Modern Responses To The Opera
The Earl of Harewood writes: “Don Giovanni is too full of arias, many of them famous, for its own dramatic good. Perhaps it is a problem with most eighteenth-century opera. Singers demanded them, the public expected them and of course the aria … is a potent operatic weapon, the moment for the composer to comment in depth on the drama he has set going. But … arias hold up the action in a way it is sometimes hard to defend, because you feel it was the singer who wanted it so.”
He points to Ottavio’s “Il mio tesoro”, his “Dalla sua pace”, and Anna’s “Non mi dir” as each being a “magnificent opportunity for singer”, but wonders how much they actually contribute to the drama. But Zerlina’s “Batti, batti” and Anna’s “Or sai chi l’onore” are quite different. These arias contribute to the drama and move it forward.
Nicholas Kenyon writes: “The power Don Giovanni unleashes is almost too great if it is an uneven work then it is only imperfect in the way that King Lear is imperfect, from an excess of feeling. As Abert summarized it, in spite of the finale, ‘the point of the opera is not to proclaim a universal moral, but to depict the decisive battle between two tremendous forces.
The Most Romantic Mozart Masterpiece Fills The Met Opera House With Delightful Music And Incredible Singing Performances Run Thru April 18 2019
Delicious music, dynamic staging, and incredible singing are all on view in the Metropolitan Opera production of Mozarts Don Giovanni. Bringing much-needed theatricality and energy to the centuries-old genre of dark comedy, the vibrant arias of the sopranos that vie for and suffer from the frivolity and ferocity of the Don are contrasted with the lower register voices of the male cast, who are well-meaning but helpless. The built-up tensions can only be resolved by a divine intervention, stressing the intransigent nature of philanderers and seducers. And Mozarts music rescues the improbable plot!
This year Don Giovanni cast features bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni and baritone Peter Mattei alternating in the title role, bass Ildar Abdrazakov and bass-baritone Adam Plachetka as Dons servants, and an exciting line-up of sopranos Rachel Willis-Sorensen, Federica Lombardi, Aida Garifullina, Guanqun Yu, and Susanna Philips in the roles of Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Zerlina.
On the first 3 nights of the performances the tender and soaring lines by grieving Donna Anna and the wordy and artistically rich roles of Leporello and the Don were rightfully rewarded by the audience. Thanks to the tactful casting the old tale looks fresh and engaging. But the strongest round of applause still belongs to Mozart for his unbeatable musical fete.
Delight yourself with the magical music, amazing singing, and a top-notch opera night all around!
Operatic History Live In Don Giovanni In New York
Almost two centuries ago, three musical icons joined forces in New Yorks first Italian opera, Don Giovanni, at the long-gone Park Theatre on Park Row in lower Manhattan.
Sitting among the audience were Spaniards, Italians and, of course, New Yorkers taking in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts famous score, Lorenzo Da Pontes libretto and the voices of Spanish bel canto Manuel Garcia and his daughter, opera diva Maria Malibran.
The date was May 23, 1826, and a few weeks later, they would reunite at the Basilica of St. Patricks Cathedral for a concert of sacred music the same place that would stage the new opera Don Giovanni in New York 192 years later, to the day.
It really felt, in a weird way, like we were transported to a different time period, because here we are in the very church where it all went down in the first place, recalled Andrew Bell, who wrote the script. The way the church was lit and to have this massive altar presiding over this eerie ghost sequence felt almost like this strange, spiritual but definitely eerie experience where you
Its like you were being judged, interjected his sister, actor Ashley Bell. You have, like, God looking down on you when these things are happening.
Yeah, he laughed. So that was weird. It was cool, but it was weird.
Or, in this case, Sag Harbor.
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Opera In Brief: Don Giovanni
Opera in Brief: Don Giovanni
So, What’s Going On?
Prepare to meet the legendary Don Juan in this musical retelling of the ultimate womanizers famous story, considered perhaps one of the greatest operas ever written. Enter the corrupt and wicked world of Don Giovanni , a ladies man with no scruples whos determined to break as many hearts as possible. Dont worry though, the operas not all drama and despair. Theres plenty of comic relief along the way. So enjoy yourself but watch out for talking statues.
