Corneille's alexandrines , in point of fact , may be found to follow the original text surprisingly closely , and Le Festin de Pierre contrived to hold the stage successfully in competition with all but the most popular of Molie@3re's plays until 1730 or thereabouts .sx It reached the climax of its career in the year 1727 , with the not inconsiderable total of 11 performances ; soon after this triumph , however , the average number of performances per year dropped sharply from about 7 to about 3 , and after 1780 it disappeared almost completely from the repertoire .sx It was not until 1813 that the 'lost scenes' of the 'Amsterdam edition' were rediscovered and published by the grammarian , M.-J. Simonnin ; not until 1841 that the original Dom Juan was restored to the stage at the Ode@2on ; and even then , not until some six years later that the Corneille version was finally ousted from the Come@2die Franc@6aise .sx The date 1841 , therefore , is usually taken to mark the critical turning-point in the fortunes of Molie@3re's play .sx It would be inaccurate , however , to think of this renewal of interest as an unheralded and quasi-accidental effect , produced entirely by the rediscovery of the missing portions of the original text .sx The very fact that some 28 years were fated to elapse between the 'discovery' and the first performance of the restored original suggests that the process of rehabilitation involved a slow and gradual development .sx If the history of the play throughout the latter part of the eighteenth century is monotonously uneventful , the same is by no means true of the first half of the nineteenth century .sx The restoration of Dom Juan was preceded by a revival of interest in Le Festin de Pierre , and both plays , in fact , benefited significantly from the fascination which their common hero was destined to exercise upon the romantic imagination .sx In this connection , the influence of Byron's Don Juan throughout the eighteen-twenties is obviously of capital importance ; but even before this period- in fact , as early as 1805- we can trace the beginnings of a new attitude , and a new receptiveness on the part of both critics and public .sx Indeed , the year 1805 probably deserves rather more attention than most historians of the play have been prepared to grant it , since not only does it mark the first really striking revival which had been enjoyed on the stage by the Corneille version since 1730 , but the first serious renewal of interest in the original text , and at the same time , the first sign of indirect influence on the fortunes of Molie@3re's masterpiece through the creation of a later work on the same theme :sx in this instance , Mozart's Don Giovanni .sx If Molie@3re's heroic seducer was unfortunate in the manner of his reception by the Parisian audience , his operatic counterpart was scarcely less so ; and the trials and tribulations of Don Giovanni at the Grand Ope@2ra furnish an admirable illustration of the obdurate tenacity of French musical conventions , which , in the post-revolutionary period , were certainly as rigid as those of the Come@2die Franc@6aise , and even more fettering to would-be dramatists of the new generation .sx In this brief study , however , what interests us is not the direct significance of these musical conventions in themselves , but their indirect influence upon the fate of Molie@3re's Dom Juan .sx The musical public of Paris in 1800 was unable to digest German opera in any form ; any opera written in Germany had of necessity to be 'arranged' in the French , or , slightly later , in the Italian tradition , if it was to succeed at all ; and it was in fact the eventual discovery that both Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni , despite their having been written by a German composer , were fundamentally Italian operas , and so might be thankfully handed over to the 6opera buffa , that finally established Mozart's operatic reputation in France .sx The one traceable attempt to produce a Mozart opera ( Die " hrung ) in the German tradition was so disastrous and lamentable a failure that not an echo of it remains throughout the century .sx Die " hrung was produced at the The@2a@5tre de la Cite@2 by a visiting German company , the Mozart-Theater , on 25 brumaire An =10 .sx It was repeated on 27 and 28 brumaire , and never given again .sx The fiasco was