The Don Giovanni Moment: Essays on the Legacy of an Opera

The Don Giovanni Moment is the first book to examine the aesthetic and moral legacy of Mozart's masterpiece in the literature, philosophy, and culture of the nineteenth century. Scholars address Don Giovanni's impact on the philosophical visions of Kierkegaard, Goethe, and Williams and its influence on the literary and dramatic works of Pushkin, Hoffmann, Mörike, Byron, Wagner, Strauss, and Shaw. Through a close and careful analysis of the opera's literary and… (more)

The Don Giovanni Moment is the first book to examine the aesthetic and moral legacy of Mozart's masterpiece in the literature, philosophy, and culture of the nineteenth century. Scholars address Don Giovanni's impact on the philosophical visions of Kierkegaard, Goethe, and Williams and its influence on the literary and dramatic works of Pushkin, Hoffmann, Mörike, Byron, Wagner, Strauss, and Shaw. Through a close and careful analysis of the opera's literary and philosophical reception and its many appropriations, rewritings, and retellings, these contributors treat Don Giovanni as a vantage point from which theory and philosophy can reconsider romanticism's central themes. As lively and passionate as the opera itself, these essays are a spirited contribution to the debate over the meaning, character, and powerful legacy of this remarkable work of art.