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The Sexual Politics of Teaching Mozart's Don Giovanni

College-level music textbooks have avoided problematizing the rape and sexual violence that takes place in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. Instead these books have followed a romantic tradition of heroizing the leading character as a rugged individual and marginalizing the women characters. Textbook authors have ignored the fact that students today will have encountered issues such as date rape and will see the situations of the opera as relevant to their own lives. I suggest that the strengths of the female roles should be central to the teaching of the work. Donna Anna has resisted attack and Donna Elvira works to protect Zerlina. Zerlina's peasant class status needs to be considered. I emphasize that a complex work such as an opera should not be given cursory treatment in a survey course; only through a careful study of the characters and their context can their full range of strengths and weaknesses be understood.