Réminiscences de Don Juan S418 (1841)

Surely the most extravagant of Liszt’s 60 or so opera transcriptions is the Réminiscences de Don Juan (the French title suggesting that the work arose from a production of Don Giovanni at the Paris Opéra). It is also one of the most interesting in that perhaps as much as a third of it is devoted to Giovanni’s confrontations with the statue of the Commendatore whereas – in terms of time though not, of course, significance – they occupy only a small fraction of Mozart’s opera. Liszt’s reaction was probably inspired more by the horror of the graveyard and dinner scenes than the moral aspect of the story. Certainly, the Commendatore’s stoney monotone hammered out at the beginning leaves no doubt about Liszt’s involvement, which is confirmed by the following, thrillingly extreme commentary of percussive articulation, roaring arpeggios and    scales, marked with such directions as tempestuoso and con strepito, covering just about the whole of the keyboard.

The central section is devoted to the Giovanni-Zerlina duet “Là ci darem la mano” followed by two extended, elaborately worked variations, the second of which leaves Mozart so far behind as to attract more tempestuoso and martellato directions. Based on the so-called champagne aria “Fin ch’han del vino”, the breathless finale leads in spite of its inebriated exuberance to a triple forte reminder of the Commendatore’s unbreakable icy grip.