Maria Jose Badano

March 29th 2017

Teatro alla Scala production Dec 2011 (Grade:10/10)
2250 words

Understanding Donna Elvira

Mozart and Da Ponte’s character of Donna Elvira has been several times underestimated in its

psychological complexity and emotional profoundness. This misconception may be explained by

a superficial interpretation of this role: she can be observed as nothing but a crazy woman with a

maniac personality at the edge of a hysterical pathology. Fortunately for both audience and

interpreters, this reading of Donna Elvira is far away from being the most accurate interpretation

of this fascinating persona.

Moliere was the first who introduced the character of Donna Elvira, she was called Elvire. In

Moliere’s version Elvire recovers some of her dignity by forgetting all her rage and fury and in

an act of altruism she tries to save D.G. from his terrible fate. Da Ponte’s Donna Elvira doesn’t

have the same luck, her degradation goes till the very end.

From her very first tempestuous entrance Donna Elvira makes quite an impression. Her motives

of action are very straight forward: she was seduced and betrayed by the man she loves and

know she wants to win back his affection or as a last resort: get revenge. She enters like a

whirlwind of fury and anger fueled by an uncontrolled spitefulness. We can regard her fury and

pain in her first phrases: “…where the cruel man is? He whom I loved to my disgrace...If I find

the wicked man…I will rip out his heart”. Far from honoring her words, when she finds Don

Giovanni she doesn’t attempt to kill him, instead she starts to recriminate in detail everything he
1
did to her. This is a desperate attempt to make him feel sorry for her and get him back. Contrary

to her wishes he runs away and she is betrayed once more. This is the start of the numerous

humiliations she suffers during the opera. Leporello tells her in the aria “Madamina, il catalogo e

questo” that she wasn’t the first woman and won’t be the last one. This is a big recognition

moment for Donna Elvira. By understanding Don Giovanni’s nature she realizes that she hasn’t

been the only seduced and discarded woman by him, and worst, that he will not stop. As a

consequence of this new knowledge she starts an ardent campaign against Don Giovanni’s

attempts to seduce other women. First she saves Zerlina and then she opens Donna Anna’s eyes.

We can regard Donna Elvira as a female defender of the female virtue. After a tortuous process

full of humiliation, she transcends her own grief and she becomes a righteous woman. When she

accuses Giovanni of having broken the sacred law of heaven and earth, we learn that her crusade

is originated not only in her individual pain but also it responds to a greater cause: eradicate

evilness from earth in pursue of a divine forgiveness. This spiritual quest is reaffirmed when she

says “Heaven willed I would find you, in order to accomplish its own revenge and mine”. She is

justifying her actions by saying that this revenge is vindicated by God laws. Although her moral

standards are impeccable we can’t undermine the fact that the principal motive of revenge is her

broken heart. In fact she literally says so at the end of the second scene in Act I: “Ah, I want to

avenge my deceived heart”.

After the sensual duet “La ci darem la mano” where Giovanni is seducing Zerlina, Donna Elvira

bursts in and saves the apparently naïve peasant girl. We can see her nobility of purpose in the

aria “Ah! Fuggi il traditor!”. She really aims to open Zerlina’s eyes and save her from the same

fate she has already experienced, telling her what a deceitful and betraying monster is Don

2
Giovanni. Donna Elvira willingness for justice transcends the class boundaries as she do not

discriminate between peasants and nobles, she tries to help them equally.

After succeeding in saving Zerlina from Don Giovanni’s clutches she storms into the scene

where Donna Anna and her fiancée have met with D.G. Again she cries about D.G.’s betrayal.

The reaction of the other characters gives us more information about Elvira. Anna and Ottavio

mention her nobility and dignity. They acknowledge her moral integrity and start doubting about

Don Giovanni’s innocence. D.G. declares she is insane, which is true to a certain extent. Elvira’s

love for D.G. has blinded her with spitefulness exposing herself to extremely embarrassing

situations. But she is completely aware of it when she declares: “I have lost my prudence! I want

to show everyone your guilt and my condition”. She is totally conscious that she has lost her

good judgment and discretion. She is not really crazy, but she is mentally disturbed by the

feelings of anger, fury, spite and fear. We have to understand the gravity of her situation: being

disgraced and abandoned is a scandal for a woman of the seventeenth century; she has only two

options: get him back or retreat herself from society in a convent. This time Don Giovanni pulls

her away from the scene.

