Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni received its world premi?re in Paris on 29 October 1787. The overture – which, like so often before, Mozart penned in the last minute – resembles the opening movement of a symphony in terms of form. It consists of a slow opening movement and a clearly articulated, sonata-form, fast middle section. The slow opening movement presages the culmination of the plot in the penultimate scene of the opera. At the beginning of the story the Commendatore, coming to rescue his daughter, is killed by Don Giovanni in a duel. Later on Don Giovanni cynically invites the statue of the Commendatore to dinner. The statue knocks on his killer’s door, but refusing to repent his sins, Don Giovanni is devoured by the flames of hell. The two first chords of the overture stun and enthral the listener. One after another, the other motifs of this fatal scene are sounded, including the painfully dragging, ascending and descending scale passages which are heard when the stone statue turns up for dinner at Don Giovanni’s house. The fires of hell, however, do not follow just yet: the ominous vision rapidly fades and disappears altogether. Shifting to D major, the Allegro molto section is not thematically related to the opera. In spite of this, it is frequently interpreted as a portrait of Don Giovanni. Irresistibly energetic and brilliant, this music seems to depict the unscrupulous sensuality of a man greedily devouring life.