Here's the moment when Rolando Villazon walks into the Estates Theatre, where Mozart himself conducted the première of Don Giovanni in 1871.
Don Giovanni is a nobleman addicted to sex. His comic manservant Leporello has kept a log of his conquests, which comes to 2,465 women. But on the day the father of his latest victim catches him leaving the house, everything starts to unravel. At the end he is given the chance to change his ways or dine with the murdered father in the after-world.
See how the pyrotechnicians of 1787 would have created his descent into hell when Don Giovanni refuses in the candle-lit finalé we created at a film studio in Prague. Even if you hate opera, Rolando Villazon is such a humorous and passionate presenter that you'll find this hour whizzing by. It's the story of how the amazing opera 'Don Giovanni' came to be.
"The opera of all operas"
"If there's only one opera you'll see before you die, make it this one"
A couple of peeks at 'Mozart in Prague: Rolando Villazon on Don Giovanni' BBC2, 26/4/14, 20:30hrs.
