Trivia / Don Giovanni

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• Acting for Two: In the original Prague and Vienna productions, the same singer took the two small parts of Masetto and the Commendatore.
• All-Star Cast: As Don Giovanni, Leporello, Donna Anna, Don Ottavio, Donna Elvira, Zerlina, Masetto, and the Commendatore...
  • Audio Recordings:
    • 1942, conducted by Bruno Walter (live from the Old Metropolitan Opera House, New York): Ezio Pinza, Alexander Kipnis, Rose Bampton, Charles Kullman, Jarmila Novotna, Bidu Sayao, Mack Harrell, Norman Cordon
    • 1950, conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler: Tito Gobbi, Erich Kunz, Ljuba Welitsch, Anton Dermota, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Irmgard Seefried, Alfred Poell, Josef Greindl
    • 1954, conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler: Cesare Siepi, Otto Edelmann, Elisabeth Grümmer, Anton Dermota, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Erna Berger, Walter Berry, Dezso Ernster
    • 1955, conducted by Josef Krips: Cesare Siepi, Fernando Corena, Suzanne Danco, Anton Dermota, Lisa Della Casa, Hilde Güden, Walter Berry, Kurt Böhme
    • 1955, conducted by Rudolf Moralt: George London, Walter Berry, Hilde Zadek, Leopold Simoneau, Sena Jurinac, Graziella Sciutti, Eberhard Wächter, Ludwig Weber
    • 1958, conducted by Ferenc Fricsay: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Karl Christian Kohn, Sena Jurinac, Ernst Haefliger, Maria Stader, Irmgard Seefried, Ivan Sardi, Walter Kreppel
    • 1959, conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini: Eberhard Wächter, Giuseppe Taddei, Joan Sutherland, Luigi Alva, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Graziella Sciutti, Piero Cappuccilli, Gottlob Frick ^note This is generally considered to be the best recorded version of the work.
    • 1959, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf: Cesare Siepi, Fernando Corena, Birgit Nilsson, Cesare Valletti, Leontyne Price, Eugenia Ratti, Heinz Blankenburg, Arnold Van Mill
    • 1960, conducted by Herbert von Karajan: Eberhard Wächter, Walter Berry, Leontyne Price, Cesare Valletti, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Graziella Sciutti, Rolando Panerai, Nicola Zaccaria
    • 1962, conducted by Joseph Keilberth: George London, Benno Kusche, Hildegard Hillebrecht, Nicolai Gedda, Sena Jurinac, Anneliese Rothenberger, Albrecht Peter, Gottlob Frick
    • 1966, conducted by Otto Klemperer: Nicolai Ghiaurov, Walter Berry, Claire Watson, Nicolai Gedda, Christa Ludwig, Mirella Freni, Paolo Montarsolo, Franz Crass
    • 1967, conducted by Karl Böhm: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Ezio Flagello, Birgit Nilsson, Peter Schreier, Martina Arroyo, Reri Grist, Alfredo Mariotti, Martti Talvela
    • 1968, conducted by Richard Bonynge: Gabriel Bacquier, Donald Gramm, Joan Sutherland, Werner Krenn, Pilar Lorengar, Marilyn Horne, Leonardo Monreale, Clifford Grant
    • 1972, conducted by Sir Colin Davis: Ingvar Wixell, Wladimiro Ganzarolli, Martina Arroyo, Stuart Burrows, Kiri Te Kanawa, Mirella Freni, Richard van Allan, Luigi Roni
    • 1977, conducted by Karl Böhm: Sherrill Milnes, Walter Berry, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Peter Schreier, Teresa Zylis-Gara, Edith Mathis, Dale Duesing, John Macurdy
    • 1978, conducted by Sir Georg Solti: Bernd Weikl, Gabriel Bacquier, Margaret Price, Stuart Burrows, Sylvia Sass, Lucia Popp, Alfred Sramek, Kurt Moll