During Act I Donna Elvira fiercely confronts Don Giovanni and succeeds in preventing him

from deceiving other women. Furthermore, she convinces Donna Anna and Don Ottavio to carry

out their vindictive when they get into D.G.’s castle disguised and masked. At the end of Act I it

seems that Don Giovanni is going to face justice and Donna Elvira clemency starts to prevail

over her fury. She is continuously fighting against her contradictory feelings for D.G. In one

hand she seeks revenge but on the other hand she feel pity for him.

In Act II circumstances turn in favor of Don Giovanni. In order to seduce Elvira’s maid D.G.

changes his clothes with Leporello and make him seduce Elvira to get her out of the way. Elvira,

3
in an intimate balcony confession, expresses her conflict between her sensitive emotions for D.G.

and her rational mind which tells her he is a traitor. She is perfectly aware that she shouldn’t feel

sorry for her betrayer. She is in such a vulnerable state that when D.G. asks her to come down

firstly she hesitates but shortly she accedes to meet him downstairs. The sensuous beauty of this

trio contradicts the comic dramatic situation that will end again in Elvira’s ridicule. After she

comes down she describes herself as being all aflame for him: her infatuation for D.G. is so

strong that she is out of control again. She ingenuously believes that all her tears and devotion

have softened his heart. But there is still a hint of doubt in her heart thus she makes him swear

again and again he will not leave her, she is terrified of being left alone again. Before she comes

down from the balcony she prays for celestial protection for her credulous heart. She knows there

is a big chance that she will be deceived once more; this becomes true when she runs away with

the wrong man.

In the balcony scene the audience can witness Elvira’s sensual facet which is less evident than

Zerlina’s fresh coquetry. Elvira’s portrait by the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard (he cleverly

named her Donna Abbandonata) it’s a good illustration of her female attributes: “her nun’s veil

was torn and floated out behind her, her thin white gown would have betrayed much to a profane

glance, had not the passions in her countenance turned the attention of even the most depraved of

men upon itself.” Although in Da Ponte and Mozart’s version there no evidence that Elvira was a

nun; one of the first things she says in the play is; “who broke faith with me”. This could mean

her faith in God was broken by surrendering to the carnal pleasures with Don Giovanni. Also she

talks about the “sacred law of heaven”, if she wasn’t a nun at least she must have been a very

religious woman. At the end of the opera she expresses that the only option for her is to end her

4
days in a convent. If she wasn’t already a nun in real life, she was very close to be one within her

inner thoughts.

The next time we see Elvira is at Donna Anna’s dark courtyard accompanied by the disguised

Leporello. As described before Donna Elvira is a very sensual woman and her passions are

extremely intense. Her words in the darkness of the courtyard have a sexual undertone. When

she says “I believe I’m dying” she is using death as a metaphor of the sexual act. Leporello can’t

cope with this intensity of passion and unsuccessfully tries to escape. First Zerlina and Masetto,

then Don Ottavio and Donna Anna rush in the courtyard and plead to kill the supposedly Don

Giovanni. Elvira begs for mercy to her husband confirming once more her unconditional love for

Don Giovanni.

“Mi tradi quell’alma ingrata” was added by Mozart one year after the premier of the opera in

order to please the celebrated soprano Catarina Cavaliere. Although the plot already contained all

the necessary information to understand the drama of this character, this aria is a perfect

summary of Elvira’s inner conflicts. During the recitative she literally says: “Chi contrasto de

affetti in sen ti nasce”, meaning the contradictory affections which are emerging from my heart.

In the previous balcony scene she was trying to extinguish this feelings: “Ah taci, ingiusto core”.

