| | As with all mature Mozart operas, the musical style is varied among characters in order to delineate their personalities. Thus, the peasant couple Zerlina and Masetto sing in a more rustic style, with peasant dance rhythms like the [[gigue]] predominating. Donna Anna and Donna Elvira, on the other hand, are noblewomen who sing in a more florid, exalted style. Don Giovanni, a nobleman, often sings in the form of a [[minuet]], which was an aristrocratic dance. <ref>For more information on this aspect of Mozart's characterization, see Wye J. Allabrook's ''Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart''.</ref> The Commandant, when he sings as a ghost/statue, is accompanied by frightening harmonies and a slow tempo. The semantics of various [[key (music)|keys]] also plays a role in their characterization, as often the case in Mozart's operas: typically, simple keys such as F and G major are given to lower-class characters, and keys with more flats are given to the nobility. The opera's main pair of tonalities, however, is D Minor/Major, as exemplified in the overture and the musical passages at dramatically important moments, such as the so-called "statue music" in Act II. | | As with all mature Mozart operas, the musical style is varied among characters in order to delineate their personalities. Thus, the peasant couple Zerlina and Masetto sing in a more rustic style, with peasant dance rhythms like the [[gigue]] predominating. Donna Anna and Donna Elvira, on the other hand, are noblewomen who sing in a more florid, exalted style. Don Giovanni, a nobleman, often sings in the form of a [[minuet]], which was an aristrocratic dance. <ref>For more information on this aspect of Mozart's characterization, see Wye J. Allabrook's ''Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart''.</ref> The Commandant, when he sings as a ghost/statue, is accompanied by frightening harmonies and a slow tempo. The semantics of various [[key (music)|keys]] also plays a role in their characterization, as often the case in Mozart's operas: typically, simple keys such as F and G major are given to lower-class characters, and keys with more flats are given to the nobility. The opera's main pair of tonalities, however, is D Minor/Major, as exemplified in the overture and the musical passages at dramatically important moments, such as the so-called "statue music" in Act II. |