Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera about the libertine nobleman Don Giovanni is Don Giovanni.
The opera premiered in Prague at the Estates Theatre on 29 October 1787. Its full Italian title is Il dissoluto punito, ossia il Don Giovanni, meaning “The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni.” Lorenzo Da Ponte wrote the libretto, as he also did for Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte.
The plot follows Don Giovanni’s seductions, the pursuit of Donna Anna and Donna Elvira, and the revenge sought by the Commendatore. The supernatural stone guest appears in the final act and confronts the unrepentant title character.
Mozart classified the work as a dramma giocoso, a term reflecting its mixture of comic and serious elements. The famous overture begins with a slow, ominous introduction before turning to faster music. Don Giovanni is distinct from Mozart’s opera seria Idomeneo, which concerns a Cretan king after the Trojan War.