MozartΓÇÖs opera Don Giovanni, composed to a libretto by da Ponte, has one of the most dramatic of operatic endings. The story, based on the Don Juan legend, is about a rakish seducer who thrills the audience with his amorous adventures until he comes to a suitably bad end in the final scene. In this, Don Giovanni and his servant Leporello are having a suitably gluttonous and sybaritic supper. Three loud knocks at the door shatter the atmosphere, and the stone statue of the Commendatore appears.
At the beginning of the opera, Don Giovanni has killed the Commendatore, an outraged father who had interrupted him in the process of seducing his innocent daughter. A huge stone statue has been raised to the CommendatoreΓÇÖs memory in the local churchyard. Plagued by guilt, but reckless as ever, the Don has mocked the statue by facetiously inviting it to supper.
Now the Commendatore arrives as invited, and proceeds to organise the DonΓÇÖs last journey - into the flames of Hell.
