[Mozart, W.A.] F. Zeffirelli. Stage set design for the Covent Garden production of "Don Giovanni", signed, 1963

[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart] Franco Zeffirelli

Stage set design for Act 1, scene 2, of Mozart's Don Giovanni

executed in gouache on artboard, overall size 67.2 x 88.1cm, framed and glazed, SIGNED AND DATED BY THE ARTIST ("Zeffirelli 1963"), manuscript caption ("Franco Zeffirelli / Don Giovanni / Covent Garden / Act 1 / Scene 2") to Wright Hepburn Gallery label on back of frame, three tiny cracks to glass in lower right-hand corner, bowing to board, some wear to frame

Zeffirelli staged the first production by the Covent Garden Opera Company (now The Royal Opera) of Mozart's Don Giovanni in 1962, with a further performance in 1963. As well as directing it, he designed the sets and costumes. Mozart's operatic masterpiece remained a perpetual source of fascination for Zeffirelli, who produced no fewer than eight versions over the course of his career. He once stated that "one cannot give a definitive critical interpretation to Don Giovanni. When one mystery is solved, a thousand more come to light...It is an opera that grows and changes with you. Sometimes a singer or conductor is enough to suggest a different interpretation, to make viewers understand new connections of Mozart's elusive genius" (Fondazione Franco Zeffirelli).

See also lots 6-8 in the present sale, and additionally lots 290-291 in the following afternoon sale, Books and Manuscripts, Medieval to Modern (closing 13 December 2022).