Title of the original libretto, Prague 1787: Il dissoluto punito ossia Don Giovanni. Dramrna giocoso (autograph list of works: opera buffa) in due atti.
Commissioned by Pasquale Bondini, Principal of Count Nostitz’s National Theatre in Prague (Impresario, Domenico Guardasoni) and composed between March (?) and October 1787 in Vienna and Prague. The suggestion for the plot is said to have come from Lorenzo da Ponte (according to his own account in his Memoirs). The model for Da Ponte’s Act One and pan of Act Two (starting with the graveyard scene) was G. Bertati’s libretto for the one-act Don Giovanni opera by G. Gazzaniga (Venice, February 1787). Premiere intended as a gala performance in honour of the visit to Prague of the newly married Archduchess Maria Theresa and Prince Anton Clemens of Saxony on 14th October. Postponement owing to rehearsal problems. (“Le nozze di Figaro" was performed as the gala opera with Mozart conducting.)
First performance in Prague on 29th October 1787 with great success. Mozart wrote to Gottfried von Jacquin on 4.11.1787: “On the 29th October my Don Giovanni was performed to enormous applause..." First performance in Vienna on 7th May 1788 at the command of Emperor Joseph II in the Imperial and Royal National Court Theatre. Mozart made some alterations for this performance, which was less successful. The most important were: Ottavio’s Aria "Dalla sua pace" (On her peace of mind, No. 10a, I,14) written to replace his aria ‘II mio tesoro intanto" (ln the meantime, go console my beloved, No. 21, II,10), subsequent composition of comic scenes (II, 10a, b, c) and the duet for Zerlina and Leporello “Per queste tue manine" (By these hands of yours, No. 21a), subsequent composition of Elvira’s recitative and aria "In quali eccessi, o Numi - Mi tradì quell’alma ingrata" (In how many excesses, o ye gods - The ungrateful soul betrayed me, No. 21b, II, 10d.