Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on the Don Juan legend originally written by Spanish writer Tirso de Molina

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791)

Mozart was born in Salzburg and was a child prodigy, both as an instrumentalist and composer from the age of five. His father Leopold, the deputy Kapellmeister in the orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg, assumed the task of teaching his extraordinary son. As he grew older, Mozart traveled throughout Europe performing for nobility before settling in Salzburg to devote himself to composing. But, ever restless and in need of a permanent position, he traveled again— first to Mannheim and Paris and eventually settling in Vienna. There he wrote a trio of operas considered some of the greatest ever written. The three—each with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte—were The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Cosí fan Tutte (1790) and, my personal favorite, Don Giovanni (1787), which had a very successful premier in Prague.

Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749–1838) was a prolific writer of libretti. His words formed the basis for 28 operas by 11 composers, including both Mozart and Salieri. Da Ponte’s life story is unusual and fascinating. Although Jewish, he became a Catholic priest (1773) Although a priest, he had a mistress and two children and, as result, was banished from Venice(1779). Da Ponte became bankrupt and moved to New York(1805) where he became a grocer and then the first professor of Italian literature at Columbia University(1825). At the age of 79 he also founded the New York Opera Company, the first opera company in the United States(1828).

Don Giovanni and Food

The opera is loosely based on a play by Tirsa de Molina called The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest (in Spanish: El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra). It was first published in Spain around 1630, though it may have been written as early as 1616. It is the earliest dramatization of the Don Juan legend.

Tirso de Molina

Tirso de Molina, whose real name was Fray Gabriel Tellez, was a Spanish playwright and poet born in Madrid on March 24, 1579 and died on March 12, 1648 in Almazán, Soria. Considered one of the greatest playwrights of the Spanish Golden Age, he entered the Order of Mercy (at the monastery of San Antolín de Guadalajara) at a very young age and, after a stay in Santo Domingo, in America, settled in the city of Toledo, where he was ordained a priest, although he made multiple trips to Galicia, Salamanca and Lisbon. He returned to Madrid in 1618. His satirical and burlesque comedies earned him a banishment to Seville, which did not stop his upward career, later becoming commander of the convent of Trujillo, chronicler of his order, commander of the convent of Soria and finally Provincial Definer of Castilla. - http://www.lecturalia.com/autor/4201/tirso-de-molina

In the play by Tirso, Don Juan (Don Giovanni) invites the statue, Don Gonzalo (The Commendatore), to dinner, much to his servant Catalinon's (Leporello’s) anguish. The statue arrives for dinner but doesn't drink or eat, indicating that he wants to be alone with Don Juan. When Catalinon leaves, the statue invites Don Juan to come dine with him the following day at his chapel at 10 o’clock. When Don Juan arrives at there the next evening, Don Gonzalo serves him a terrible wine, a plate of scorpions, and a stew with fingernails in it. There are no recipes available, so we will skip over these dishes.

In the opera, Da Ponte has Don Giovanni force Leporello to invite the statue to dinner, after which the Don returns to his palace to have a somewhat raucous meal to satisfy his voracious appetite. Presumably not believing the statue will honor the invitation, Leporello serves him a dish, which is not explicitly named, but which the Don evidently loves as Leporello is taken aback at how quickly he finishes it. The Don then calls out for some wine—“an excellent Marzimino.”

The next course is a pheasant. Leporello, who has been enviously (and hungrily) watching his master eat, sneaks a taste. The Don sees him but pretends he doesn't and makes Leporello sing with a full mouth. Eventually the servant has to confess he has tasted the dish, excusing himself by saying it is because the Don's cook is so excellent that he just had to try it. Donna Elvira arrives and interrupts the meal with her usual berating of Don Giovanni, and soon the statue of the Commendatore arrives. This imposing figure, however, proclaims that he won't eat because, "He who dines on Heavenly food has no need for the food of the mortals!“ As in the Tirso play, he extends his hand, inviting the Don to come dine at his table. Boldly saying he is no coward, Don Giovanni takes the statue’s offered hand. It is icy and the Don cannot let go. The Commendatore asks him to repent and when he refuses, he is dragged down to hell by a crowd of devils.

