luceat ei (not 'eis' since there was only one person), domine,
cum sanctis tuis quia pius es." Then the "Osanna in excelsis" would make
a "suitable" ending. To crown everything, Schurig proposed that Don Giovanni
and Leporello should rush to the churchyard after the ghost has vanished,
to see whether the statue is still standing on its pedestal; they find
that it is, illuminated in a fantastic manner. From the vaults pious chants
are heard. Don Giovanni, racked by the fire within him, finally dies "unrepenting"
while Leporello "kneels in prayer"; day breaks and the pious chants are
heard again. One really cannot ask for more in the way of up-to-date "atmosphere".
The only thing that remains completely obscure is what music Schurig had
in mind.
Let this catalogue of sins committed against the end of the opera suffice
to show that no modern school of thought has any reason to be proud of
its sense of style. We have no right to distort Mozart's masterpiece by
a stagey finish, either in the manner of Meyerbeer [a 19th-century composer
of French "grand opera"] or in the most modern taste. Seriously speaking,
there can be only two alternatives: the complete original Finale, or else
ending with the descent into Hell. Dramatically nothing can be said against
the second of these, for we are sufficiently informed about the fate of
the other characters and the opera would finish with its greatest climax.
Admittedly it means that the tragic aspect would have the last word. The
most recent performers, however, in accordance with contemporary interest
in historical and stylistic accuracy, have tended to return to the complete
Finale, with a strong accent on opera buffa. This is prompted by the probably
correct feeling, that after the gruesome nocturnal trio the opera needs
a reassuring end. At the same time such an ending can only be justified
if it leads the whole work to an organic conclusion, In this we can expect
no help from so-called historical accuracy, which in this instance would
turn the opera into something purely artistic; nor from the unadulterated
buffo [comic] style, which would reduce Mozart's whole conception
of the last scene to the manner of the Italians whom he had long surpassed.
There is really no need for any extraneous reasons to vindicate this ending,
if only one keeps Mozart's conception clearly in mind.
What does happen in these three movements? After the death of Don Giovanni
all his victims come together, describe the impression it has made on
them, and then draw practical conclusions for the future. The only feeling
that remains with them is moral satisfaction that virtue has won the final
victory. Da Ponte intended this scene, in which the everyday world sits
in judgment over the extraordinary, to be taken quite seriously. If Mozart,
after the nocturnal battle between the daemons, lets the bright, everyday
sun shine again, he does so with the ironic humour characteristic of his
whole dramatic technique. This is seen most clearly in the strongly contrasting
figures of Leporello and Don Ottavio. Leporello, whom these momentous
events have passed by without taking the slightest notice of him, is to
be the one who reports on them, not without pride Ü he, the arch-philistine,
telling of his extraordinary master. But after this report Ottavio pours
out a new love song as if nothing had happened, and has to be content
with being put off by Donna Anna for yet another year! It is not as if
this final scene suddenly put them all on the same level: on the contrary,
as Donna Anna shows us, they remain on different dramatic planes. But
the basic feeling remains the same with all of them, merely expressing
itself in different ways. At the end, the ecclesiastical nature of the
Presto even suggests something like a religious ceremony, in which hearts
beat faster at the thought of divine retribution. Thus Mozart smiles down
ironically once again on his own creations; he too feels their perplexities,
but presents them from a more exalted viewpoint.
Understood in this way, the three movements lose the character of mere
appendices stuck on at the end; they round off the opera organically in
a genuinely Mozartian way. Thus the reproach so frequently heard that
they "fall off musically when compared with what has gone before" is untenable.
The sphere in which we now find ourselves could never support such other-worldly
flights of the imagination as in the previous scene. Mozart has no intention
of weakening the effect of the ending, which grows in its own distinctive
way once again from the framework as a whole, quite differently from the
shallow closing scenes of the Italians.
Again, the three movements are clearly connected with one another; the
first and third are predominantly for the whole ensemble, the second is
for the individual soloists. This is basically the preiciple of the French
vaudeville, except that the three sections are quite independent. The
first, whose key of G major is foreshadowed in the preceding plagal cadence,
is in a fresh lively vein that leads after a somewhat conventional opening
to more and more individual treatment, beginning with LeporelloĶs narration.
Here some echoes of the appalling catastrophe can still be heard, particularly
the impression it has made on the others; in the last eleven bars they
are clearly overcome by terror. The Larghetto is a piece of enchanting
beauty, which at first brings Donna Anna and Ottavio to the fore. But
the irony of Ottavio's happiness being once more put off for a year is
further reinforced by the fact that Elvira's words, immediately afterwards,
introduce a buffo element which at "resti dunque quel birbon con Proserpina
e Pluton" even verges on parody. The way in which the three less distinguished
characters finally turn to the easy-going folksong style of the "antichissima
canzon" is very attractive. But the two noble ladies take the words out
of their mouths. The last thing Mozart wanted was to finish the opera
in the buffo vein of his Italian predecessors, with the performers
advancing to the footlights and taking off their masks with a smile. He
also gives Don GiovanniĶs antagonists their dramatic due in a stirring
individual section that grips the listener at once. As to the affinity
with a more austere style of sacred music, it is carried only so far as
is demanded by the fundamental design of the whole scene, already described....
While in the music of Figaro we sense the heart-warming joy of
its creator, that of Don Giovanni springs from a tremendous energy
that has only one aim, to exhaust the potential of its material completely.
It is quite understandable that at the time it seemed odd, even repulsive.
