although the moral shock is great it is with actual physical fear that his teeth chatter. The whole sequence of characteristic expression in the scene receives its full significance only by contrast with Leporello's cowardice. Donna Anna's passion, which Don Giovanni is constrained to oppose with a force equal to her own; the dignified bearing of the Commendatore, forcing Don Giovanni at length reluctantly to draw the sword;[150] the duel[151] with its horrifying result--all these afford a rapid succession of exciting and harrowing points, scarcely leaving room for the comic element, which nevertheless is there, and kept actively before us without doing injury to the harmony of the whole. What a force of artistic expression is displayed in the eighteen bars of andante which close the introduction! The death which ends the pain of the Commendatore, the mingled pity and triumph of Don Giovanni, the horror and fear of Leporello, are blended into such harmony as to leave the mind--relieved from suspense--full of true emotion. The unusual combination of three bass voices seems as though expressly chosen for the serious tone of the situation; the stringed instruments accompany the voices in the simplest manner, with a few sustained notes for the horns and bassoons, and only in the concluding symphony do the oboes and flutes enter with a plaintive chromatic passage. Here burns truly the inextinguishable flame of genius![152]
To return to Leporello. The various ways in which his timorous nature expresses itself in different situations give occasion for the most interesting characterisation. He has least to do in the first finale, but he stands close by his master, who shields him in their common danger; in the
sestet, however, he shows himself in his full proportions. Willing as he is to take his master's place with Elvira, his fears do not suffer him to do it; and when he finds himself alone in the dark with her, in spite of her entreaties not to be left alone, his one anxiety is to escape. The contrast is excellently expressed between the bashfulness of Elvira and the terror of her cowardly interlocutor. Just as he is making off, Don Ottavio and Donna Anna enter, and he conceals himself. A rapid transition to another key, emphasised by the unexpected entry of drums and trumpets, transports us to a higher region, and an affectingly beautiful expression is given to the sorrow of a noble mind and the consolation of a loving heart. Elvira again takes part in the situation; she is full of anxiety for the supposed Don Giovanni, and the expression of her fear becomes more material, lowering her to the level of Leporello, who seeks anew to escape, and repeats his former motif, but more despondently, and in the minor key. Then Zerlina and Masetto enter and run against him, Don Ottavio and Donna Anna also become aware of his presence; and, to their intense surprise, Elvira interposes a petition for Don Giovanni. Her former motif expressive of anxiety is taken up and maintained by the orchestra, becoming the nucleus of the situation, the surprise of the other serving only to give light and shade. When her petition is finally rejected, Leporello throws off his disguise. His timidity has become mortal fear, he knows that his insignificance alone can shield him, and he cannot reiterate too strongly that he is in very truth Leporello, and not Don Giovanni. The general surprise at this discovery is of course expressed in far stronger fashion than that at Elvira's sudden change of mind. What is to be done? At first they are all at a loss. With regard to Leporello, though he has more or less injured some of them, their position is in common; he is not the Don Giovanni on whom they have vowed vengeance; their indignant amazement at the deceit practised on them unites them into a compact body, more occupied with their own feelings than anxious to punish Leporello. The latter thinks only of the