Besides DON GIOVANNI ...

[dulcinea]

... what other music dramas tell the story of Don Juan?

[jbuck919]

I don't know, but when I toured Regensburg, the tour guide made a big deal about the statue of favorite son Don Juan without mentioning that, instead of the famous lover, he was the commander of the forces that defeated the Ottomans in the historically decisive naval Battle of Lepanto in the 16th century. I got it, but I don't know that anyone else in my group did.

[John F]

... what other music dramas tell the story of Don Juan?

Dargomyzhsky, "The Stone Guest" (1872), in which Juan is a tenor. It's based on Pushkin's 1830 play, which is partly based on Mozart's opera and partly not. To my ears it's kind of interesting but not compelling.

P.D.Q. Bach, "The Stoned Guest" (1970). No comment.

[josé echenique]

Giuseppe Gazzaniga also has a Don Giovanni. Lorenzo Da Ponte based his own libretto on that.
And of course Gluck has a fine ballet.

[THEHORN]

There was a recording of the Gazzaniga opera on CD some years ago, but I can't recall which label it was or who was
in the cast . I doubt it's still available anywhere , but I'd be curious to hear it. Gazanniga was a well-known composer
in his day .
There's a well known American scientist by the nme of Michael Gazzaniga who has written some interesting books,
and I wonder if he might be a descendent of the composer .

[John F]

The Sony CD set is still available. The cast is mostly unknown but includes Ferruccio Furlanetto, and the conductor is Bruno Weil. I see there's now another CD set on Nuova Era and even a DVD from the Wexford Festival.

The Sony recording is on YouTube divided into 5-6 minute segments.

[THEHORN]

Thanks for the information, John .

[dulcinea]

You all know WEST SIDE STORY, the story of Romeo and Juliet set in a different time and place, and with the characters having different names from those of the original play. Have there been similar adaptations of the Don Juan story?

[jbuck919]

You all know WEST SIDE STORY, the story of Romeo and Juliet set in a different time and place, and with the characters having different names from those of the original play. Have there been similar adaptations of the Don Juan story?

Don't you ever bother to thank people for making the effort to answer one of your questions? I don't mean me, because my answer was off-topic with sem-facetious intent, but others went to the trouble of giving you a serious and informed response, and you ignore them as though their effort was your due.

[John F]

Being dulcinea is never having to say "Thank you."

"West Side Story" is not an "adaptation" of "Romeo and Juliet" but a quite different story "inspired" by Shakespeare's play.

Bernard Shaw's "Man and Superman," with one of its scenes sometimes performed separately as "Don Juan in Hell," is certainly inspired by the Don Juan legend and by "Don Giovanni" in particular, from which a bit of music is quoted; its main character, Jack Tanner, is a thinly disguised Juan Tenorio. "Don Juan in Hell" obviously picks up where the Don Juan plays end.

[dulcinea]

Being dulcinea is never having to say "Thank you."

Being Dulcinea means: that is good; please go on.

[PJME]

Both the French composer Henri Tomasi ( 1901- 1971) and sir Eugene Goossens (1893-1962) composed an opera titled “Don Juan de Manara”.

Tomasi used a libretto by Oscar Milosz (1877 – 1939, a French poet of Lithuanian birth), Goossens' libretto was written by Arnold Bennett ( 1867 – 1931).

Don Juan de Manara (don Miguel Mañara Vincentelo de Leca (1627-1679), an historical figure in the mid-sixteen hundreds. Propably the Spanish “Don Giovanni” who gave rise to all the “Don Giovanni” characters later invented.

Tomasi’s opera can be found in an historical recording (1952) on the Forlane label and boasts some of that era’s greatest French singers: Raoul Jobin, Martha Angelici and André Vessières. The composer conducts. Tomasi’s music is basically tonal, reminiscent of “Les six” in serious mood, with some Prokofiev and Berliozian pomp thrown in. He extracted 4 “Fanfares liturgiques” from the score, a work that is still very popular with brass/percussion ensembles.
http://bso.http.internapcdn.net/bso/ima ... ession.pdf


From Goossens opera only a few small orchestral fragments have been recorded ( Chandos).

Franco Alfano’s L’ombra di Don Giovanni/ later: Don Juan de Manara (Don Giovanni’s Shadow - 1914) is even more obscure. Asfaik, only one aria sung by Gigli can be found on CD.

P.

[John F]

Don Juan de Manara (don Miguel Mañara Vincentelo de Leca (1627-1679), an historical figure in the mid-sixteen hundreds. Propably the Spanish “Don Giovanni” who gave rise to all the “Don Giovanni” characters later invented.

The literary source, Tirso de Molina's "El Burlador de Sevilla," was "first published in Spain around 1630, though it may have been performed as early as 1616." (Wikipedia) How could a person born in 1627 have been Tirso's inspiration? If Manara was a libertine - I know nothing about him, and the only Wikipedia article is in Spanish - I suppose it's possible he knew Tirso's play and was inspired by it. Not the other way around.

[PJME]

I havent' done any historical research myself.

Maybe this helps?

http://marilynkaydennis.wordpress.com/2 ... uan-saint/

( no sources listed however)

and
http://www.histpharm.org/40ishpBerlin/L68F.pdf


P.

[John F]

Very interesting. So this Miguel Manara was indeed specifically and admittedly influenced by Tirso's play. But instead of being dragged down to hell by the statue of one of his victims, he founded a charity hospital and has been set by the Vatican on the path to sainthood!