This opera was no longer an "amusement," even in the best sense, but held
the listener in a continuous state of tension with its calculated, heartrending
contrasts. There is a terrifying clarity of expression in the orchestration,
which differs enormously from that of Figaro, especially in the
dynamics, which here as in no other Mozart opera move between the most
extreme limits and with scarcely any transitions. With terrible force
this music storms across the heights and depths of human fortune; it leads
us into a world so sublime that the heart stands still, and then plunges
into the gloomy, fenced-in, workaday world, so as to force a smile from
the public at the truthfulness of its portrayal. Mozart's skill in relating
his characters to one another and in measuring against each other the
worlds they represent, here achieves its greatest triumph; it is revealed
as the main source of his inspired fusion of tragic and comic elements...
|
2. From Joseph Kerman's "Reading
Don Giovanni"
To say that Don Giovanni's main aria ["Fin ch'han dal vino"] is enraged
may go some way toward explaining the aria's impact, but it does not do
much to fill the void within the soul of No-Man. A negative quality of the
piece also stands out, its lack of invention. At one point Giovanni boasts
about his "prolific talent" (fertile talento), but whatever talents
he may posses, a talent for lyric fertility is not among them....
If Mozart bolstered Leporellos role [compared to previous versions], Da
Ponte bolstered Anna's. Thus another difference from the Bertati-Gazzaniga
opera is that Anna, not Giovanni, sings first. So the music Giovanni sings
during their struggle is not of his own devising but echoed from Anna, as
has often been observed. What is more, he also echoes her music later, when
she has left, in the wonderful slow terzetto while he and Leporello watch
the Commendatore die after the duel. The dramatic point of Giovanni's low
musical profile is clear enough in the first instance, when he is trying
to hide his identity. What about the second?
The only reason I can think of for Mozart to have used old music here, in
a situation where it would have been much more natural to use new, was to
show Giovanni at a loss for words, for music. While Giovanni does not exactly
regret the killing of the Commendatore, he is taken aback by its suddenness
and unthinkingness; he might have wished for something else, if he ever
took the trouble to think....He is also revealed as lacking in musical,
hence emotional, resource.
He is rather more resourceful in the wrenching scene with Donna Elvira in
he second-act finale. Elvira bursts in on his dinner on the verge of breakdown,
it seems Ü she can scarcely stay coherent long enough to beg him to save
himself. Giovanni is at his most odious on this occasion, abandoning even
the mask of civility. Toward the end of the scene, as he turns away from
her with a blunt "Lascia chĶio mangi" (Leave me to my dinner), a piercing,
mocking little tune emerges in the orchestra.
Giovanni has managed to generate music of his own; but the striking thing
is that only halfway through this tune does he think of words for it, a
true afterthought Ü "e se ti piace, mangia con me." Inviting the humiliated
Elvira to join him, at dinner or anything else, has to count as the acme
of spontaneous cruelty. The tune finally accommodates itself to GiovanniĶs
tribute to women and good wine as the sustaining glory of mankind. Perhaps
in concept it is a musical quotation of an actual toast, like the quotes
from popular opera hits that we have just been hearing from the little Tafelmusik
band.
The opera's seduction scenes, to be sure, resonate with Don Giovanni's music,
music of his own invention. It is music that has been greatly and rightly
admired. "La ci darem" [Giovanni's seduction of Zerlina] gave Chopin the
subject for variations with which to launch his career, and gave Peter Schaffer
the centerpiece for one of the better scenes in Amadeus (the movie).
Giovanni's serenade struck Charles Gounod Ü the composer of Faust
Ü as "a pearl of inspiration, alike in the elegance of its melody, harmony,
and rhythm...a masterpiece of grace and gallantry" expressing "an intensity
of longing and marvelous captivation." One cannot hear this music and doubt
for a moment the deep truth (if not the statistical particulars) of Leporello's
account of his master's success as a seducer.
Yet the actual lyric development of his music counts as very modest.
I have already made the point that in "La ci darem" Giovanni issues the
simplest of melodic units, and that it is Zerlina who invents the melody's
adornments, extensions, diversion, and so on. In fact, Zerlina makes the
piece her own. (She gets most of the opera's hit tunes.) As for Giovanni's
later lovemaking, what is quite surprising about it is its repeated use
of the same music. Giovanni sings approximately the same melody for his
serenade to Elvira's maid, with strumming mandolin, as for his impromptu
wooing of Elvira on behalf of the disguised Leporello. For all the difference
of treatment, the similarity of melodic gesture is unmistakable.
There is a lesson here, no doubt, about the actual nature of improvisation.
However this may be, we hear Giovanni fall back on a single formula, whether
he finds himself in a formal situation or a spontaneous one. Why change,
when success comes so automatically? Why invent?
When the Commendatore issues his fateful invitation to dinner, Don Giovanni
answers with four bars of music:
Ho fermo il core in petto
Non ho timor. Verro.
(Stout-hearted, Unafraid: I'll come.)
To say that this music will probably not strike us as "inventive" is not
to deny its extraordinary impact (magnified by the awed response to it from
the orchestra). These four bars would never have been predicted. Their unexpected
features Ü stiff, pompous dotted rhythms and Baroque-sounding counterpoint,
provided by the strings alone Ü are also features of Donna Elvira's Act
I aria "Ah, fuggi il traditor," as Rushton has remarked: one of those passing
remarks that triggers (for me, at least) long unarticulated feelings about
a work long known. They have nothing to do with Elvira, but everything to
do with the antique quality of that strange aria of hers. Giovanni's language
regresses to a hieratic mode of musical expression, as though to an archaic,
frozen code of honor. Don Giovanni's finest moment is also, in a unique
musical way, one of his most impersonal.
