This volume opens a new series by Don Juan Archiv Wien: Don Juan Studies, referring to the topic of Don Juan as a fascinating cultural subject of literature and theatre from the early 17th century up to our times. In 1826 Da Ponte's and Mozart's "Don Giovanni" (Prague 1787) was performed in New York for the first time, twenty-one years after Da Ponte emigrated to the United States. In the same year Da Ponte edited in New York "Tre drammi", which comprises "Don Giovanni", "Figaro" (Vienna 1786) and "Axur" (Vienna 1788), librettos dedicated to the topic of power and seduction in different subtle ways. The book investigates the dissemination and cultural
transfer of these three operas, and especially the way "Don Giovanni" was received in North America, also reflecting the specific social and cultural conditions Da Ponte had to take into account in the New World.