On this day, October 29, 1787, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart unleashed a storm of sound and sin upon the stage of Prague’s Estates Theatre. The opera is known as Don Giovanni.

Who was Don Giovanni?

A fictional nobleman, based on the Spanish legend of Don Juan. He seduced women, mocked honor, killed a man, and laughed in the face of divine justice. Most versions punish him. Mozart’s version? It does, but not before he sings, flirts, and fights his way through a twisting, tuneful descent into doom.

The plot kicks off fast.

In the opening scene, Giovanni murders the father of a woman he tried to assault. That act sets off a chain reaction of revenge, deception, and reckoning. By the end, the statue of the murdered man returns to drag the libertine down to hell.

Opera lovers call it dramma giocoso, a mix of comedy and drama. But really, it’s operatic alchemy. Don Giovanni juggles farce and fatalism, slapstick and suspense, without dropping a note.

Why Prague?

Mozart was a rock star in Bohemia. Earlier that year, his Marriage of Figaro had electrified Prague’s audiences. The city wanted more. So Mozart gave them Don Giovanni. He finished the overture the night before the premiere.

And what a premiere it was.

He conducted it himself. The Prague Post Office Gazette reported, “Connoisseurs and musicians say that Prague has never heard the like.” It wasn’t just entertainment. It was operatic history in the making.

What makes Don Giovanni special?

• The music bends time and logic. In the Act I finale, Mozart orchestrates three simultaneous dances in three different time signatures, and it works.
• The characters breathe. Giovanni isn’t just a villain. He’s magnetic. His servant Leporello, lovers Elvira and Anna, and peasant couple Zerlina and Masetto, all pulse with emotion.
• The blend of genres was revolutionary. This was not a tidy morality tale. It was raw, alive, and unpredictable.

When asked which opera he admired most, fellow composer Gioachino Rossini answered without hesitation: Don Giovanni. Today, it’s one of the most performed operas in the world. Directors still wrestle with its tone. Is it a warning? A black comedy? A supernatural thriller? The answer is yes, to all of it.