Perhaps it is laboring the obvious to say that what has been seen as a distinguishing
feature of Don Giovanni since the time of Kierkegaard [see Reading 3], namely
his characterlessness, is compounded by uninventiveness. Bernard Williams,
whose essay works to delimit idealistic accretions to Mozart's No-Man, nonetheless
acknowledges Giovanni's sense of freedom and his recklessness, his
"single-minded determination
to live life at the fullest energy, at the extreme edge of desire....Those
who survive Giovanni -not only the other characters, but, on each occasion
that we have seen the opera, ourselves -are both more and less than he
is: more, since, the conditions on humanity, which we accept, are
also the conditions of humanity; and less, since one thing vitality
needs is to keep the dream of being free from conditions as his."
Yet Giovanni was "without love,
compassion, and fairness, to mention only a few of the things he lacked."
Creativity was another of his chronic lacks. That is a big swatch of vitality
to barter away for a dream.
|
3. From Soren Kierkegaardās
Either/Or
Now the media employed in architecture and sculpture and painting and
music are abstract. Here is not the place to investigate this matter further.
The most abstract idea conceivable is sensuous genius. But in what medium
is this idea expressible? Solely in music. It cannot be expressed in sculpture,
for it is a sort of inner qualification of inwardness; nor in painting,
for it cannot be apprehended in precise outlines; it is an energy, a storm,
impatience, passion, and so on, in all their lyrical quality, yet so that
it does not exist in one moment but in a succession of moments, for if
it existed in a single moment, it could be modeled or painted. The fact
that it exists in a succession of moments expresses its epic character,
but still it is not epic in the stricter sense, for it has not yet advanced
to words, but moves always in an immediacy. Hence it cannot be represented
in poetry. The only medium which can express it is music. Music has, namely,
an element of time in itself, but it does not take place in time except
in an unessential sense. The historical process in time it cannot express.
The perfect unity of this idea and the corresponding form we have in Mozartās
Don Juan [i.e., Don Giovanni]. But precisely because the
idea is so tremendously abstract, the medium is also abstract, so it is
not probable that Mozart will ever have a rival. It was Mozartās good
fortune to have found a subject that is absolutely musical, and if some
future composer should try to emulate Mozart, there would be nothing else
for him to do than to compose Don Juan over again. Homer found
a perfect epic subject, but many epic poems are conceivable, because history
commands more epic material. This is not the case with Don Juan.
What I really mean will perhaps be best understood if I show the difference
in connection with a related idea. Goetheās Faust is a genuinely
classical production, but the idea is a historical idea, and hence every
notable historical era will have its own Faust. Faust has
language as its medium, and since this is a far more concrete medium,
it follows on this ground also, that several works of the same kind are
conceivable. Don Juan, on the other hand, will always stand alone
by itself, in the same sense that the Greek sculptures are classics. But
since the idea in Don Juan is even more abstract than that underlying
sculpture, it is easy to see that while sculpture includes several works,
in music there can be only one. There can, of course, be a number of classical
musical works, but there will never be more than the one work of which
it is possible to say that the idea is absolutely musical, so that the
music does not appear as an accompaniment, but reveals its own innermost
essence in revealing the idea. It is for this reason that Mozart stands
highest among the Immortals through his Don Juan....
The genius of sensuousness is hence the absolute subject of music. In
its very essence sensuousness is absolutely lyrical, and in music it breaks
forth in all its lyrical impatience. It is, namely, spiritually determined,
and is, therefore, force, life, movement, constant unrest, perpetual succession;
but this unrest, this succession, does not enrich it, it remains always
the same, it does not unfold itself, but it storms uninterruptedly forward
as if in a single breath. If I desired to characterize this lyrical quality
by a single predicate, I should say: it sounds; and this brings
me back again to sensuous genius as that which in its immediacy manifests
itself as music....
Physical love is a continuance in time, sensuous love a disappearance
in time, but the medium which exactly expresses this is music. Music is
excellently fitted to accomplish this, since it is far more abstract than
language, and therefore does not express the individual but the general
in all its generality, and yet it expresses the general not in reflective
abstraction, but in the immediate concrete.
As an example of what I mean, I shall discuss a little more carefully
the servantās second aria: the List of the Seduced. This number may be
regarded as the real epic of Don Juan. Consequently, make this experiment,
if you are sceptical about the truth of my assertion! Imagine a poet more
happily endowed by nature than anyone before him; give him vigor of expression,
give him mastery and authority over the power of language, let everything
wherein there is the breath of life be obedient unto him, let his slightest
suggestion be deferred to, let everything wait, ready and prepared for
his word of command; let him be surrounded by a numerous band of light
skirmishers, swift-footed messengers who overtake thought in its most
hurried flight; let nothing escape him, not the least movement; let nothing
secret, nothing unutterable be left behind him in the whole world ö give
him, after all this, the task of singing Don Juan as an epic, of unrolling
the list of the seduced. What will the result be? He will never finish!
