A Study of the Early Manuscript Copies of Mozart's Don Giovanni

Once Mozart had completed the composition of an opera, he would hand his autograph score over to the theatre copyists so that parts and conducting scores could be produced for the performers. As the premiere approached and rehearsals intensified, he would make last-minute changes to cope with the requirements of singers and to sort out any dramatic problems that he observed on stage. These late changes were usually entered in the performing materials but not in the autograph itself, and thus these early manuscript copies provide crucial evidence in helping to establish how the 'text' of the opera evolved before and during the first performance run.

In the case of Don Giovanni, Mozart went through this whole process twice. The triumphant Prague premiere was followed by a less successful Vienna production. The score for this revival was significantly revised, as was the composer's usual practice, to take account of the vocal strengths of the new cast of singers. In addition, a number of striking changes to the drama itself were considered and perhaps implemented, yet after over two hundred years of research it is still far from certain what was actually performed on the night of the first Vienna performance on 7 May 1788, owing to a large number of discrepancies between the published libretto and the musical score and the parts, recently discovered by Dexter Edge. It is quite likely, for example, that at some stage Mozart cut the final scene of the opera entirely, ending with Don Giovanni being dragged down into hell by the statue of the Commendatore, rather than with the scene of general rejoicing that had been his first idea.

The proposed project, by undertaking a detailed paleographic study of all the early manuscript copies, aims to clarify the relationship between the Prague and Vienna versions of the opera. This can be done through a systematic examination of the way in which errors were transmitted and variants became established, Such details have the potential to be extremely informative in establishing the early chronology of this opera. This work has yet to be done, as the long established traditional approach to the study of Mozart's music placed great emphasis on the autograph score itself, and paid relatively little attention to the early copies. The critical commentary in the Neue Mozart Ausgabe certainly acknowledges their significance, but it gives no detailed texual analysis. Such a study, however, could add a great deal to our existing knowledge of the early reception of Don Giovanni in the late eighteenth century.