Imagining Don Giovanni

by Anthony J. Rudel

"Set in Prague in 1787, Imagining Don Giovanni is the rich, sweeping story of three of history's most seductive artists - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Leonardo Da Ponte, the poet and librettist; and Giacomo Casanova, the notorious lover - working against the clock to create one of the world's most powerful masterpieces: the opera Don Giovanni.". "In the eleventh hour of Don Giovanni's production, Mozart and Da Ponte have halted all work in fundamental disagreement about its themes. Tempers flare but neither strong-willed man will back down, and no consensus can be wrought as the royally decreed date for the premiere looms. When all hope seems lost, the infamous Casanova appears on the scene with a flourish, full of salacious stories and surprising wisdom. The ideas he introduces into the conversation - dangerous notions about personal liberty - stir his collaborators' democratic enthusiasm, but also their fear. As he begins to influence the shape of the opera itself, professional and roman