The epic has the fault, if one wishes to call it that, of being able to
go on as long as you will. His hero, the improviser, Don Juan, can go
on indefinitely. The poet may now enter into the manifold, there will
always be enough there which will give pleasure, but he will never achieve
the effect which Mozart has obtained. For even if he finally finishes,
he will still not have said half of what Mozart has expressed in this
one number. Mozart has not even attempted the manifold; he deals only
with certain great formations which are set in motion. This finds its
sufficient explanation in the medium itself, in the music which is too
abstract to express the differences. The musical epic thus becomes something
comparatively short, and yet it has in an inimitable manner the epic quality
that it can go on as long as it will, since one can constantly let it
begin again from the beginning, and hear it over and over again, just
because it expresses the general in the concreteness of immediacy. Here
we do not hear Don Juan as a particular individual, nor his speech, but
we hear a voice, the voice of sensuousness, and we hear it through the
longing of womanhood. Only in this manner can Don Juan become epic, in
that he constantly finishes, and constantly begins again from the beginning,
for his life is the sum of repellent moments which have no coherence,
his life as moment is the sum of the moments, as the sum of the moments
is the moment.
In this generality, in this floating between being an individual and being
a force of nature, lies Don Juan; as soon as he becomes individual the
aesthetic acquires quite other categories. Therefore it is entirely proper,
and it has a profound inner significance, that in the seduction which
takes place in the play, Zerlina, the girl, should be a common peasant
girl. Hypocritical aestheticists who, under the show of understanding
poets and composers, contribute everything to their being misunderstood,
will perhaps instruct us that Zerlina is an unusual girl. Anyone who believes
this shows that he has totally misunderstood Mozart, and that he is using
wrong categories. That he misunderstands Mozart is evident enough; for
Mozart has purposely made Zerlina as insignificant as possible, something
Hotho has also called attention to, yet without seeing the real reason
for it. If, for instance, Don Juanās love were qualified as other than
sensuous, if he were a seducer in an intellectual sense (a type which
we shall consider presently), then it would have been a radical fault
in the play for the heroine in the seduction which dramatically engages
our attention to be only a little peasant girl. Then the aesthetic would
require that Don Juan should have been set a more difficult task. To Don
Juan, however, these differences mean nothing. If I could imagine him
making such a speech about himself, he might perhaps say: "You are wrong.
I am no husband who requires an unusual girl to make me happy; every girl
has that which makes me happy, and therefore I take them all." In some
such way we have to understand the saying I earlier referred to: "even
sixty-year coquettes" ö or in another place: pur che porti la gonella,
voi sapete quel che fa. To Don Juan every girl is an ordinary girl,
every love affair an everyday story. Zerlina is young and pretty, and
she is a woman; this is the uncommon which she has in common with hundreds
of others; but it is not the uncommon that Don Juan desires, but the common,
and this she has in common with every woman. If this is not the case,
then Don Juan ceases to be absolutely musical, and aesthetics requires
speech, dialogue, while now, since it is the case, Don Juan is
absolutely musical.
From another point of view I may throw some additional light upon this
by analyzing the inner structure of the play. Elvira is Don Juanās mortal
enemy; in the dialogue for which the Danish translator is responsible,
this is frequently emphasized. That it is an error for Don Juan to make
a speech is certain enough, but because of this it does not follow that
the speech might not contain an occasional good observation. Well then,
Don Juan fears Elvira. Now probably some aestheticist or other believes
that he can profoundly explain this by coming forward with a long disquisition
about Elviraās being a very unusual girl an so on. This altogether misses
the mark. She is dangerous to him because she has been seduced. In the
same sense, exactly in the same sense, Zerlina becomes dangerous to him
when she is seduced. As soon as she is seduced, she is elevated to a higher
sphere, to a consciousness which Don Juan does not have. Therefore, she
is dangerous to him. Hence, it is not by means of the accidental but by
means of the general that she is dangerous to him.
Don Juan, then, is a seducer; in him the erotic takes the form
of seduction. Here much is well said when it is rightly understood, little
when it is understood with a general lack of clarity. We have already
noted that the concept, a seducer, is essentially modified with respect
to Don Juan, as the object of his desire is the sensuous, and that alone.
This is of importance in order to show the musical in Don Juan. In ancient
times the sensuous found its expression in the silent stillness of plastic
art; in the Christian world the sensuous must burst forth in all its impatient
passion. Although on may say with truth that Don Juan is a seducer, this
expression, which can work so disturbingly upon the weak brains of certain
aestheticians, has often given rise to misunderstandings, as they have
scraped this and that together that could be said about such a one, and
have at once applied it to Don Juan. At times they have exposed their
own cunning in tracking down Don Juanās, at times they talk themselves
hoarse in explaining his intrigues and his subtlety; in short, the word
seducer has given rise to the situation that everybody has been
against him to the limit of his power, has contributed his mite to the
total misunderstanding. Of Don Juan we must use the word seducer
with great caution ö assuming, that is, that it is more important to say
something right than simply to say something. This is not because Don
Juan is too good, but because he simply does not fall under ethical categories.
Hence I should rather not call him a deceiver, since there is always something
more ambiguous in that word. To be a seducer requires a certain amount
of reflection and consciousness, and as soon as this is present, then
it is proper to speak of cunning and intrigues and crafty plans. This
consciousness is lacking in Don Juan. Therefore, he does not seduce. He
desires, and this desire acts seductively. To that extent he seduces.
