Mozart's "Madamina" Aria: Leporello and Don Giovanni

Introduction: Comic Relief in a Dark Opera

The aria from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni entitled "Madamina" (Act 1, Scene 2) is sung by Leporello, Don Giovanni's loyal and sarcastic servant. Leporello takes a very realistic view of his master and the women Don Giovanni seduces. The aria details Leporello's perspective on his master as he tries to dissuade the prim, prudish Donna Elvira from pursuing the Don, who has recently "loved and left" the famous seducer. The aria seems incongruously humorous in an opera that ends with a dramatic deus ex machina, in which a walking, talking, mobile statue from hell escorts Don Giovanni to the underworld to receive his just deserts. However, without such moments of comic relief, the opera would be almost unbearably intense.

In his use of dramatic conventions and structure, Mozart echoes the humorous gravediggers in William Shakespeare's Hamlet or the porter scene in Macbeth. Arias such as "Madamina" also suggest a positive, alternative view of Don Giovanni's sexuality, one posed against conventional morality.

In Leporello's view, Don Giovanni's flagrant defiance of common Christian codes of morality makes the Don a manly and admirable figure. Leporello is not as socially transgressive of class norms as Don Giovanni is of sexual norms, but by helping the Don he too can defy a society that relegates him to second-class citizen status. Although the Don is ultimately condemned for his indiscretions, the fact that a lower-class man like Leporello is excused for echoing similar sentiments suggests that Mozart and his librettist may not completely "buy into" the interpretation of the Don as a purely negative sexual predator. They may be forced to condemn Don Giovanni to hell at the end, but they seem to enjoy every moment of his unrepentant path to the underworld.

Leporello, Donna Elvira, and the Catalogue Aria

The aria "Madamina" begins with an exchange between the woeful Donna Elvira and Leporello. She says: "You scoundrel! Are you mocking my grief?" (15). This opening sets the tone for the rest of the opera, which frequently uses mistaken identity as a means of expressing hidden sexual desire. The first sight of Donna Elvira shows her repenting of her faithless lover: "Ah, who will tell me / where that traitor is? / How could I love such a man / who betrayed my faith?" (13). At first, Don Giovanni does not recognize Elvira and vows to comfort her as part of his seduction strategy — the Don may be excused for forgetting, given that he has already seduced eighteen hundred women previously, according to Leporello's gleeful asides to the audience. Elvira soon recognizes her former lover, however, causing the Don to flee. This humorous misrecognition illustrates just how many women Don Giovanni has seduced; he literally cannot keep track of them all. Elvira, by contrast, has loved only a few men. She explains Don Giovanni's seduction style to the audience:

What can you say after such awful behavior? You entered my house secretly. You used cunning, flattery, and promises to seduce my heart; I fell in love with you, you cruel man! You declared me your wife, and then you defied the holy laws of heaven and earth and denied my sacred right; after three days you abandoned me in Burgos. You abandoned me, you fled, and left me in remorse and tears, my punishment because I loved you so much! (13).

Leporello is called upon to explain why the Don acted so badly, responding vaguely and unconvincingly that it is a strange world they all live in — a response that clearly signals his public alliance with Don Giovanni. Yet this also seems to be his genuine feeling, for the servant begins the aria even after the Don has left, proudly producing a thick book listing all the women Don Giovanni has made love to over the course of his existence. The servant consoles Elvira by noting that she is neither the first nor the last woman betrayed by the Don. "Look! This large book is filled entirely with the names of his conquests. / Every village, every town, and every country has witnessed his impressive exploits." (13).

Leporello takes a possessive pride in his master's sexuality. Significantly, the catalogue is something he proudly says to have "made myself" (15). This is not the Don's list; it is his servant's — the creation of a voyeur. It is not a conventional "little black book," since the Don shows no desire to return to women once he has enjoyed them.

Leporello's attitude suggests that a fairly light and indulgent view should be taken toward Don Giovanni. This stands in stark contrast to the audience's first encounter with the Don, in which he murders the lovely Donna Anna's father, the Commendatore. Throughout most of the opera, Leporello appears whenever moments of comedic levity are required — as when the Don asks him to pose as him, convince Elvira of his repentance, and persuade her that he loves her alone, so the Don can seduce Elvira's maid while she is distracted.

Don Giovanni's actions clearly have severe consequences for all whom his life and lies touch. Death and heartbreak are the frequent results of his crimes. Yet the fact that so good-hearted a man as Leporello does not mind serving him causes the audience to look more indulgently upon the Don's exploits. Leporello's indulgence reveals the charm and sexual power of this version of Don Juan, as the servant clearly loves devising plots to lure unsuspecting women to his master.

The Democracy and Charm of Don Giovanni's Seduction

The idea that seduction might not be such a bad thing is immediately underlined at the opening of "Madamina," where Leporello delightedly lists the sheer volume of his master's conquests. It is not names but numbers that he chronicles, and this enumeration drives the melody of the beautiful aria. The physical book itself, and particularly the long roster of Spanish lovers, receives a great deal of audience attention and musical emphasis in the presentation of the work.

There is considerable charm in the democracy of Don Giovanni's seduction. The Don seduces chambermaids as well as countesses, and when he later prefers Donna Elvira's maid to the higher-born woman herself, he both outrages the audience and wins a measure of their sympathy. Women need not even be particularly attractive to earn the Don's desire — he likes women who are both fat and thin. As Leporello paints a word-picture of blondes and brunettes, the music illustrates these preferences. The music softens and lightens as Leporello sings, "With the blond women, it's his custom to praise their gentleness," then grows softer and slightly darker as he states "with the dark haired, their fidelity, and with the gray haired, their sweetness."

In describing his master's seduction, Leporello is himself seductive in his command of voice and music, and in the degree to which the audience can see, hear, feel, and experience what it must be like to be seduced by Don Giovanni. Leporello functions as a more palatable proxy for Don Giovanni in relation to Elvira — a role he will reprise, literally, in Act 2, Scene 1 of the opera.

Musical Word-Painting and Proxy Desire

Another striking word-picture in the aria occurs when Leporello contrasts tall women with small women. Conveying the stately nature of the taller women, the music grows strong and assertive. When conveying the petite and spritely nature of the shorter conquests, however, the music grows faster and more delicate in tone. It is as if Leporello is "making love" to the women through music, even though his class status prevents him from doing so in life.

The fact that seduction might not be such a bad thing is reinforced by the celebratory and openly joyous nature of the "Madamina" aria, which functions as a kind of celebration of the sexuality that members of the audience may wish to engage in but do not. Despite the literal word-painting of blondes and brunettes, there is a stark contrast between the "mind in the gutter" literalism of Leporello's leering commentary and the agile beauty of Mozart's music.

Works Cited

Fisher, Burton D., ed. Mozart's Don Giovanni (translated from Italian and including music highlight transcriptions). Opera Journeys Libretto Series. Coral Gables, Florida, 2002.

"Madamina" from Don Giovanni. Sung by Luca Pisaroni. July 2011. Retrieved from YouTube, November 2011.