Da Ponte, the librettist of the work, who had become Professor of Italian at Columbia College, had induced Garcia to put on the opera. At the first performance during the finale of the first act everything went at sixes and sevens, in spite of the efforts of Garcia, in the title rôle, to keep things together. Finally, sword in hand, he stepped to the front of the stage, ordered the performance stopped, and, exhorting the singers not to commit the crime of ruining a masterwork, started the finale over again, which now went all right.
It is related by da Ponte that "my 'Don Giovanni,'" as he called it, made such a success that a friend of his who always fell asleep at operatic performances, not only remained awake during the whole of "Don Giovanni," but told him he couldn't sleep a wink the rest of the night for excitement.
Pauline Viardot-Garcia, sister of Signorina Garcia (afterwards Mme. Malibran), the _Zerlina_ of the first New York performance, owned the original autograph score of "Don Giovanni." She bequeathed it to the Paris Conservatoire.
The opera has engaged the services of famous artists. Faure and Maurel were great _Don Giovannis_, Jean de Reszke sang the rôle, while he was still a baritone; Scotti made his _début_ at the Metropolitan Opera House, December 27, 1899, in the rôle, with Nordica as _Donna Anna_, Suzanne Adams, as _Donna Elvira_, Sembrich as _Zerlina_, and Édouard de Reszke as _Leporello_. Renaud appeared as _Don Giovanni_ at the Manhattan Opera House. Lablache was accounted the greatest of _Leporellos_. The rôle of _Don Ottavio_ has been sung by Rubini and Mario. At the Mozart Festival, Salzburg, 1914, the opera was given with Lilli Lehmann, Farrar, and McCormack in the cast.
A curious aside in the history of the work was an "adaptation," produced by Kalkbrenner in Paris, 1805. How greatly this differed from the original may be judged from the fact that the trio of the masks was sung, not by _Donna Anna_, _Donna Elvira_, and _Don Ottavio_, but by three policemen!
Alten and Goritz as Papagena and Papageno in "The Magic Flute"]
Opera in two acts by Mozart; words by Emanuel Schikaneder and Gieseke. Produced, September 30, 1791, in Vienna, in the Theatre auf der Wieden; Paris, 1801, as "Les Mystères d'Isis"; London, King's Theatre, June 6, 1811 (Italian); Covent Garden, May 27, 1833 (German); Drury Lane, March 10, 1838 (English); New York, Park Theatre, April 17, 1833 (English). The rôle of _Astrofiammante, Queen of the Night_, has been sung here by Carlotta Patti, Ilma di Murska, Gerster, Sembrich, and Hempel.