He enjoys the satisfaction of desire; as soon as he has enjoyed it, he
seeks a new object, and so on endlessly. Therefore, I suppose he is a
deceiver, but yet not so that he plans his deceptions in advance; it is
the inherent power of sensuousness which deceives the seduced, and it
is rather a kind of Nemesis. He desires, and is constantly desiring, and
constantly enjoys the satisfaction of the desire. To be a seducer, he
lacks time in advance in which to lay his plans, and time afterward in
which to become conscious of his act. A seducer, therefore, ought to be
in possession of a power Don Juan does not have, however well equipped
he may otherwise be ö the power of eloquence. As soon as we grant him
eloquence he ceases to be musical, and the aesthetic interest becomes
an entirely different matter.
Achim von Arnim tells somewhere of a seducer of a very different style,
a seducer who falls under ethical categories. About him he uses an expression
which in truth, boldness, and conciseness is almost equal to Mozartās
stroke of the bow. He says he could so talk with a woman that, if the
devil caught him, he could wheedle himself out of it if he had a chance
to talk with the devilās grandmother. This is the real seducer; the aesthetic
interest here is also different, namely: how, the method. There is evidently
something very profound here, which has perhaps escaped the attention
of most people, in that Faust, who reproduces Don Juan seduces only one
girl, while Don Juan seduces hundreds; but this one girl is also, in an
intensive sense, seduced and crushed quite differently from all those
Don Juan has deceived, simply because Faust, as reproduction, falls under
the category of the intellectual. The power of such a seducer is speech,
i.e., the lie. A few days ago I heard one soldier talking to another about
a third who had betrayed a girl; he did not give a long-winded description,
and yet his expression was very pithy: "He gets away with things like
that by lies and things like that." Such a seducer is of quite a different
sort from Don Juan, is essentially different from him, as one can see
from the fact that he and his activities are extremely unmusical, and
from the aesthetic standpoint come within the category of the interesting.
The object of his desire is accordingly, when one rightly considers him
aesthetically, something more than the merely sensuous.
But what is this force, then, by which Don Juan seduces? It is desire,
the energy of sensuous desire. He desires in every woman the whole of
womanhood, and therein lies the sensuously idealizing power with which
he at once embellishes and overcomes his prey.
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4. From John Bokina's Opera
and Politics
The Comic Giovanni: Opera
as Enlightened Critique of the Baroque
The Don is a mixed character in a mixed work. The ambivalence of Don
Giovanni extends to the operaās conclusion. The final sextet suggests
a buffa reaffirmantion of the status quo. But already in the second production
of the work ö in Vienna in 1788, a production overseen by Mozart ö this
scene may have been dropped. Objecting to the "repressive morality" of
this sextet, Gustav Mahler dropped it from his stagings, a practice followed
by a number of directors and conductors. In these productions, the opera
ends as a tragedy, with the Don descending into the underworld.
From a political viewpoint, the two possible endings of Don Giovanni
imply two different views of historical progress and two different views
of the fate of the individual within historical progress. From the dominant
and rationalistic Enlightenment view of history as progress, Don Giovanni
is a comic figure, a caricature of an outmoded princely type, whose lifestyle
is exhibited and condemned from the stand point of progressive social
forces. Seen through the eyes of modern society, the Donās aristocratic
manner of life receives a withering critique. His principled pursuit of
a variety of sexual experiences is mere fickleness, his martial skill
mere force, his proclamations of honor mere rationalizations, and his
love mere lasciviousness. A Machiavellian prince without a state, Don
Giovanniās adventures introduce capriciousness and violence into the natural,
divinely ordained order of Enlightenment society.
The primary means of turning Don Giovanni into a subject of ridicule is
the depoliticization of the seventeenth-century setting of the opera.
Figaro encased its depictions of charactersā sexual adventures
within a distinctly eighteenth-century social, economic, and political
context. Don Giovanni meticulously represents societyās expectations
of class, status, and gender behaviors, and economic considerations are
at least implied. Instead of using his gifts of cunning and improvisations
within the newly legitimized capitalist economy, the Don is an idle aristocrat
financing his life of pleasure with the wealth of his inherited estate.
But in this opera the state is evanescent. Figaro represented the
political decline of the eighteenth-century aristocracy, a diminution
epitomized by Count Almavivaās belated assertion of the old seignorial
right. The Count, however, retained important roles in the state, appearing
at various points as ambassador to London, commander of an army regiment,
and judicial magistrate. But Don Giovanni illustrates the growing
irrelevance and parasitism of the traditional aristocracy, and it does
so in the starkest possible terms. The Donās sexual exploits are not the
perquisites of political power. Rather, the noble Don is anachronistically
excluded from any position in the seventeenth-century political order.
Eschewing neo-Platonic pieties about the virtuous, remote, and austere
prince, Machiavelli described his ideal prince as a political beast engaged
in the rough-and-tumble politics of the emerging absolutist state. He
extolled a ruler who possessed foxlike cunning in his intrigues against
his rivals and lionlike courage when force was the necessary alternative.
Despite Machiavelliās reputation for realism, his vision of the prince
retains a normative element. What elevated the princeās cunning and force
above those of the common con man or thug was the loftiness of his sphere
of activity: the prince exhibited his cunning and force in the affairs
of state.
Don Giovanni is no less cunning and forceful than the Machiavellian King
Ulisse in Monteverdiās Ulisse. But in Don Giovanni, the
Renaissance-baroque prince is marginalized from the state, the proper
and epic sphere for noble intrigue and force. He thus is no model of absolutist
realpolitik; rather, he is represented as a political anachronism and
a social parasite, a peculiarly dangerous Don Quixote who perpetuates
an outworn capriciousness, violence, and uncertainty without any grand
political goal. The victims of the Donās exhibitions of cunning and force
are not rival princes but members of a modern society who are adhering
to their appropriate social roles.
