Don Giovanni: Commendatore

I have always loved that when the Commendatore's statue walks onstage, Don Giovanni's initial reaction is, "Well, damn. I didn't see that coming".

I was raised with Don Giovanni in much the same way I was raised with Figaro. Driving to the orthodontist, my dad would put on his favorite recording of the opera and play all the highlights: the overture, Leporello's intro through the Don's entrance, the Champagne Aria, the Finale. And I would sit there, glued, listening to Samuel Ramey and Ferruccio Furlanetto be amazing. Those two basses will always be MY Don Giovanni and Leporello.

For some reason, we never really listened to the Act One finale, which I discovered on my own in university, and which is frankly my favorite part of the entire opera.

Here I give you this AMAZING Commendatore scene, from Franco Zeffirelli's 1990 production for the Met. It's amazing that the stage didn't explode from so much awesome.