At this point she can’t hide anymore her feelings. This aria has the rondo form which gives the

sensation of endlessness and reflects the vicious circle from which she is unable to escape. Her

emotional dependency on D.G. is her doom. Each new section starts with: “he betrayed me” and

it is followed by a “but I pray for him”. Even though her heart is broken because of the betrayal

she asks forgiveness for him. This repetitive form also describes her pathological obsession with

Don Giovanni. Although she has been humiliated multiple times she is still concerned for his

5
wellbeing. This is partially due to her love feelings for him and also because she foresees his

imminent and tragic fall.

Another perspective for Donna Elvira’s character is to regard her as Don Giovanni’s

complimentary opposite. While she is constant in love he is an incorrigible seducer, she follows

heaven and earth moral laws and he breaks all of them. This symbology is represented in 2011

La Scalla’s production of Don Giovanni. The different couples are dressed in the same color.

Zerlina and Masetto are in white as they have recently got married. Donna Anna and Don

Ottavio are in black as they are in mourning for the Commendatores’ death. Donna Elvira is

dressed in red the same as Don Giovanni. This color represents the passion in Don Giovanni for

every woman, the desire itself. Donna Elvira’s ardent passion is only for D.G., but she is not

always wearing red the same as her emotions are in constant fluctuation. At the beginning when

she is infuriated she is in black. At the masked ball she is in red, but when D.G. is discovered

trying to rape Zerlina she goes back to black. In the balcony scene she starts in black but to come

down she uses red. In her aria “Mi tradi” she starts in red and ends in black. Elvira is constantly

fighting against her ardent desire for Don Giovanni and tries to change in hate this amorous

feelings. When she is in red she feels close to getting him back and when she is in black she

mourns for her lost virtue. It is logical to assume that she was pure before she was seduced, so

she might have been dresses in white. And only dressing again in white, symbol of purity of soul

and closeness to God, she will be able to find a sort of peace and relief to her grieving.

Don Giovanni has been regarded by some authors as a universal symbol of the presence of

evilness in the world and the eternal battle between of heaven and hell. His ever-seeking of

desires satisfaction transforms him in the embodiment of The Desire. He has many demoniac

characteristics: he is a liar, a tempter and also a murderer. His insatiable lust is just one example

6
of the seven deadly sins. His defiance of divine power is going to be punished with eternal fire.

His only chance of salvation is repentance. Donna Elvira, as a symbol of heavenly salvation,

strives for his repentance for his evil deeds, which is his last resource to avoid eternal torment.

By the end of the play Elvira takes the place of the opera selfless heroine. She makes her last

attempt at the beginning of Act II Finale when Don Giovanni is waiting his “special” guest to

have a banquet. She has been transformed to altruism, she only seeks D.G.’s redemption

expecting nothing in return. Unexpectedly she bursts in and on her knees asks desperately to

Giovanni to change his life. Naturally laughs at this request and Elvira’s last words for hi are:

“…immondo esempio orribile d’iniquità”. Iniquity encloses unfairness, immorality, injustice,

evil and sin; more than enough reasons for the vicious dissolute to burn in Hell. When Elvira

furiously leaves she stumbles into the Commendatore’s statue which is about to accomplish Don

Giovanni’s punishment.

Donna Elvira is the most genuine and human character in Don Giovanni and other Mozart

operas. Her strong feminine passion, her vitality and her relentless fight for justice makes her one

of the most magnetic and seductive Mozart’s heroines.

Bibliography

Bleiler, Ellen H., Don Giovanni by Wolgang Amadeus Mozart, Dover Opera Guide and Libretto
Series, Dover Publications, New York, 1964

Glover, Jane, Mozart’s Women, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2005

7
Waldoff, Jessica, Recognition in Mozart’s Operas, Oxford University Press, New York, 2006

Hunter, Mary, Mozart’s Operas a Companion, Yale University Press, 2008

Brown-Montesano, Kristi, Understanding the Women of Mozart’s Operas, University of

California Press, London, England, 2007