If the absence of the state diminishes Don Giovanni from a Machiavellian
prince to an anachronistic parasite, it also determines the terms of his
pursuit and punishment. From the Donās forced entry into Donna Annaās
room through his duel with the Commendatore to his assault of Masetto
and Masettoās mobilization of a peasant vigilante force, the opportunities
for intervention by state authorities are numerous and serious. Except
for the belated and adventitious appearance of the ministers of justice
in the denouement, the local police authorities of Seville are curiously
absent. Other agencies would also have had an interest in such events
as those depicted in the opera. Where, for example are the representatives
of the Hapsburg monarchy, who presumably would have mediated this dispute
between local nobles? Where are the agents of the Inquisition, who would
have delved into the activities of a nobleman known to be as blasphemous
as he was profligate?
Despite Don Giovanniās alleged crimes, he is pursued not by agents of
the state or the church but by representatives of the very social order
that he has offended. The opera thus becomes a representation of the character
and limits of social control in a prepolitical condition of civilization.
First the Commendatore, then Donna Anna and Don Ottavio, and finally Zerlina,
Masetto, the peasants, and the still reluctant Donna Elvira each exercise
what Locke called the natural executive powers of revenge and deterrence.
The avenging characters repeatedly assert the righteousness of their campaign
against Don Giovanni. Without referring to the criminal codes of the state
or the moral codes of institutional religion, they are firm in their conviction
that the Don is guilty of violating the clearly known and consensually
observed natural laws of society. And like the natural laws of contract
theory, the social ordinances of Don Giovanni have a transcendental
foundation. In terms recalling eighteenth-century Deism more than seventeenth-century
Catholicism, the avengers continually invoke the assistance of God and
heaven in their attempts to bring about Don Giovanniās repentance for
his crimes against the natural order of society.
The use of natural executive powers against the Don displays the familiar
liabilities of this means of social control. The absence of state authorities
acting as impartial judges of the events in the opera casts some doubt
on the avengersā grievances. The circumstances surrounding Don Giovanniās
entry into and actions within Donna Annaās bedchamber are unclear. In
any case, his attempts at seduction are singularly unsuccessful, at least
during the period of time depicted in the opera. Because his slaying of
the Commendatore occurs during the course of a duel between the two noblemen,
it is not an outright murder. His assault on Masetto takes place only
after the peasant has openly declared his intention to kill the Don. An
impartial judge might have convicted Don Giovanni, but only after considering
circumstances that were at least mitigating.
Despite the existence of natural executive powers, the enforcement of
natural law is problematic. Devoid of state authority, societyās campaign
against the Don is not only ambiguous but also ineffective. Supernatural
force, represented by the ghostly stature of the Commendatore, becomes
the avenger of the existing social order, whose violators are then condemned
to perdition. The conditions of punishment are not determined by the state.
Nor is the Don sent to the hell of Roman Catholic tradition. Rather, the
violator of the natural laws of society is condemned to "remain below"
in the ancient realm of Proserpine and Pluto."
The deus ex machina of the statue and the Donās horrible punishment recall
the tragic practices of opera seria. Moreover, Don Giovanniās refusal
to repent, his refusal to reflect on his actions, contradicts not only
the buffa tradition but also the most cherished Enlightenment assumptions
about an individualās ability to use reason to learn from his mistakes.
But in the closing sextet, the surviving characters make a belated and
only half-convincing attempt to deprive the Don of tragic status: to recall
the comic element and restore this opera to a semblance of opera buffa.
Thus "in accordance with convention," the opera concludes with Zerlina,
Masetto, and Leporello ö the buffa types ö stepping out of character to
announce to the "good people" of the audience the moral of the work. Then
the surviving characters sing:
This is the evil-doerās end!
The death of sinners
Will always match their life!
Don Giovanni, the degraded prince become social parasite, has been condemned
by the transcendental force of natural law for his refusal to give up
his life as an anachronistic adventurer and to accommodate himself to
the mores of a modern, progressive society. Considered as a comic figure
in a buffa opera, Don Giovanni has only one viable choice, and that is
an accommodation to this society. When the Don refuses to make this choice,
the executive powers of society metamorphose into an "unconquerable cosmic
force" which excises the social danger and effects a restoration of the
social status quo.
The Tragic Giovanni: Opera as Enlightened Critique of Modern Society
From the rationalistic standpoint of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment,
the character of Don Giovanni is a comic subject of ridicule. Because
the Don has no role in the modern state, his exhibitions of cunning and
force do not serve the epic goals of the heroic prince; instead, his exploits
victimize members of society. And because the Don has no sense of enlightened
social responsibility, his anachronistic adventures introduce an element
of instability into an otherwise coherent modern social order.
But this comedic perspective on the Don illustrates only part of his enigmatic
character. If an advocate of modern social progress could see the Don
as a dangerous clown, a critic of social progress could see his as the
tragic victim of social repression. From the time of their youths, both
Mozart and Da Ponte had had contact with this Rousseauesque reversal of
the dominant Enlightenment view of history. In 1768, when Mozart was twelve
years old, he composed the music for the opera Bastien und Bastienne,
an adaptation of Rousseauās opera Le devin du village (1752). The
politics of Rousseauās opera lay in its simplicity and apparent naivete.
