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The Libertine Punished

Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

The word “opera” comes from the Latin word for “work,” but it wasn’t until 1639 that the word was used to describe a theatrical piece that includes poetry, vocal music, orchestral music and dance.

Opera first appeared on the world stage in 1598, with the production of La Dafne in Florence, Italy. Ottavio Rinuccini wrote the book, known as the libretto, and Jacopo Peri composed the musical score. The music has long been lost to us, but the libretto survives mostly intact.

The concept swept through Europe, with countries establishing their own traditions and composers, from the five-act Grand Opera of Paris, to Germany’s Wagner and beyond. But it was Italy, the birthplace of opera, that produced such artists as Verdi, Rossini and Puccini, and it was Mozart’s Italian comic operas that reinforced his place of honor among composers.

Mozart’s Don Giovanni–or The Libertine Punished—has traditionally been considered the finest opera ever created. Lorenzo da Ponte wrote the libretto, based on a 16th-century Spanish tale of the last adventure of an unrepentant rake, Don Juan—or Don Giovanni, as the Italianized version of the name. It first appeared on stage on October 29, 1787.

Don Giovanni is packed to the rafters with action and excitement, and there are many comic moments in this story of a man who takes innocence and leaves chaos in his wake. But the cruelty and pain bring it to its inevitable end, with our villain getting his just deserts in a last, blazing scene.

The Wichita State University School of Performing Arts will perform Don Giovanni October 30th through November 2nd at Miller Concert Hall in the Duerksen Fine Arts Center.

Sanda Moore Coleman received an MFA in creative writing from Wichita State University in 1991. Since then, she has been the arts and community editor for The Martha's Vineyard Times, a teaching fellow at Harvard University, and an assistant editor at Image. In 2011, she received the Maureen Egan Writers Exchange prize for fiction from Poets & Writers magazine. She has spent more than 30 years performing, reviewing, and writing for theatre.