I searched the internet for “Don Giovanni abridged”. It turns out,
incredibly, that such a work exists and was performed in New York this
month. Emperor Joseph II, take note.
There is more, including a discussion of Kelvin Lancaster and also yours truly.
Abridgement is old and common. Leah Price looks at it in the 18th-century novel in her The Anthology and the Rise of the Novel: From Richardson to George Eliot. (Cambridge UP, 2000). The first time I saw “Don Giovanni” my response was, “This opera is a mess.” I like it a little better each time I see it now, but I still think it needs pruning.–Pam Regis, ordinarily lurking tourist from Lit. Crit. land.
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