The Don Juan Archiv Wien (http://www.donjuanarchiv.at) is an institute for theatre and cultural-historical research, devoted to the core task of documenting and researching the history of Don Juan, from the character's Spanish origin in the early seventeenth century to Don Giovanni by Lorenzo da Ponte and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Prague, 1787), including that opera's reception history up to the present. Don Juan has been a significant figure in the history of theatre and culture in the modern age, throughout Europe and, since the nineteenth century, worldwide. The archive's other projects explore the operatic and theatrical history of central and Mediterranean Europe in the broadest terms, from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The Don Juan Archiv also organizes numerous events – Don Juan Days, symposia, conferences, workshops, research talks, concerts and staged performances – thereby fostering scholarly and artistic exchange on local, regional and international levels. Institutional as well as project-based cooperation is maintained with several research and proprietary establishments (both public and private), as well as with commercial organizations. Our areas of research include:

Bibliografica: ‘Il Catalogo è Questo’: Bibliographical lists, registers and catalogues – integral assets to virtually all scholarly work – are intrinsic to the Don Juan Archiv's devotion to its theme. It can be a simple listing of names, such as Tirso de Molina made during a conversation among friends in his play El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest), or a list like that kept by Don Juan's servant in the commedia dell'arte, which was uncoiled for the audience; by Mozart's time it had developed into Leporello's ‘non picciol libro’, recited for Donna Anna, who says that it is like a printed book (‘come un libro stampato’). Lists illuminate the Don Juan material, documenting the theatre history of the middle, central and southeast European regions in bibliographical projects. This focus is expressed in the three series Bibliographica (first volume in 2012), Summa Summarum (2012) and Topographie und Repertoire des Theaters (2018).

Ottomania: ‘In Turchia Novantuna’: Dramatic and literary figures such as Tenorio, Tabarca and their like are linked to the ‘Turkish subject’ through the 1571 victory of the united Spanish-Genovese-Papal-Venetian fleet over the Ottoman fleet at Lepanto, under the generalissimo di mare Don Juan de Austria, the historic role model for Don Juan on stage. Acts of war in Tirso, the behaviour of characters in Molière, erotic adventures in da Ponte as listed by Leporello – and decoded and encoded anew by Lord Byron – are all part of this link. The series Ottomania (2013), along with a sub-series Ottoman Empire & European Theatre (2013), are dedicated to the relations between Europe and the Ottoman Empire, primarily with the goal of mutual cultural exchange.

Diplomatica: ‘Come Vi Piace Lisbona?’: As in the life of Don Juan de Austria, diplomacy also plays a prominent role in the stage tradition of Don Juan. In Tirso de Molina's play the King of Castile sends ambassadors to the courts of Naples and Portugal – the latter is then promoted to the role of the ‘Stone Guest’, an ambassador from the afterlife. Ambassadors and envoys played a determining role in cultural transfer. They enhanced opera and theatre, even taking part in performances every now and then. The series Diplomatica (to begin in 2020) is dedicated to the field of this widely neglected form of cultural transfer, which has already been a central theme of Ottomania.

More on Ottomania: As a research institution specializing mainly in the history of opera, theatre and everything to do with Don Juan, the Don Juan Archiv Wien has increased interest in Ottoman scholarship, and in 2007 it initiated the research project ‘Ottomania’ with the main aim of investigating the cultural influences of the Ottoman Empire on Europe, focusing on the performing arts. This led to the conception and beginning of a series of international symposia under the title ‘Ottoman Empire and European Theatre’ held in both Vienna and Istanbul annually, with a separate thematic focus for each year between 2008 and 2016. This has thus become a long-lasting research project, benefitting from the assistance of both Turkish and Austrian partners: the UNESCO International Theatre Institute in Vienna, the Austrian Consulate General and Cultural Forum, and the Pera Museum in Istanbul.

The themes of the first four years (from 2008 to 2011) revolved around Don Juan composers: in 2008 the first two symposia were dedicated to the age of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) and his contemporary in the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Selim III (born 1761, reigned 1789–1807); in 2009 the symposia events were devoted to the times of Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) and the period of Sultan Mahmud I (born 1696, reigned 1730–1754) to Mahmud II (born 1785, reigned 1808–1839). The focus in 2010 was on ‘Seraglios and Harems’, commemorating the bicentenary of Lord Byron's sojourn in Istanbul (1810), and in 2011 it was the Turkish subject in ballet and dance history from the sixteenth century to the age of Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787), commemorating the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the ballet Don Juan ou Le Festin de Pierre (1761) by Gasparo Angiolini (1731–1803) and Gluck in Vienna. The proceedings of all these and subsequent symposia have been published by Hollitzer Verlag.

The two latter symposia were enriched by performances, in 2010 provided by the Ankara State Theatre with a piece entitled Don Giovanni and His Servant Pulcinella, while the 2011 event featured Mozart's first singspiel, Bastien und Bastienne. This was also important for the history of the Turkish State Opera, as it was the first European operatic work performed in 1939 by the singers of the then-newly founded Ankara State Conservatory in the young republic.

Das Serail: The model for Mozart's singspiel Zaide (1780) was Das Serail, a 1778 work by Joseph Friebert (1724–1799). That music was considered lost until a copy of Friebert's composition, dating back to 1779, was recovered in 2005. The manuscript was sold at the Salzburg ‘Art Mozart’ auction in 2006, and its purchaser, Hans Ernst Weidinger – founder of the Don Juan Archiv – handed it over to the institute for further scholarly research as well as for the modern premiere of the work. The Don Juan Archiv organized international symposia in Salzburg (2016) and in Passau (2018) under the title ‘Das Serail by Joseph Friebert – A Model for Mozart’. The proceedings of these two symposia as well as a critical edition of the score are currently in preparation.

We look forward to meeting you in Vienna!