r his own flavor. One area to compare is the rhythmic traits of each characters musical lines. Leporellos nervousness and fear in the dinner scene is exemplified through a very jumpy unsteady rhythmic vocal line. (ex 1) Mozart really makes his nervousness obvious by giving him notes no longer in value then a quarter note from m.425 to m.629. Mozart uses dotted eights to sixteenth notes to make his part especially disjointed. This creates the effect of someone shaking from fear as they are trying to speak. Mozart also uses a continuous triple pattern , which begins at measure 470 , to create a rambling effect. (ex 2) Leporello seems to have lost his sanity from fright of the ghost and is now babbling incoherently. Don Giovanni and the Commendatore have very different rhythmic vocal parts then Leporello. They are much more bold and brave then Leporello , so Mozart gives them a more solid rhythm. The Commendatore has the most stable part out of all of them. He has many whole and half notes. The stability of the rhythm adds to the confidence and power of his character. (ex 3) The only time his rhythm becomes quicker is when he is yelling at Don Giovanni to repent. Don Giovanni shares many similar rhythmic traits as the Commedatore , although it has a little more diversity. Don Giovanni shifts from being comfortable to uncomfortable throughout the dinner scene. Mozart appropriatly varies the speed of Don Giovannis rhythm. An example of this occurs at measure 522. (ex 4) Previous to this measure, Don Giovanni has a stable rhythm with most words occurring on the strong beats. (ex 5) It abruptly changes to a short offbeat eight note figure. Rhythm is not the only musical area that Mozart crafts specifically for each character. He also uses certain melodic lines for each character. The Commendatore's melodic lines are the most striking. He often has huge leaps in his part , giving the listener a full dose of the impeding f...
