Original setting: Seville, 16th century
Act I: The courtyard of the Commendatore’s house – A street – Don Giovanni’s garden – A ballroom
Act II: A street – The courtyard of Donna Anna’s house – A graveyard – A darkened room in Donna Anna’s house – A dining room in Don Giovanni’s house
ACT I
Don Giovanni has come to meet Donna Anna, his friend Don Ottavio’s betrothed, in secret and treacherously seduced her. Discovering that she has been duped, she tries to escape, hiding her face. The Don’s servant, Leporello, is waiting in the courtyard, sick of his dreary life and wishing he could change places with his master, who seems to attract women like a magnet. Anna’s cries awake the Commendatore, who rushes to her assistance and bars the seducer’s way. Their duel is short and ends in bloodshed. Donna Anna’s father lies dead in a pool of blood. Don Giovanni and Leporello disappear into the night, but Don Ottavio rushes to his beloved’s assistance and swears revenge.
Donna Elvira, one of the many women seduced, loved and rejected by Don Giovanni, arrives in Seville to seek the man she still loves. Don Giovanni spots her from afar and boasts to Leporello of his incredible sense of smell. He is convinced she is just the right girl for a new conquest. He approaches her cautiously but soon realises his mistake: she is Donna Elvira, whom he loved in Burgos and after three days of passion abandoned, despite his promises, forever. He cunningly succeeds in making his escape, leaving Leporello to reveal to her his secret: an infinite list of his master’s conquests.
Their duel is short and ends in bloodshed. Donna Anna’s father lies dead in a pool of blood.
Leporello and Don Giovanni are attending the wedding of two peasants, Zerlina and Masetto. Don Giovanni is charmed by the bride’s freshness and spontaneity and, with the help of the faithful Leporello manages to shake off the jealous Masetto and to snatch a moment alone with Zerlina. As always, he promises love, fidelity and marriage in exchange for just a little moment of passion. When it looks as if Zerlina, too, is fated to end up on the list of the treacherous Don Giovanni, Donna Elvira arrives, intent on revealing all, first to Zerlina, then to Donna Anna and Don Ottavio who still believe Don Giovanni is their friend and have accordingly sought his help in vindicating the death of the Commendatore. Donna Anna suddenly realises that Don Giovanni is the man who seduced her the previous night and the man who killed her father. She thereupon asks Don Ottavio to seek revenge for her. Ottavio cannot understand how Don Giovanni, his friend, could have done anything so cruel, but he wants to stand by his betrothed.
Don Giovanni organises a great feast promising to add the names of as many as ten new girls to his list. Elvira accompanies Anna and Ottavio to the feast. They are wearing masks so that they will not be recognised. Zerlina tries to make things up with Masetto, but Don Giovanni again tries to seduce her. And as Leporello once again comes to his master’s assistance, the charmer finally gets a moment alone with Zerlina. Horrified at Don Giovanni’s behaviour, she begins to cry for help. All come rushing to see what is going on. Don Giovanni denies everything and places all the blame on Leporello. By now his true nature is, however, clear to everyone.
ACT II
Don Giovanni has decided to keep his promise to add new conquests to his list and has already chosen his next victim, Donna Elvira’s chambermaid. Ever more reluctant, Leporello agrees to change clothes with his master and Don Giovanni instructs him how to keep the lady from Burgos occupied while he seduces her chambermaid. Dressed in fine clothes, Leporello succeeds in charming Elvira. Don Giovanni, even in Leporello’s clothes, is still a legendary seducer. He takes his time and sings a serenade beneath the window of his next conquest.
Don Giovanni has decided to keep his promise to add new conquests to his list and has already chosen his next victim, Donna Elvira’s chambermaid.
Along comes Masetto, thirsting for Don Giovanni’s blood. He does not recognise Don Giovanni, dressed as Leporello, and this almost proves fatal. Don Giovanni manages to disperse Masetto’s group of friends and once they are alone almost beats the life out of Masetto. The unconscious Masetto is found by Zerlina, who, moved by pity, begins to tend him. As he is making his escape, Don Giovanni, still dressed as his servant, bumps into a girl who has fallen in love with Leporello. He cannot resist the temptation to profit from this lucky chance and yet another name gets added to the list. Leporello also runs away, because Anna, Ottavio, Masetto and Zerlina have exposed him. Elvira, who thought Leporello was Don Giovanni, tried in vain to defend him and begged for mercy for her beloved.
What better nocturnal hiding place than a graveyard? And this is indeed where Don Giovanni and Leporello unexpectedly meet. The moonlight falls on the Commendatore’s statue. Leporello is horrified, but Don Giovanni prefers to mock it and orders his servant to invite the statue to dinner. To Don Giovanni’s astonishment and Leporello’s horror, the statue nods in agreement, accepting the invitation.
Don Ottavio, who had gone off to report Don Giovanni’s crimes, now asks his dear Anna to marry him. She, however, is still in mourning for her father and asks once again for the wedding to be postponed.
To Don Giovanni’s astonishment and Leporello’s horror, the statue nods in agreement, accepting the invitation.
Don Giovanni’s last moments are at hand. Dinner has been served and the musicians are entertaining the master with pieces well known in Mozart’s day.
Elvira rushes in, desperately still trying to make Don Giovanni repent of his deeds, but all to no avail. When the statue arrives as promised, Don Giovanni proudly accepts that his hour has come. He has no intention of repenting in the face of an authority he does not acknowledge, for he has no respect for God.
The flames of hell devour him and for all the others life goes on as before. Anna asks Ottavio to wait one more year before they marry, Elvira decides to enter a nunnery, Masetto marries Zerlina, and Leporello goes off to the tavern to “look for a better master”. Like planets abandoned by the sun, they each resume their own orbit in a universe that has suddenly grown cold, dark and silent.
