Starting with this idea, Mozart has given him a simple and very lively dance song to sing, in which nothing of the higher passions and still less either of demoniacal lust or noble sentiment can be traced, but only a very powerful expression of sensual impulse in a sort of fleeting paroxysm. The very pleasing and impressive melody, the simple harmony, the marked rhythm, and especially the instrumentation, all combine to produce a happy effect. The flutes and violins, which lead the melody almost without interruption, maintain the dance-like character of the song, and the uniformly rapid movement of the accompaniment produces a singular degree of excitement, enhanced by the strong accents of the wind instruments. So again, the digression into the minor key, making the sting of {DON GIOVANNI--AIRS.} (185) unbridled passion to be felt in the very indulgence of it, is of very striking effect. The serenade (Act II., 3) is of a totally different character; Mozart has written _Canzonetta_ against it. Don Giovanni here pours out the whole warmth of his feelings towards the fair one whose heart he hopes to win. The Italian version of the song has a national character both in rhythm and language; it is of little consequence whether Don Giovanni is supposed to be singing a well-known song, or improvising one. The irresistible, insinuating flattery of this song, the state of voluptuous longing which it expresses, have the same sort of effect upon us as the dazzling colour and intoxicating perfume of some rare exotic flower; there is nothing, even in Mozart, which can be compared to it. The effect of the charming melody, and of the well-chosen harmonies, is much enhanced by the _pizzicato_ mandoline accompaniment supported by the stringed instruments. The tender, curiously vibrating tone of the metal strings of the mandoline seems inseparable from the sweet gracefulness of the song; the instrument was then in common use (Mozart has written several songs to the mandoline, Vol. II., p. 371, note), and its effect was thus all the more characteristic.[160] The only real air which Don Giovanni sings, he sings not as Don Giovanni; disguised as Leporello, he is giving Masetto and his companions directions for catching himself, and the musical characterisation must therefore approach burlesque. This air (Act II., 4), "Metà di voi qua vadano," belongs undoubtedly to those original conceptions which one admires without exactly understanding how they have been brought about. The situation in itself affords no proper musical impulse; it treats merely of the posting of scouts, of communication by signals, the speaker himself being thrown into a dubious light by reason of his disguise, and none {DON GIOVANNI.} (186)