Mozart’s Don Giovanni: A Pandemic Nightmare
As a summer opera program for emerging singers, the New York Opera Conservatory had to re-think a way to not disappoint its students in light of the covid epidemic. But how do you maintain social distancing in opera rehearsals and performances? How do you lift moods during such an intense period of uncertainty?
The Conservatory’s answer was to make the pandemic the backdrop of an opera, and some of its consequences a part of the production! Since Mozart’s Don Giovanni had already been chosen by the Conservatory for its summer program, it was totally reimagined as a comedy taking place during a pandemic, and created entirely by relying on digital technology and cell phones. The entire production was staged, filmed, and edited without any of the cast and technical crew leaving home.
Every special effect offered by phones was used throughout the production, from Snapchat filters to tinder messaging to turning the tenor aria “Il mio tesoro” into a home cooking showshowing us just how bizarre and surreal the world has become. Production glitches, similar to what you see every day in the media where programming is home-based, are a major part of the charm of the work.
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Don Giovanni And Other Composers
The sustained popularity of Don Giovanni has resulted in extensive borrowings and arrangements of the original. The most famous and probably the most musically substantial is the operatic fantasy, Réminiscences de Don Juan by Franz Liszt. The minuet from the finale of act 1, transcribed by Moritz Moszkowski, also makes an incongruous appearance in the manuscript of Liszt’s Fantasy on Themes from Mozart’s Figaro and Don Giovanni, and Sigismond Thalberg uses the same minuet, along with “Deh, vieni alla finestra”, in his Grand Fantaisie sur la serenade et le Minuet de Don Juan, Op. 42. “Deh, vieni alla finestra” also makes an appearance in the Klavierübung of Ferruccio Busoni, under the title Variations-Studie nach Mozart ” rel=”nofollow”> Variation study after Mozart). Chopin wrote Variations on “Là ci darem la mano” for piano and orchestra. Beethoven and Danzi also wrote variations on the same theme. And Beethoven, in his Diabelli Variations, cites Leporello’s aria “Notte e giorno faticar” in variation 22. The turkeys in Chabrier‘s “Ballade des gros dindons” finish each verse imitating the mandolin accompaniment of the Serenade.
Michael Nyman‘s popular, short band piece In Re Don Giovanni is constructed on a prominent 15-bar phrase in the accompaniment to Leporello’s catalogue aria.
References
Don Giovanni Opening Scene Notte E Giorno Faticar
Don Giovanni opening scene “Notte e giorno faticar”
Act I
Leporello , Don Giovannis manservant, waits outside the home of the Commendatore , while his master tries to seduce the Commendatores daughter, Donna Anna . Things dont go as planned and a masked Giovanni appears pursued by Anna, who screams that her honor has been insulted. Her father suddenly arrives, challenging Giovanni to a duel. In the scuffle, the Commendatore is killed by Giovanni. Finding her father dead, Donna Anna and her fiancé, Don Ottavio , swear revenge on the disguised killer.
At dawn, Don Giovanni crosses paths with Donna Elvira , his former girlfriend. She, too, is bent on revenge, but Leporello distracts her by showing her a list of Giovannis many other lovers.
Don Giovanni and Leporello escape Elvira and discover a country wedding celebration, where Giovanni immediately sets his sights on the bride, Zerlina . Elvira stops him and saves Zerlina just as Donna Anna and Don Ottavio arrive and, ironically, ask Giovanni for help in avenging the Commendatore. Donna Elvira warns the couple that Giovanni is not what he seems, but she is ushered away. Alone with Ottavio, Anna realizes Giovanni is the man who attacked her.
