Tre opere su Don Giovanni per Praga – Jonášová Milada (2019)

The presented collection of contributions is dedicated to the topic of three Don Giovanni operas that were created in Prague in the 18th century and had their world premieres here in three different theaters. The collection is realized as the fourth volume of the edition "Italian Opera of the 18th Century in the Czech Lands." Tomislav Volek, in his introductory contribution titled "The Journey of Don Giovanni Through the Centuries," compares the most significant theatrical versions of the noble seducer Don Juan, from the earliest one by Tirso de Molina to the version by Da Ponte - Mozart. Luciano Paesani (Chieti-Pescara) summarizes findings on changes in the libretto of Righini's opera Il convitato di pietra, composed for Prague in 1776 and later performed in Vienna and Esterháza. Milada Jonášová, based on newly discovered scores of Don Giovanni from Prague, describes various minor changes that Mozart made during the preparation of the opera before its Prague premiere, which he later did not record in his autograph score. However, these changes were preserved in the Prague parts and became part of the copies of scores that spread from Prague to Europe. Manfred Hermann Schmid (Augsburg) analyzed the specific characteristics of duets in Mozart's operas. Another contribution by Jonášová is dedicated to a discovered letter from Bedřich Smetana...