Lord Byron - Don Juan - Part 1

Don Juan is a satiric poem by Lord Byron, based on the legend of Don Juan, which Byron reverses, portraying Juan not as a womaniser but as someone easily seduced by women. It is a variation on the epic form. Byron himself called it an "Epic Satire" . Byron completed 16 cantos, leaving an unfinished 17th canto before his death in 1824. Byron claimed he had no ideas in his mind as to what would happen in subsequent cantos as he wrote his work.

[@kkhh6948]

Superbly read.

[@gregjones8412]

Beautiful reading

[@edifyguy]

Very nice reading. Thanks for sharing it.

[@dianawalsh8959]

Brilliant reading!!

[@rayat2715]

By far the best reading of Don Juan on KZbin (that I've found anyway). Odd that there is no mention of the reader. Who is this?

[@lpkvideodesigns4998]

I'll try and find out for you.

[@lpkvideodesigns4998]

Richard Johnson (plus Peggy Ashcroft and Jeanette Richer)

[@rayat2715]

Thanks for that. I had to look up who Richard Johnson was and found that an actor who I remembered as being quite ordinary in some quite ordinary films was in fact a very capable stage actor. Do you know if this was his full reading of Don Juan or just the beginning of the recording? I'd love to hear more of this, he gets the rhythm and accenting so that it rolls along as I'm sure Byron would have heard it.

[@lpkvideodesigns4998]

I'll try and find out!

[@terrybyrne4324]

His performance of Anthony ('Anthony & Cleopatra' film version) is excellent.

[@craigbrandist1910]

The reading is by Richard Johnson.

[@terrybyrne4324]

Wonderfully read, capturing the humour & gusto of the poem. Richard Johnson is easily the greatest Anthony on film (the film version in which Patrick Stewart is Enobarbus).

[@mortensenegbert6619]

Surprised to hear "Juan" pronounced "JOO-WUN".

[@TerryWaitesRadiator]

Wouldn't rhyme if it was pronounced as you'd normally expect it.

[@ria1636]

@@TerryWaitesRadiator Thank you, I wondered about this myself.

[@mortensenegbert6619]

Shame he skips over vast swathes of the poem.

[@chopin65]

😬 this is the second recording I have heard that butcher's his name. What is wth the British pronunciation of Juan? It boarders the obstinate? Show some respect to Italian.

[@mgrimes1367]

This is Byron's pronunciation; you can tell by the rhyme, as Gary Farrell pointed out.

[@leninsoft7702]

Italian? Seville is in spain, if anything he should show some respect to spanish. Aside from that I'm italian, I love this poem and don't really care if they miss a pronunciation since it is English not Italian/Spanish