The Character of Don Giovanni in Mozart’s Opera

Publication Type

Book Chapter

Year of Publication

1996

Author

Allen, Diogenes

Editor

Dunaway, John M. Springsted, Eric O.

Book

The Beauty that Saves: Essays on Aesthetics and Language in Simone Weil

Pages

173-183

Publisher

Mercer University Press

Place Published

Macon, Georgia

Language

English

Translator

Publications (selected)

Chapter

11

Keywords

Dante
desire
Goethe
Kierkegaard, Søren Aabye
love
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
music
nature
sexuality

Annotation

Allen frames his essay around Weil’s observation that, “Alexander the Great is to a peasant proprietor as Don Juan is to a happily married man” (pp. 173 – 174). Allen spends considerable time discussing Kierkegaard’s essay on the opera, particularly his claim music is the best vehicle for conveying the essence of Don Giovanni’s character (p. 174). He goes on to compare Don Giovanni to Dante’s portrayal of Satan in the Divine Comedy as well as to Goethe’s Faust. Finally Allen returns to Weil, focusing on her understanding of necessity and its impact on human self-absorption and distorted perceptions of reality. Allen concludes by using his discussion to argue for a ‘properly ordered sexuality’, one that through its limitation can receive the good, true erotic love can bring.

Notes

Abridged version previously published as "Character of Mozart's Don Giovanni" in Theology Today 45.3 (1988): 317-25. Significant content is available through Google Books