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This page is designed to help a listener hear the complex interactions among the three (!) small orchestras Mozart deploys in the ballroom scene near the end of Don Giovanni's Act One. As Don Giovanni attempts to get Zerlina alone to himself, with his servant Leporello working to distract Zerlina's fiancé Masetto, we hear three different dances played simultaneously. First, the larger "Orchestra I" (oboes, horns, and strings) plays a Minuet. (Minuets are always in 3/4 time.) A little less that a minute later, Don Giovanni cues a smaller "Orchestra II" (only violins and cello/bass) which tunes up (the open string tuning is written out by Mozart) and then begins playing a Contradanse (an English country dance) in 2/4 time while the Orchestra I minuet in 3/4 time continues. Don Giovanni invites Zerlina to dance with him to this music. The music they sing is in 2/4 as well. Soon after, Leporello invites "Orchestra III" to play a lively German peasant dance in 3/8 in an attempt to distract Masetto. This music is notated in 3/8 time, although proportionally, the 8th notes relate to the original minuet as triplet subdivisions. Still, that's three different dances in different meters all going at once! (If you follow along closely, you'll see that the Orchestra I oboes and horns sometimes join the other dances.)

This website allows you to listen to the scene in various ways. It includes audio from a 1955 studio recording with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Josef Krips. However, you may also use the links to the left to highlight the various orchestras, with or without the voices heard. There is also a "bonus" recording which splits the three dances into three contrasting groups: woodwinds, harpsichord, and piano. The pages turn automatically as you listen, although you may turn them manually when the music is paused. You may start the music playing by using the PLAY button or simply by clicking on the score. Note that you may toggle the dancers/translations on and off by clicking on the icon to the right of the controls. (This can be useful for smaller screens such as iphones.) Have fun and see if you can learn to follow all three dances at once!

Read more about it here.