IN RE DON GIOVANNI was written for the Campiello Band (which later grew into the Michael Nyman Band) in 1977, and was first performed at the National Theatre, London, early that year. The piece is a deconstruction of the first sixteen bars of the ‚Catalogue Song‘ from Mozart’s Don Giovanni. It is still in the repertoire of the Michael Nyman Band and is available on ‚Michael Nyman – Live‘ (Virgin Venture CDVE 924).
The arrangement for string quartet was made at the request of Alexander Balanescu for the Bicentenary of Mozart’s death in 1991. It was first performed by the Balanescu Quartet at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London on 11 June 1991.
© Michael Nyman 1997
duration c. 3 minutes