Listened to Act 2 of Mozart's Don Giovanni this morning. Noticed for the first time how deeply odd it is that the great womanizer actually invites the statue of the Commandatore to dine with him despite Leporello's fears - and despite the fact that they are inviting a statue, albeit one that nods and speaks.
But the dream-logic of this works completely. It's what we expect our hero/villain/scoundrel to do, and to do with that calm insouciance that stands in replacement for any form of reasoning in the Don. And similarly when the Commandatore invites him to dine with him in return and we all know where that dinner will take place, we are not in the slightest surprised that there isn't even a hint that the notion of redemption enters into Don Giovanni's mind: ch'io non mi pento. He refuses the offer of salvation six times on my count.
In simple moral terms Mozart and Da Ponte present us unequivocally with Il Dissoluto Punito (The Rake Punished) as the full title of the opera lets us know, and we are horrified, but I'm not convinced that condemnation of the Don is drawn so easily from us and one awkward aspect of that is how we cannot help but admire the courage of the unrepentant rake despite our knowledge of all the damage that's been done.
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