anything but unexpected :sx 'Les bouffons allemands se sont arrange@2s , sans doute , pour n'avoir que des Allemands pour auditeurs' , remarked one critic , knowing perfectly well ( as indeed did all his confre@3res ) that what mattered in opera was , of course , the words , the de@2cor and the ballets- anything , in fact , but the music :sx Nos Franc@6ais ne sont pas assez fous de musique pour aller chercher , aux de@2pens de tous les autres agre@2mens , un degre@2 de plus de fermete@2 et de pre@2cision dans l'exe@2cution de ces sifflemens allemands .sx . A rigorous treatment at the hands of qualified French adaptors was , therefore , the first essential :sx action , dialogue , vocal and orchestral parts- everything had to be 'arranged' to meet the conventional requirements .sx The first Mozartian opera to be subjected to this curious treatment was Le Nozze , which appeared , 'arranged' by Notaris , at the Acade@2mie de Musique on 20 March 1793 , and ran dispiritedly for five performances .sx Notaris , obviously , had not 'arranged' enough , and too much Mozart had , reprehensibly , been allowed to subsist ; consequently , the next effort set about remedying the fault .sx On 20 August 1801 , Die " te appeared at the The@2a@5tre de la Re@2publique et des Arts in an unrecognizable version entitled Les Myste@3res d'Isis , music by Lachnith , libretto by 'le citoyen Morel , ci-devant Chedeville' , and achieved a considerable success .sx In 1805 , this version was transferred to the Acade@2mie Impe@2riale de Musique , where it was revived again in 1812 , 1816 , 1823 and 1826 .sx To the honour of French music , it should perhaps be added that , within a few years , these two 'fripons musicaux' , Lachnith ( 'le rapetisseur des grands hommes' ) and Morel ( 'ouvrier en marqueterie' ) had become synonymous with all that was most reactionary and abysmal in the French musical tradition .sx Les Myste@3res d'Isis , in fact , achieved its popularity by discarding the original music almost entirely , and by incorporating into the score- amongst other things- a substantial portion of a Haydn symphony :sx On a change@2 le sentiment de la musique de la Flu@5te enchante@2e , on en a ralenti les mouvemens pour approprier les airs au style se@2rieux .sx Les paroles sont pitoyables .sx . l'arrangeur a coupe@2 , taille@2 , sabre@2 les plus beaux morceaux de cet ope@2ra , qu'il trouvait sans doute trop long .sx Comment , avec tant de richesses , n'a-t-on fait qu'une mise@2rable compilation ?sx Such was the situation when , on 17 September 1805 , the Acade@2mie Impe@2riale de Musique decided to experiment with Don Giovanni .sx Obviously , the Grand Ope@2ra could no more accept that masterpiece as written by Mozart and Da Ponte than the The@2a@5tre Franc@6ais could countenance Dom Juan without the 'adoucissements' introduced by Corneille .sx In this instance , the task of making the necessary arrangements was entrusted to one Christian Kalkbrenner , chorus-master at the Grand Ope@2ra .sx The outcome of his labours , together with those of his collaborators on the libretto , Mons .sx Thuring , 'ge@2ne@2ral de brigade' , and Mons .sx D. Baillot , 'sous-bibliothe@3caire de la Bibliothe@3que Impe@2riale de Versailles' , was a Drame Lyrique en Trois Actes , which once again not merely altered Mozart's music completely beyond recognition , but somehow made room within the score for several arias of M. Kalkbrenner's own ingenious composition , together with the usual lengthy passages of incidental music to accommodate those full-scale interludes of ballet and mime which the Parisian operatic audiences demanded as their right .sx Gardel provided some excellent choreography ; but the real 6pie@3ce de re@2sistance was the de@2cor , with Mount Vesuvius in full eruption at the back of the stage , and streams of lava pouring down towards the auditorium .sx The few reputable music-critics who knew and respected their Mozart protested as loudly as they knew how , but all to no avail ; and for many years , Kalkbrenner's Don Juan was linked with Lachnith's Myste@3res d'Isis , and remained a by-word , a glaring symbol of the depths to which French operatic taste could descend .sx 'Les airs de basse-taille sont donne@2s aux femmes , change@2s de ton , raccourcis , allonge@2s , d'un air on fait un trio ; enfin ce n'est plus que le simulacre de la musique de Mozart .sx .' wrote