''Don Juan'' (russian: Дон Жуан) is an

1862 Events January–March * January 1 – The United Kingdom annexes Lagos Island, in modern-day Nigeria. * January 6 – French intervention in Mexico: French, Spanish and British forces arrive in Veracruz, Mexico. * January ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy Count Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (russian: Граф Алексе́й Константи́нович Толсто́й; – ), often referred to as A. K. Tolstoy, was a Russian poet, novelist, and playwright. He is considered to be the most ...

, first published in the April issue of ''

The Russian Messenger The ''Russian Messenger'' or ''Russian Herald'' (russian: Ру́сский ве́стник ''Russkiy Vestnik'', Pre-reform Russian: Русскій Вѣстникъ ''Russkiy Vestnik'') has been the title of three notable magazines published in ...

'' magazine.Yampolsky, Igor. Commentaries to ''Don Juan''. The Works by A.K. Tolstoy in 4 volumes. Moscow. Khudozhestvennaya Literatura Publishers. 1964. Vol II. Dramas. Pp. 665–668. ''Don Juan'' never appeared on stage during its author's lifetime. In 1891, its production was deemed "unsuitable" by censors. The play was staged for the first time in 1905 by the Adelgeim Brothers troupe. Later

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...

was written for the play by

Eduard Nápravník Eduard Francevič Nápravník (Russian: Эдуа́рд Фра́нцевич Напра́вник; 24 August 1839 – 10 November 1916) was a Czech conductor and composer. Nápravník settled in Russia and is best known for his leading role in Rus ...

Pyotr Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

set the "Distant

Alpujarra The Alpujarra (, Arabic: ''al-bussarat'') is a natural and historical region in Andalusia, Spain, on the south slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the adjacent valley. The average elevation is above sea level. It extends over two provinces, ...

's lights..." piece to music; it is known as " Don Juan's Serenade".

Background

The origins of the play trace back to the end of 1857, when Aleksey K. Tolstoy first got the initial idea. By the summer of 1858 he's written ''Don Juan''s first rough version. On March 20, 1860, he informed his friend, author and translator

Boleslav Markevich Boleslav Mikhailovich Markevich (russian: link=no, Болеслав Михайлович Маркевич; 1822 – 18 (30) November 1884) was a Russian writer, essayist, journalist, and literary critic of Polish origin; author of a number of p ...

that he had written and re-written the drama, then read it to critic

Vasily Botkin Vasily Petrovich Botkin (russian: link=no, Васи́лий Петро́вич Бо́ткин; – ) was a Russian essayist, literary, art and music critic, translator and publicist. Early life Vasily was born in Moscow, the son of Alexandra ...

and writer Nikolai Kruze, who gave him their approval. Markevich in his letters criticised some aspects of the play (the need for prologue, the fact that Don Juan doesn't appear in the epilogue, etc.) but his opinions were by and large ignored. In the autumn of 1861, while in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Tolstoy recited the piece to

Mikhail Katkov Mikhail Nikiforovich Katkov (russian: Михаи́л Ники́форович Катко́в; 13 February 1818 – 1 August 1887) was a conservative Russian journalist influential during the reign of tsar Alexander III. He was a proponent of Rus ...

and

Ivan Aksakov Ivan Sergeyevich Aksakov (russian: Ива́н Серге́евич Акса́ков; , village Nadezhdino, Belebeyevsky Uyezd, Orenburg Governorate – , Moscow) was a Russian littérateur and notable Slavophile. Biography Aksakov was born in ...

; their remarks were found to be to the point and some amends were made to the text. In the end of March 1862 A.K.Tolstoy sent the manuscript to ''The Russian Messenger'' wishing to see "not a single word being crossed out" from this final version. His demand was instantly accepted and the poem appeared in the April issue of the magazine. Tolstoy dedicated his Don Juan drama to

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

and E. T. A. Hoffmann, since the latter was "the first to see in this character not a philanderer but a seeker of high ideal," as he explained in an 1860 letter to Markevich.The Works by A.K. Tolstoy in 4 volumes. A 20 March 1860 .s.letter to Boleslav Markevich. Vol.IV, pp.113-114. As a

Romanticist Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

Tolstoy attributed to love the divine meaning, believing it to serve as a link between human soul and higher spheres. Unlike the

Tirso de Molina Gabriel Téllez ( 24 March 1583 20 February 1648), better known as Tirso de Molina, was a Spanish Baroque dramatist, poet and Roman Catholic monk. He is primarily known for writing ''The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest'', the play from ...

hero, his

Don Juan Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni (Italian), is a legendary, fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, '' El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra'' ...

acts in a fashion of a true romantic, looking for love "that helps us see through this wonderful set of universal laws, things of our world's hidden beginnings." Tolstoy made Don Juan closer to

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...

; some scene and characters (like that of

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

) point to

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

influence too.

References

{{Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy 1862 plays Plays by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy Works originally published in The Russian Messenger