MUS 760 Test Preparation:

• Pietro Metastasio: Born in Rome, Pietro wrote 27 librettos and is still

considered the most famous Opera Seria librettist. Metastasian texts served
hundreds of later composers, including Mozart, who used one of his librettos:
La Clemenza di Tito.

• Niccolo Jommeli: He was an Italian composer, writing some of the most

remarkable opera seria works of the mid-eighteenth century. Their blend of
Italian, German, and French style made many admirers, including Mozart.

• Lorenzo da Ponte: Da Ponte was an Italian librettist who was deeply involved
with the Opera Buffa flourishing scene in Vienna, from 1783 to 1790. His three
librettos for Mozart – Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Cosi Fan Tutte –
and considered the peak of the genre.

• Lieto Fine: Italian term used to denote the happy conclusion of a drama or
Operatic Libretto, a basic ingredient of the genre of opera, particularly during
the first two centuries of its development.

• Fury or Rage Aria: It’s an operatic aria that is made to express the rage of the
character that is performing it. Such arias emerged during baroque period and
are typically found in opera seria. One of Mozart’s most famous fury aria is the
Queen of the Night’s “Der Hölle”, in Die Zauberflöte.

• E.T.A. Hoffmann: German writer, mostly famous for epitomizing the Romantic
fascination with the supernatural and the expressively distorted or
exaggerated.

• Giovanni Bertati: Italian librettist, almost exclusively devoted to the drama

giocoso. His Don Giovanni libretto served as an inspiration for Lorenzo da
Ponte and Mozart.

• Giuseppe Gazzaniga: Being one of the last opera buffa generation of

composers, his most acclaimed work is the one-act Don Giovanni Tenorio
opera though.

• Recognition Scene:

• Sposa Abbandonata: Literally, it means abandoned bride. In Don Giovanni,

it’s usually how Donna Elvira is represented, and this fact shapes how we may
see her, as her actions are a direct result of this fact.

• Clandestine Marriage: It’s a non-official wedding, usually proposed with no

witnesses. In Don Giovanni, it’s how the main character approaches many of
his victims, including Zerlina, in attempting to add Maseto’s fiancé to the
catalogue of his conquests.
Arias:

1. Ah! Qui mi dice

• Type: Aria
• Characters: Elvira, with little interventions by Don Giovanni and Leporello
• Main point of the text: Elvira is looking for Don Giovanni, the man who
took away her dignity.
• Title/Composer/Librettist: Mozart/Lorenzo da Ponte
• Year: 1787


2. La ci darem la mano

• Type: Duet
• Characters: Don Giovanni/Zerlina
• Main point of the text: Don Giovanni is seducing Zerlina, by proposing
marriage to her.
• Title/Composer/Librettist: Mozart/Lorenzo da Ponte
• Year: 1787

3. Non ti fidar

• Type: Quartet
• Characters: Elvira/Anna/Ottavio/Giovanni
• Main point of the text: Elvira and Don Giovanni try to convince Ottavio and
Anna about although they are in opposite sides, and Elvira is more
successful.
• Title/Composer/Librettist: Mozart/Lorenzo da Ponte
• Year: 1787

4. Don Ottavio, son morta

• Type: Recitative
• Characters: Anna
• Main point of the text: After recognizing Don Giovanni as the man who
murdered her father, Anna describes to Ottavio how everything happened.
• Title/Composer/Librettist: Mozart/Lorenzo da Ponte
• Year: 1787

5. Or sai chi l’onore

• Type: Aria
• Characters: Anna
• Main point of the text: Anna claims Don Ottavio to avenge her and her
father, now that he knows that Don Giovanni perpetrated both crimes.
• Title/Composer/Librettist: Mozart/Lorenzo da Ponte
• Year: 1787
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