Le devin was Rousseauās artistic contribution to the raging "war
of the buffoons" and a conscious assault on the complexity and artificiality
of contemporary French court opera. In 1766, when he ws seventeen years
old, Da Ponte wrote poems on two Rousseauesque themes: "Whether the happiness
of mankind is increased within the social system, or whether he would
be happier in a simple state of nature," and "Man, by nature free, through
laws becomes enslaved." (These poems provoked a censure from the Venetian
senate, an early instance of Da Ponteās series of scrapes with the censorial
arm of the law.) While writing not only the libretto for Don Giovanni
but also the texts for two other composers, Da Ponte described his working
conditions in such a way as to suggest his sympathy for a sensuous philosophy
of life and even a type of kinship with the Don: "I shall write evening
for Mozart, imagining I am reading the Inferno,...a bottle of Tokay
to my right, the ink-well in the middle and a box of Seville snuff on
my left. A beautiful young girl of sixteen (whom I would have liked to
love simply as a daughter, but . . .) lived in the house with her mother,
who looked after the family, and she came into the room whenever I rang
the bell, which in fact I did pretty often."
I do not believe that either Mozart or Da Ponte self-consciously set out
to overlay the character of Don Giovanni with elements of Rousseauās philosophy.
Nor do I believe that Don Giovanni is an example of Rousseauās natural
man. The point is rather that both the composer and the librettist were
familiar with the reversal of the dominant, rationalistic Enlightenment
view of history and that elements of this reversal endow the Don with
the heroic-tragic aspects of his character. From this perspective, the
Don is still an anachronism, but one who defends an aesthetic existence
endangered by the repressive logic of modern society. The specificity
of the Donās aesthetic character can be derived by comparing it to the
unmediated sensuousness of Leporello and the repressive social responsibility
of Don Ottavio. The heroic stature of the Don is manifested in the encasement
of his character within the structures of classical tragedy.
Contemporary productions are fond of emphasizing the kinship between Giovanni
and Leporello. Some productions have even switched the performers back
and forth between the two roles, taking advantage of similarities in the
partsā vocal ranges. Peter Sellarsās celebrated 1989 production went beyond
vocal similarities to characterological ones: Sellars cast the two parts
with twin brothers. To be sure, both Giovanni and Leporello are devoted
to sensual gratification. But unlike contemporary productions, the opera
as written takes pains to distinguish between the sensuousness of the
two characters. Unlike Leporelloās, the Donās sensuousness is aesthetic
ö a fusion of reason and sensibility.
Leporello is a stock lower-class character of a type common in opera buffa.
His sensuousness is merely part of the unreflected immediacy of his social
existence, an example of what Marx called mere need and greed. Early in
the opera, he complained about the bodily discomforts of his station in
life: of being overworked, exposed to the elements, ill-fed, and deprived
of sleep. When threatened, he cravenly fears for his life. Although he
vows to quit the employ of the Don, his loyalty is quickly repurchased
with a small bag of gold. And throughout the opera he desires the Donās
leftovers, whether wine, food, or women. His sensuousness is not a matter
of conscious choice or philosophical principle but one of economic necessity.
Although his sensuousness represents a genuinely emancipatory example
of lower-class hedonism, it is no model of natural human existence. Leporello
is, rather, the victims of the limited and deformed possibilities of his
class and status.
If Leporello satisfies his sensuous need and greed according to the possibilities
of his social station, Don Ottavio is the epitome of sense-denying social
reason. The object of his desire, his marriage to Donna Anna, is constantly
thwarted by his curious and ineffective conception of feudal-modern social
duty. Sensing the bloodlessness of Ottavioās feudal pledge to defend her
honor and avenge her fatherās death, Annaās aria, "Or sai chi lāonore,"
tries to instill the "wrath of a just fury" in Ottavioās feeble efforts.
Later, when Leporello escapes and the avengers are convinced that Giovanni
is in the area, Ottavio drops the pretense of reaching for his sword and
goes off to summon the authorities instead. The would-be executor of feudal
blood revenge becomes the modern and reasonable member of a neighborhood
crime-watch association. It is little wonder that, in the denouement,
Anna delays the marriage for another year and that Ottavio, still bound
by the repressive logic of his status and class, meekly accepts this postponement.
Don Giovanni is not necessarily more complicated than are Leporello or
Ottavio. Indeed, partly because he has no extended, self-reflective aria,
the Don seems to be, from a psychological point of view, the simplest
character in the opera. We cannot develop a sense of his inner conflicts
and doubts, nor are we sure that he has any. True to the martial traditions
of his class (unlike both Leporello and Ottavio), he exhibits courage
and skill under duress. But the decisive difference between the characters
is a matter of self-conscious principle. The Donās aesthetic existence
synthesizes reason and sensuousness.
Privileged by birth, wealth, and status, the Don has chosen, from among
many other options, a life of sensuous pleasure. Avoiding the tedium of
representing an extended Hugh Hefnerish outlook, the opera makes only
a few brief but crucial references to the Donās philosophy. Giovanniās
allusions to the principles of his worldview occur in the form of toasts.
The first act arietta "Fin chāhan del vino" extols wine, women, dancing,
and music within the buffa form of a patter song. The theme returns toward
the end of the second act. Rejecting Elviraās pleas for his repentance,
the Don toasts women and wine, "the support and glory of mankind!" Between
these two episodes lies the toast of misunderstanding ö sung first in
harmony, then in unison ö between Giovanni and the disguised noble avengers
at the wedding banquet. Singing "Viva la liberta!" the Don salutes the
freedom of his premodern life of pleasure and privilege. The avengers,
however, praise the freedom of a modern social order cleansed of the caprices
of anachronistic predators.
