The Italian dramatic company, who were naturalised in Paris at the
theatre of the Hötel de Bourgogne, were accustomed to appoint one of
their number to arrange the plan of the pieces which they performed, but
the actual performance was improvised. In this fashion they played an
improvised version of Giliberti's "Convitato di Pietra," which had an
extraordinary run.[91] The chief situations of the Spanish drama, much
simplified and coarsened, are compressed into five acts, and Arlecchino,
who appears here as Don Juan's servant, is brought into the foreground
and made the mouthpiece of a great deal of very questionable badinage:--
The first act represents Isabella's seduction in Naples. Don Pedro, her
father and Don Juan's uncle, agrees with her to denounce Ottavio, her
lover, as her seducer, which causes the latter to take flight.[92] In
the second act Don Juan and Arlecchino swim to shore [a very favourite
scene, richly garnished with jokes], and Don Juan's love passages with
the lovely fisher-maiden Rosalba take place. On her claiming his promise
of marriage, he mockingly refers her to Arlecchino, who unrolls the long
list of his master's mistresses. It was customary to allow the end
of the roll to fall, as if by chance, into the pit, and the audience
delighted themselves by looking for the names of their friends or
connections in the list. Rosalba, in despair, casts herself into the
sea.[93]
{THE ITALIAN "CONVITATO DI PIETRA."}
(151)
The third act shows Ottavio in great favour at the court of Castile, on
the point of marriage with Donna Anna. He is attended by Pantaloon, who
carries on the usual by-play with Arlecchino. Don Juan intercepts the
letter in which Donna Anna summons Ottavio, steals in to her, Arlecchino
keeping watch outside, and slays the Commandant, her father, who
surprises them. In the fourth act Donna Anna demands justice from the
King; a reward of 6,000 thalers is placed upon the head of the murderer,
and Arlecchino is greatly tempted to gain it, which gives rise to
much jesting between him and Pantaloon. In the fifth act Don Juan
is discovered before the statue of the Commandant, which he mocks.
Arlecchino is made to invite it to supper, whereupon it nods, and,
upon Don Juan's repetition of the invitation, answers him in words. Don
Juan's supper gives opportunity for much comic display of greediness and
cunning on the part of Arlecchino, continuing even after the appearance
of the Commandant, who invites Don Juan and departs. The King, made
acquainted with Don Juan's crimes, commands him to be seized and brought
to justice. Before escaping he keeps his appointment with the Commandant
in the church, and is dragged below by the spectre. The closing tableau
shows Don Juan burning in hell, and expressing his torment and his
remorse:--
To which the demons answer: "Mai!"[94]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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