Fe@2tis some two years later , and as late as 1823 , Castil-Blaze could still recall the incident with the acutest indignation .sx However , the reputable music-critics were not asked their opinion .sx Public taste in music was guided exclusively by men of letters , and , during the whole Napoleonic era , the major dramatic critics were wont to look upon opera as their exclusive prerogative .sx Above all , it was Julien-Louis Geoffroy , the feared and influential oracle of the Journal des De@2bats , who could make or mar a composer's reputation with a single article , although- as he thankfully admitted- music was an art which he understood no more than morris-dancing .sx The story of the resplendent premie@3re , the gradual disintegration and eventual catastrophic de@2ba@5cle of this first French production of Don Giovanni can be followed in detail through the reviews in the contemporary press .sx What appears evident from the various comments which have survived is that Kalkbrenner's manipulations of the score had put all the critics except Geoffroy in a quandary .sx Geoffroy's position was simple and unassailable .sx He was suspicious of Mozart's reputation ( he despised Germans , anyway ) and heartily disliked whatever music of his he happened to have heard .sx 'Cet Allemand' , he pronounced , 'n'a rien fait dans le genre de l'ope@2ra-comique' which could ever rival Gre@2try , while his so-called 'serious' operas were pitiful compared with 'les excellentes compositions de Gluck et de Piccini' .sx To honour his professional obligations , however , he attended the premie@3re of Don Giovanni .sx He found the overture detestable ( 'pourquoi coudre une symphonie a@3 un ope@2ra ?sx ' ) , compared the music of Act =2 bitterly and unfavourably with Duni's Peintre amoureux de son Mode@3le and with Paisiello's Re@3 Teodoro , elevated Kalkbrenner's intercalated aria , 'O Nuit , sois favorable .sx .' above anything written by the original composer , protested loudly that , even though the words were in French , the music was so insistent and ill-disciplined that he could not hear them , and concluded dolefully :sx 'Il y a trop de musique dans Don Juan ; c'est un festin ou@3 l'extre@5me abondance rassasie promptement .sx . Les Allemands ont ga@5te@2 notre Molie@3re' .sx Less committed critics , however , were faced with two unpleasant alternatives .sx Here was undoubtedly a bad opera ; yet this opera was supposedly by Mozart , and Mozart enjoyed 'une re@2putation colossale' among the musical e@2lite .sx Either , therefore , they had to condemn it , and thus denounce themselves musically as ignorant philistines ; or else obey the fashion and applaud what they knew instinctively to be poor material , without having the necessary knowledge ( in the early stages , at any rate ) to trace the evil to its source- not Mozart at all , but Kalkbrenner .sx Thus , when it became apparent , after two or three performances , that Gardel and the lava-streams were not going to be enough , unaided , to keep this extravagant ( and expensive ) venture afloat for long , there was ill-disguised relief all round .sx 'Succe@3s incomplet' , announced the Journal de Paris , while Geoffroy moralised contentedly :sx 'Si cet essai pouvait nous gue@2rir de notre admiration exclusive pour les e@2trangers , il auroit produit un effet tre@3s-heureux' .sx Quarrels and dissensions ensued among the cast , most of whom hurriedly and shamefacedly handed over their parts to understudies on various pretexts , and on November 10th , Don Giovanni was quietly removed from the repertoire , and Les Myste@3res d'Isis substituted .sx There was , admittedly , an attempt to bring it back for an occasional Sunday performance shortly before Christmas , but by March 1806 , little remained of this ambitious and unfortunate venture save a certain amount of smoke in the upper regions of the stage :sx 'Ve@2suve va beaucoup mieux , il ne donne pas tant de fume@2e ; il n'y a que les acteurs qui vont de plus en plus mal' .sx 'Les Allemands ont ga@5te@2 notre Molie@3re' .sx This is the key-note of criticism in relation to Don Giovanni .sx On the other hand , to say so was one thing , but to prove it was a rather more hazardous business .sx In fact , it could only be done by putting on simultaneously a production of Le Festin de Pierre , and by letting the audience make its own comparison .sx