The donās aesthetic nature is not a conquest of the mind over the body.
The foundation of the Donās sensuousness is as corporeal as Leporelloās.
Early in the opera, Giovanni detects Elviraās presence by sense of smell
and then visually perceives her beauty. The two sense perceptions mingling,
the Don is powerfully attracted to her; as Leporello observes, "Heās on
fire already!"
But the Donās sensuousness goes beyond mere need and greed to the pinnacle
of human existence in what Marx called species-being. Overcoming the old
operatic and philosophic dichotomies of mind and body, idealism and materialism,
the Don is devoted to the development of "all physical and intellectual
senses," to the "open revelation of human faculties." Unlike Ottavioās
reason, which denies him sensual gratification, Giovanniās reason is the
culmination and fulfillment of his sensuousness. The Don is a connoisseur.
Eating heartily, the Don takes the time to observe the tastiness of his
last supper. He admires the vintage of his last wine. As he dines, his
musicians play excerpts from the latest operas. And Leporelloās catalogue
aria makes it clear that the Donās desire for many types of women, including
apparently unattractive ones, is the product not of indiscriminate lust
but of his refined taste for variety.
But like Leporelloās sensuousness and Don Ottavioās social responsibility,
the Donās aesthetic existence is deformed by status and class, by a society
based on domination. His aesthetic existence is the prerogative of only
a few men, each of them privileged by birth and supported by the unseen
labor of countless others. His threats and violence are unsublimated.
And, although there is no reason to doubt his sincerity when he claims
that he loved every one of the women he seduced, his love is tainted by
domination. He refers to his lovers as "conquests." With his peculiar
penchant for amorous bookkeeping, he strips his lovers of their individuality,
reducing them to anonymous, interchangeable ciphers in a ledger.
Despite its faults, the Donās aesthetic existence is heroized by the operaās
embedding of his activities within a semblance of classical tragedy. From
Giovanniās entry into Annaās bedchamber through the Donās last supper,
the opera observes the classical unity of time. And by depicting these
events in and around an area of Seville, the opera retains a classical
unity of place.
What the opera seems to lack is the classical unity of action. Instead
of an inevitable series of events, the opera appears to be episodic and
disjointed. But even here there are suggestions of tragedy, or at least
of a tragedy transformed by the modern Enlightenment recognition of the
power of society. According to Leo Lowenthal, in drama the idea of fate
has undergone a distinct historical development. In classical tragedy,
fate was foreordained by the gods. In baroque drama, fate was determined
by personal qualities, admirable or despicable. But in the drama of the
Enlightenment, with its heightened awareness of society, fate becomes
the product of chance encounters in society. Accidental encounters and
opportune escapes pervade Don Giovanni. The Donās tragic fate is
sealed when the last of these chance meetings is with the statue of the
Commendatore, the supernatural avenger of the social order.
Giovanni may lack the political stature of many heroes in classical tragedy.
But the penultimate scene does depict him as a tragic martyr for an idea:
the tradition of his premodern aesthetic existence. He welcomes his social
fate, the statue of the Commendatore into his home. He bravely accepts
the statueās proffered hand. A man of refined sensibility during his lifetime,
he feels intensely the agony of his last moments. He is chilled by the
statueās stony grip, then seared by the leaping flames of hell.
Given one last chance to repent, to repudiate his aesthetic existence
as sin and error before the supernatural incarnation of social modernity,
Don Giovanni steadfastly refuses. Faced with a choice between his aesthetic
life and the new world of sober bourgeois normality, the Don in his last
words utters his monosyllabic credo of unvarnished truth. He cries, repeatedly,
"No!" The heroism of the Donās death is operaās paramount example, in
Herbert Marcuseās famous phrase, of the "Great Refusal": "To live oneās
love and hatred, to live that which one is means defeat, resignation,
and death. The crimes of society, the hell that man has made for man become
unconquerable cosmic forces."
As we have seen, the political meaning of Don Giovanni lies in
its simultaneous, and unresolved, articulation of two Enlightenment views
of historical progress, two views of the fate of the individual within
a stable but intrusive modern social order. From the dominant Enlightenment
view of history as reason and progress, the Don is a reactionary anachronism
whose violence, deceit, indolence, and licentiousness are condemned by
the modern social values of order, honesty, industry, and self-control.
But from the alternative Enlightenment view of history as antisensual
regress, the Don is a tragic figure, a principled defender of an aesthetic
life of play, indulgence, and fulfillment who is victimized by the representatives
of a toiling, repressive, and frustrating social order. In this interpretation,
where no one-dimensional account of the Don can capture his historically
grounded duality, the alleged failure of Mozart and Da Ponte to reconcile
these conflicting tendencies is no failure at all. Rather, the simultaneous
and unresolved coexistence of both tendencies testifies to the depth with
which Don Giovanni articulates a central contradiction of its age.
Two years after the premiere of Don Giovanni, the Bastille was
attacked. With the outbreak of the French Revolution, political morality
lost its pre-Revolutionary ambivalence, and such works as Beethovenās
Fidelio rejected all nostalgia for the aristocratic way of life.
The aristocracyās self-indulgences and abuses of power were universally
condemned, by both effective state authorities and the court of public
opinion.
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