The Mozart programme, part by part

Part one: Don Giovanni

The first segment draws on Don Giovanni, the opera Prague premiered in 1787. The programme names Leporello's Notte e giorno faticar, Zerlina's Batti, batti and the duet Là ci darem la mano for Giovanni and Zerlina. Wikipedia describes the work as a dramma giocoso, a blend of comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements. Movements from Eine kleine Nachtmusik are woven in. Mozart completed that serenade in Vienna on 10 August 1787, while he was working on the opera's second act. Wikipedia notes that nobody knows why he wrote it, which makes it a fitting companion to music from the same months, and it supplies the quiet, elegant music that sits between the sung numbers on the programme.

Part two: the best of the operas

The second segment moves between works. It is anchored by Figaro's Non più andrai, the aria in which Figaro teases the young page Cherubino about his coming life as a soldier, and Cherubino's own Voi che sapete. It also includes Don Giovanni's so-called champagne aria, Fin ch'han dal vino, and the duet Pace, pace for Susanna and Figaro, with a Divertimento in D major between the vocal numbers. Note that Mozart quotes Non più andrai in the supper scene of Don Giovanni, so the tune is a private joke between two operas, and that the Prague audience that loved Figaro would have recognised it.

Part three: The Magic Flute

The last segment turns to The Magic Flute, a German-language Singspiel with spoken dialogue between its songs. It premiered on 30 September 1791 in Vienna, two months before Mozart died. The programme names the duet Bei Männern, Pamina's Ach, ich fühl's and Papageno's Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen, and it ends with Papageno and Papagena. A Divertimento in B flat major joins the vocal pieces. Papageno is the earthy companion who fails the hero's trials completely but is rewarded anyway.

What the titles mean

The programme lists pieces by their first words, in Italian and German. A few translations help, taken from Wikipedia's descriptions of the operas. You will not need them to enjoy the evening, but they explain why the room laughs at some numbers and falls quiet for others, and they show how much of the evening is comic rather than solemn.

• Notte e giorno faticar: Night and day I slave away (Leporello)
• Batti, batti o bel Masetto: Beat, O beat me, handsome Masetto (Zerlina)
• Là ci darem la mano: There we will entwine our hands (Giovanni and Zerlina)
• Non più andrai: No more gallivanting (Figaro)
• Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen: A girl or a woman (Papageno)

Why it works with dinner

Mozart's operas are full of food and drink. Don Giovanni itself contains a supper scene, with an on-stage band playing popular tunes while the Don eats, and the champagne aria is a call for a party. The comic numbers have short, clear tunes, so they hold a room that is also eating. Short segments and plates arriving between them suit that kind of music better than a single long concert would, and the serenade movements fit a table as well as a stage.

What to expect from the staging

The singers wear period costume, and guests describe the performance as engaging and, at times, humorous. One guest describes a small venue where you sit very close to the performers. This is a concert in costume rather than a production with scenery, and each segment is a sequence of highlights rather than a full act.