DON JUAN, don jfean, Sp. don hw-in, the hero of a Spanish legend which seems to have some historical basis in the history of a member of the noble family of Tenorio at Seville. According to the legend Don Juan was a libertine of the most reckless character. An attempt to seduce the daughter of the governor of Seville brought the indignant father and the profligate don into deadly conflict, in which the former was slain. Don Juan afterward, in a spirit of wild mockery, goes to the grave of the murdered man and invites the statue of him erected there to a revel. To the terror of Don Juan the "stony guest') actually appears at the table to bear him away to the infernal world. The tale has furnished the subject for many dramas and operas. The legend first took definite form in Gabriel Tellez's 'El Burlador de Sevilla y Convidado de Piedra.' About 1650 versions of this drama appeared in Italy from the hands of Cicognini and Giliberto. In rapid succession appeared Dorimond's 'Festin de Pierre' (1658). De Villiers' 'Le festin de Pierre' (1660), Moliere's 'Don Juan' (1665), the versions by Rosimond and Thomas Cor neille, Cokain's 'Tragedy of Ovid' (1669) and Shadwell's 'The Libertine' (1676). It was used repeatedly as a theme for opera in Italy, first by Gluck, and later by Righini, Cimarosa, Albertini, Gazzaniga and others. The greatest
of all, however, was Mozart's 'Don Giovanni.' In modern days the legend hqs been used by Prosper Merimee in his 'Les Ames du Purga toire,> by Dumas in the drama 'Don Juan de Marana,' also by Byron, D'Aurevilly, Balzac, etc., and by Bernard Shaw in 'Man and Super man.> The best and most stirring modern treatment of this legend is that by Jose Zorilla, entitled 'Don Juan Tenorio: drama fantastico religioso.> It has become universally popular in Spain, where it is staged annually in practi cally every playhouse in the country about the festivals of All Saints and All Souls on 1 and 2 November respectively. Consult Engel, (Die Don Juan-Sage' (Dresden 1887); Farinelli, A., 'Don Giovanni, Note critiche (Turin and Rome 1896) ; Gendarme de Bevotte, 'La Legende de Don Juan' (Paris 1906) ; 'Le Festiv de Pierre avant Moliere' (ib. 1907) ; Picatoste, 'Don Juan Tenorio' (Madrid 1883) ; Schroeder, Theodor, 'Die dramatischen Bearbeitungen der Don Juan-Saga in Spanien, Italien, and Frank reich, bis auf Moliere einschliesslich' (Halle 1912) ; Victor Said Armesto, Legenda de Don Juan' (Madrid 1908) ; Waxman, S. M., 'The Don Juan Legend in Literature' (in Journal of American Folk-Lore, Vol. XXI, New York 1908).