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A Colorless Don Giovanni At The Metropolitan Opera
Don GiovanniDon GiovanniEdward Sava-Segal
When the Metropolitans General Manager Peter Gelb invited almost two decades ago Michael Grandage, a fine theater director with limited experience in the opera house, to stage Don Giovanni, his ideas about opera as theater were still novel. Since then, some of his attempts to pump fresh blood into the sclerosed veins of Metropolitan productions have translated into remarkable successes. Others, less so. Grandages Don Giovanni belongs to the latter category despite being revived multiple times as a showcase for talented voices.
Don Giovanni
There have been many attempts to reconcile the librettos contradictions. From a beginning that has been seen both as a ruthless rape and a willing consent to a denouement where Don Giovanni’s engulfment by flames has been transformed into a jester’s triumph, directors have offered their own thinking about every episode. Possibly overwhelmed by all these precedents, Grandage doesn’t really provide a personal view on this dramma giocoso, allowing every soloist to provide his/her own. One has difficulties imagining that Don Giovanni and Leporello, as pictured here, could possibly trade places. There is barely a whiff of Masetto and Zerlina potentially being instruments of social change. Is Don Giovanni the ultimate villain or is he an Enlightenment champion? Is this mise-en–scène a comedy of errors or is it a meditation on the passage of youth and life? We don’t really know.
Don Giovanni
Tristan Und Isolde Don Giovanni Review Passion Below Decks At The Met
Metropolitan Opera, New YorkSimon Rattle, Nina Stemme and Stuart Skelton launched New Yorks opera season with a searing Tristan. Plus, a welcome return for Simon Keenlyside
Gala nights, especially those splashed with Manhattan pizzazz, excite myriad impressions. Not all are lofty. The opening night of the Metropolitan Operas new season, marking 50 years on Lincoln Center Plaza, offered plenty to ponder before a note of Wagners Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Simon Rattle and starring Stuart Skelton and Nina Stemme, was heard. Why were there so many empty seats even for this glamorous first night could the wearer of that haute couture cuirass actually sit down would the man in the pink fish-scale dress in the rear stalls ever remove his bowler hat?
Despite widely reported financial and box-office troubles, and complex labour problems , the Met remains one of the greatest of all opera houses, commanding top-drawer singers at world-class fees and with an orchestra that ranks, on any terms, among the finest. The quality of playing during Tristan, flexible, scalding, transparent, was worth every inch of the journey.
Rattle, so experienced in this work, rewardingly combines long shot and closeup, harmonic arc and revelatory detail
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At Salzburg Don Giovanni Gets No Pleasure From Seducing
A dark, enigmatic staging of Mozarts opera brings together the director Romeo Castellucci and the conductor Teodor Currentzis.
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SALZBURG, Austria Chi son io, tu non saprai, the stage director Romeo Castellucci said during a recent interview in the lobby of the Salzburg Festivals main theater. He smiled and gestured to an interpreter, who gave the translation: You will never know who I am.
The phrase is part of the title characters entrance line in Mozarts Don Giovanni, and announces the works strangeness and ambiguity, the way it shifts between comedy and tragedy. Few stage directors would seem better able to explore and honor its mysteries than Castellucci, who emerged from the world of experimental theater to produce an ongoing series of abstract and enigmatic opera productions.
His staging of Don Giovanni, then, is a highly anticipated meeting of work and director. Its premiere, on July 26, will be broadcast live on Austrian television, and the Aug. 7 performance will be streamed online.
Also much anticipated is the first from-scratch collaboration between Castellucci and the conductor Teodor Currentzis, who have separately provided some of the Salzburg Festivals most acclaimed events in recent years. Their Giovanni will be unusual with collapsing churches, falling cars and pianos, a live rat and other extreme images. But Markus Hinterhäuser, Salzburgs artistic director, said that it is not merely inflammatory.
A Sexy Don Giovanni At New York City Opera
Visionary director Christopher Alden reimagines this masterwork in a thrilling new production which explores the intersection of dark eroticism and strict Spanish-Catholic tradition in the early 20th century. Rising star Daniel Okulitch makes his City Opera debut as the notorious antihero.
