Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses/Lestrygonians/171
Annotations
[edit | edit source]Don Giovanni, a cenar teco M'invitasti (Italian) Don Giovanni, you invited me to dine with you.[1] These words are spoken by the statue of the Commendatore in the final scene of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. In the opening scene of the opera, Don Giovanni kills the Commendatore, who is trying to protect his daughter Donna Anna from the Don's attempted rape. In Act II, Scene 3, the Don comes across a statue of the Commendatore in a graveyard, and he mockingly invites it to dinner.
A cenar teco (Italian) To dine with you.
What does that teco mean? (Italian) With you.[2]
The rum the rumdum The Commendatore's next line is: E son venuto (And I have come), which has the same rhythm as Bloom's The rum the rumdum.