He is only stopped by the interference of Anna, Elvira, and Ottavio, who
have made their way into his palace in masks and dominoes. In the next
act the vengeance of the three conspirators appears to hang fire a
little, for Don Giovanni is still pursuing his vicious courses, and
employing Leporello to beguile the too trustful Elvira. After various
escapades he finds himself before the statue of the murdered Commandant.
He jokingly invites his old antagonist to sup with him, an invitation
which the statue, to his intense surprise, hastens to accept. Leporello
and his master return to prepare for the entertainment of the evening.
When the merriment is at its height, a heavy step is heard in the
corridor, and the marble man enters. Don Giovanni is still undaunted,
and even when his terrible visitor offers him the choice between
repentance and damnation, yields not a jot of his pride and insolence.
Finally the statue grasps him by the hand and drags him down, amid
flames and earthquakes, to eternal torment.
The taste of Mozart's time would not permit the drama to finish here.
All the other characters have to assemble once more. Leporello gives
them an animated description of his master's destruction, and they
proceed to draw a most edifying moral from the doom of the sinner. The
music to this finale is of matchless beauty and interest, but modern
sentiment will not hear of so grievous an anti-climax, and the opera now
usually ends with Don Giovanni's disappearance.
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