Don Giovanni, K. 527: Act I, No. 7: Duettino: La ci darem la mano [soprano, baritone]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote the two-act opera Don Giovanni, K. 527, in 1787 following a commission from Prague impresario Pasquale Bondini. With the success of The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart turned to the librettist for that opera, Lorenzo Da Ponte, for this new project. The opera tells the story of Don Giovanni, an arrogant and promiscuous nobleman who abuses everyone he meets, killing the father of a woman he assaulted, attempting to seduce other women and abandoning the one he has already seduced. At the end, the man he had killed returns as a ghost and demands Don Giovanni's repentance. Don Giovanni refuses, and is dragged to Hell, with the cast telling the audience that "Evildoers always come to an evil end." The opera premiered in Prague at the Estates Theatre on October 29th, 1787, with Mozart conducting, and was very successful. The opera remains not only one of the best by Mozart, but it is considered one of the crown jewels of the opera repertoire. Act I, No. 7, the duettino "Là ci darem la mano," occurs shortly after Don Giovanni encounters the peasant bride Zerlina and her fiancé Masetto during their wedding celebrations. Having sent Masetto and the other villagers away, Don Giovanni attempts to seduce Zerlina by promising to marry her and invites her to accompany him to his nearby villa. She initially hesitates, torn between attraction to Giovanni and loyalty to Masetto, but gradually yields as their separate vocal lines join in harmony, until Donna Elvira arrives and interrupts the seduction. Today, "Là ci darem la mano" is one of the best-known numbers from Don Giovanni and one of Mozart's most celebrated operatic duets, frequently heard both within the complete opera and independently in concerts, recitals, recordings, and arrangements, admired for the deceptive simplicity with which Mozart transforms a calculated seduction into music of extraordinary grace and intimacy. Instrumentation: 1.2.0.2: 2.0.0.0: Str (4.4.3.3.3 in set): Soli Sop.Bar. Reprint edition.