    • 1983, conducted by Bernard Haitink: Thomas Allen, Richard van Allan, Carol Vaness, Keith Stewart, Maria Ewing, Elizabeth Gale, John Rawnsley, Dimitri Kavrakos
    • 1985, conducted by Rafael Kubelik: Alan Titus, Rolando Panerai, Julia Varady, Thomas Moser, Arleen Auger, Edith Mathis, Rainer Scholze, Jan-Hendrik Rootering
    • 1985, conducted by Herbert von Karajan: Samuel Ramey, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Gösta Winbergh, Agnes Baltsa, Kathleen Battle, Alexander Malta, Paata Burchuladze
    • 1988, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt: Thomas Hampson, Laszlo Polgar, Edita Gruberova, Hans-Peter Blochwitz, Roberta Alexander, Barbara Bonney, Anton Scharinger, Robert Holl
    • 1990, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner: Thomas Allen, Simone Alaimo, Sharon Sweet, Francisco Araiza, Karita Mattila, Marie McLaughlin, Claudio Otelli, Robert Lloyd
    • 1991, conducted by Riccardo Muti: William Shimmel, Samuel Ramey, Cheryl Studer, Frank Lopardo, Carol Vaness, Susanne Mentzer, Natale de Carolis, Jan-Hendrik Rootering
    • 1992, conducted by Sir Roger Norrington: Andreas Schmidt, Gregory Yurisch, Amanda Halgrimson, John Mark Ainsley, Lynne Dawson, Nancy Argenta, Gerald Finley, Alastair Miles
    • 1994, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner: Rodney Gilfry, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Luba Orgonasova, Christoph Pregardien, Charlotte Margiono, Eirian James, Julian Clarkson, Andrea Silvestrelli
    • 1995, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras: Bo Skovhus, Alessandro Corbelli, Christine Brewer, Jerry Hadley, Felicity Lott, Nuccia Focile, Umberto Chiummo
    • 1997, conducted by Sir Georg Solti: Bryn Terfel, Michele Pertusi, Renee Fleming, Herbert Lippert, Ann Murray, Monica Groop, Roberto Scaltriti, Mario Luperi
    • 1998, conducted by Claudio Abbado: Simon Keenlyside, Bryn Terfel, Carmela Remigio, Uwe Heilmann, Solie Isokoski, Patrizia Pace, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Matti Salminen
    • 1999, conducted by Daniel Harding: Peter Mattei, Gilles Cachemaille, Carmela Remigio, Mark Padmore, Veronique Gens, Lisa Larsson, Till Fechner, Gudjon Oskarsson
    • 2000, conducted by David Parry: Gary Magee, Andrew Shore, Majella Cullagh, Barry Banks, Vivian Tierney, Mary Plazas, Dean Robinson, Clive Bayley (sung in English)
    • 2000, conducted by Michael Halasz: Bo Skovhus, Renato Girolami, Adrianne Pieczonka, Torsten Kerl, Regina Schörg, Ildiko Raimondi, Boaz Daniel, Janusz Monarcha
    • 2006, conducted by Rene Jacobs: Johannes Weisser, Lorenzo Regazzo, Olga Pasichnyk, Kenneth Tarver, Alex Penda, Sunhae Im, Nikolay Borchev, Alessandro Guerzoni
    • 2012, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin: Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Luca Pisaroni, Diana Damrau, Rolando Villazon, Joyce DiDonato, Mojca Erdmann, Konstantin Wolff, Vitalij Kowaljow
• Cut Song: For the Vienna production (the second production after the opera's premiere in Prague), Mozart cut Ottavio's Act Two aria "Il mio tesoro," reportedly because it was too difficult for the singer, and substituted the simpler "Dalla sua pace" in Act One. Most modern productions use both arias.
• Older Than They Think: The little quotation from Non piu andrai followed by Leporello's gag about "having heard that one before" seems like the kind of wanky in-joke a modern opera director would include and be very pleased with their cleverness, but the whole thing is in the original libretto.

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