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New York Opera Conservatory Free Virtual Opera: Mozarts Don Giovanni
As a summer opera program for emerging singers, the New York Opera Conservatory had to re-think a way to not disappoint its students in light of the covid epidemic. But how do you maintain social distancing in opera rehearsals and performances? How do you lift moods during such an intense period of uncertainty?
The Conservatorys answer was to make the pandemic the backdrop of an opera, and some of its consequences a part of the production! Since MozartsDon Giovanni had already been chosen by the Conservatory for its summer program, it was totally reimagined as acomedytaking place during a pandemic, and created entirely by relying on digital technology and cell phones. The entire production was staged, filmed, and edited without any of the cast and technical crew leaving home.
Every special effect offered by phones was used throughout the production, from Snapchat filters to tinder messaging to turning the tenor aria Il mio tesoro into a home cooking showshowing us just how bizarre and surreal the world has become. Production glitches, similar to what you see every day in the media where programming is home-based, are a major part of the charm of the work.
This production is offered FREE OF CHARGE to the public, however, any donation large or small will help to recover essential revenues lost as a result of the pandemic. Visit the Taconic Opera website to make a donation: www.TaconicOpera.org
How to watch:
Cast
Exhausting But Enjoyable Lust
Youll have to suspend disbelief, endure belaboring, and excuse doltish behavior to enjoy the Metropolitan Operas production of Don Giovanni, but once you disengage from sense and allow sensibility to take over, youre bound to have a fun time. Produced lavishly in two acts with a running time of 3 hours 21 minutes, this tale about Don Juan, his exploits, and the emotional carnage he leaves behind may not tickle your logical bone, but there are enough solid vocal performances and a hot final scene to keep you engaged and amused.
Set in mid-18th century Spain, the story centers on Don Giovanni , a love em and leave em scoundrel who has a taste for every kind of woman he tours around Europe, leaving an army of disgruntled and sometimes murderous women behind. Despite constantly complaining and being revolted by his masters behavior, Giovannis servant Leporello follows closely behind to tie all the loose ends, comfort the broken-hearted, and sometimes lie to cover up the Dons shenanigans.
As Donna Anna and Don Ottavio pursue Don Giovani, a ball of his deceit and cruelty forms only to roll downhill and entangle gullible Donna Elvira , a formerly-conquered and embittered woman, and fickle Zerlina and her fiance, Masetto in its momentum. And here is where Don Giovannis plot, penned by librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, becomes convoluted and exhausting.
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Audience Returns For Glens Falls Symphony
Its not often that a small regional orchestra can proclaim a concert as Sold Out several days in advance but thats what happened to Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra with its season opener on Sunday, Oct. 10. If only this story was simply about an abundance of enthusiastic music lovers, but sadly Covid comes into the picture.
Timeline For The Show Don Giovanni
Estimated Run Time
World premiere: National Theater , Prague, 1787. Aided by his ingenious librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart approached his operatic retelling of the Don Juan myth from a point of view that is neither tragic nor entirely comic, but rather lighthearted, urbane, and ironic. We follow the title character and his earthy comic sidekick, Leporello, through a series of encounters that begins with a fatal duel, moves back and forth between the humorous and the sentimental, and ends with the protagonist being dragged down to hell.
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Don Giovannia Notorious Lover Meets His Ultimate Fiery Punishment In Mozarts Celebrated Tragicomedy
Charming but predatory and manipulative, Don Giovanni is a lover so notorious that his reputation precedes him. Hes eager to add to the rambling list of women he has already enticed. But when Don Giovanni forces himself on Donna Anna, his devious antics dig him deeper and deeper into trouble. As the discarded women of his past unite to speak out against their offender, Don Giovanni seems destined to meet his ultimate fiery fate.How should a society punish a man who functions under his own malevolent moral code? Often considered the greatest opera ever composed, Mozarts masterpiece combines comedy, drama, and supernatural elements to capture the downfall of a serial womanizer. From its thrilling overture to its breathtaking final scene, Don Giovanni explores issues of amorality, power, and justice that are just as relevant to today as to Mozarts time.