Mozart and Prague

Statue of Il Commendatore outside the Estates' Theater, where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart premiered his Don Giovanni.

Mozart himself conducted the 1787 premiere. He debuted it in Prague because he said Vienna's conservative audiences didn't appreciate his work but "Praguers understand me". He staged it in Italian, as opposed to German which Vienna patrons preferred.
Built in 1783, the theater re-opened after nearly 9 years of reconstruction in 1991 to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Mozart's death.
The theater is named after "The Estates", fiefdoms formed by wealthy land barons.

Czech director Milos Forman filmed scenes for "Amadeus" here at the theater. There is a W. A. Mozart museum in the city but we didn't get to see it for lack of time. It's called Bertramka, the villa where he usually stayed in when he was in town. A fire destroyed much of the house in the 1870s but the rooms where he finished composing the opera were miraculously spared.

(Thanks to Frommer's for the info.)