Juan Altamiras

The opera takes place in Spain in the mid 18th century. I found that the food of Spain in that period was best defined in a cookbook entitled, “New kitchen art, taken from the school of economic experience” (1745), by Juan Altamiras, described in an article from a travel site in Zargosa, near where he was born:

“THE ZARAGOZA MONK JUAN ALTAMIRAS WAS A PIONEER IN THE KITCHEN. THIS FRANCISCAN PUBLISHED A RECIPE MANUAL IN 1745, WHICH BECAME A GREAT SUCCESS IN HIS TIME AND INSPIRED COOKS IN LATER CENTURIES.

He did not have a famous restaurant nor did he feed the great personalities of his time, but he became the most influential chef of the 18th century, a kind of 'Ferrán Adriá' who, from the stoves of his convent , revolutionized the cuisine of the moment and he extended his legacy to many who followed in his footsteps in later centuries. Raimundo Gómez del Val, (born in 1709 in La Almunia de Doña Godina and died in the convent of Santa Catalina del Monte de Cariñena in 1770 or 1771) better known by his pseudonym, Juan Altamiras, He was an Aragonese Franciscan friar who has gone down in posterity for a recipe book, “New kitchen art, taken from the school of economic experience” (1745), which was reissued numerous times until the beginning of the 20th century and which continues being studied by historians and experts. In fact, the last to take a tour of his life, his recipes and their historical importance has been the Spanish artist Vicky Hayward , who after 10 years of research published last year a complete and updated version of this book with a foreword by the great chef Andoni Luis Aduriz.

From the kitchen of several monasteries in the province of Zaragoza, that of San Lorenzo de La Almunia, that of San Diego and that of San Cristóbal, he wrote the book that marked a revolution in the concepts of cuisine in the 18th century and the most edited of that century and the next. According to the English author, at 18 he was ordained a friar and at 20 he was placed in the kitchen of the monastery of San Lorenzo, in his hometown, so he had to get up to feed the friars and the poor. Altamiras, who unlike the popular saying, was a friar rather than a cook, had to rely on his mother's kitchen and local tradition to invent his own recipes and culinary methods, so he decided to write a book with his experience, ideas and knowledge to help other friars who may be in your situation.

The importance and success of his book is due to the fact that he moves away from the refined cuisine of French influence and makes popular, modest, simple and profitable recipes that he relates with wit and a sense of humor. Pure popular Spanish cuisine reinvented with its own ideas and with aspects that endure to this day, such as the use of olive oil, healthy food, natural flavors, the use of spices and aromatic herbs .” - https://comecomezaragoza.es/juan-altamiras-el-ferran-adria-del-siglo-xviii-era-un-fraile-aragones/

New Art of Cookery: A Spanish Friar's Kitchen Notebook by Juan Altamiras
by Vicky Hayward

Here are three recipes from the book for partridge and information about the Don’s wine. The bird mentioned in the opera is pheasant but it is explained that both pheasant and partridge can be cooked the same way. As there are no recipes for pheasant in the book I present these.

Perdices en Guisados - click here for recipe

This is partridge with ham, onion, garlic and spices, cooked in wine and water

Partridges in Pepper Sauce / Perdices en Prebe - click here for recipe

Partridges are usually served like this, in a pepper sauce. The recipe calls for cleaning them well, searing them on the fire, placing them in a clay or earthen casserole and then adding parsley, salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, lemon or orange slices, fresh olive oil and a little water.

Partridges with Sardines / https://www.operafeasts.com/recipes/partridge-sardines- click here for recipe

Partridges stuffed with salted sardines or anchovies and roasted with tomatoes.

Marzemino 

A late-ripening, dark-skinned grape variety grown mainly in Trentino-Alto Adige but also in the Veneto, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna wine regions of Italy.

Marzemino's best role is as the key ingredient (95 percent) in the sweet Colli di Conegliano Refrontolo passito wines, for which grapes are dried out in the winery (traditionally on straw mats) for weeks, even months after the harvest. In Lombardy it is almost never used for varietal wine, but is instead blended with the likes of Sangiovese, Barbera and Merlot, notably in the wines of the Capriano del Colle and Botticino DOCs.

Like its northern Italian varieties,  Vespaiolo and Raboso, Marzemino has grassy, herbal elements and a sour-cherry tang, but has a greater balance in terms of acid and sugar levels. Given a sufficiently sunny site (most likely on the southwest-facing slopes of the Adige valley or in the hills around Conegliano), Marzemino can produce refreshing, berry-scented wines.