Critical Analysis Of Mozarts Don Giovanni This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers.
We're transported to seventeenth century Spain for what has been called the greatest opera ever composed - Don iovanni! "rom the initial thundering chords of the breathtaking overture# this opera is $lled with sexual heat# thrilling music and dramatic action. %ndeed more action takes place in scene one of Don iovanni# than that of most operas. Within the $rst $fteen minutes alone& a disgruntled servant# an attempted rape# a dual# a murder# a grieving daughter# and an oath of vengeance ensnare the audience! ur story properly begins in the early seventeenth century# when the character 'Don (uan' made his stage stage debut in a three act act play titled ')l burlador burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra' *The Trickster of Seville and the Stone uest+ the play was $rst performed in ,adrid around /0# but published in 12. %t appears under the name of a playwright named Tirso de ,olina& however this was actually the pseudonym of a 3oman 4atholic monk named abriel T5lle6. %t was most likely written to present the issue of morality in relation to Don (uan's amorous excesses. %n seventeenth century %taly# it was a favorite story of the 'commedia dell'arte'. ,oli7re wrote a play on the sub8ect in 9aris in ::. ;nd rather go on decade be decade# we'll hop forward to <=<. ; key year# not for ,o6art's Don iovanni# but for the $rst performance in the city of >enice of an opera called 'Don iovanni Tenorio# o sia %l convitato di pietra' *Don iovanni and the Stone uest+ the composer of this <=< version was iuseppe a66aniga and the ?ibretto was by iovanni @ertati. The next person %'d like to introduce to this picture is ?oren6o da 9onte& the great court poet in >ienna. ,o6art had known of Da 9onte for a while. "our years earlier in <=1# when ,o6art was relatively new in >ienna# he writes home to his father from >ienna that he's after Da 9onte to write a libretto for him# but he is so busy writing original opera libretti for some composers and adapting pre-existing libretti for other composers# it would be actually more than two years y ears before ,o6art could pin down Da 9onte to work with him. When he did# Da 9onte provided him with the libretto for their $rst collaboration the ',arriage of "igaro'. %t was composed between ctober of <=: and ;pril <= and was premiered in >ienna. %t received success for a limited time# before other productions came to take its place. @ut as interest in '"igaro' waned in >ienna# there was another city that was cra6y about the ',arriage of "igaro' and that city is 9rague. *Which at that time# it was the second most important i mportant musical centre in )urope+ ,o6art went to 9rague in (anuary of <=<& it marked the beginning of a passionate relationship between him and 9rague. ;mong other things ,o6art conducted a performance of '"igaro' at the pera house during his stay. n the seventeenth of (anuary he writes to his friend friend and student @aron @aron ottfried von (acAuin he says& B% saw with the greatest pleasure all the people in the ballroom dancing with such
delight to the music of my '"igaro'. "or here in 9rague nothing is talked of but '"igaro'# nothing is played sung or whistled but '"igaro' Co opera is drawing like '"igaro'. Cothing# nothing but '"igaro'. 4ertainly a great honor for me!B n foot of the success of '"igaro'# comes a commission of an opera for the following season *nine months time+. That opera would be 'Don iovanni'# which was written to be premiered in 9rague as part of the celebrations for the marriage of the ;rchduchess ,aria Theresa *niece of the )mperor (oseph %%+ to 9rince ;nton 4lemens of Saxony. ,o6art was delighted to accept this new commission and# naturally asked Da 9onte to 8oin him on the pro8ect. ;s it happened# Da 9onte was already heavily committed# working on two librettos Tarare *for Salieri+ and ?'arbore di Diana *for ,artin y Soler+. @ut he too was greatly attracted by the occasion and he was strongly drawn to the sub8ect matter *his friendship with 4asanova# was now about to pay dividends+ this is what Da 9onte himself says about his choice of sub8ect for ,o6art B"or ,o6art % chose 'Don iovanni' a theme which appealed to me enormously. %n working on Don iovanni# % shall think of Dante's hellB This is a wonderful image# the great ?oren6o da 9onte# court poet of >ienna# the great operatic librettist. ou picture him sitting# inspired by# reEecting on# and plunging into the depths and the mysteries of Dante. The very simple fact is# he was probably thinking a lot more about the libretto that @ertati had written for a66aniga in >enice. Da 9onte knows about that libretto and it's very clear that he draws very freely from it# he's not about to write something from scratch if he doesn't have to. @ut in fairness to Da 9onte everything he touches gets better# which in artistic circles is what you like to see happening 'he borrows and repays the debt with interest'. So back to the chronicle of Don iovanni and its main character& this is a particularly concise sketch of the Auintessential Don (uan character& he is the epitome of the modern age# an expansive type who is determined to en8oy the world# %mmeasurably self aware# de$ant of all forms of authority and opposed to all higher order - he is in eFect a corporate 4.)..! @eethoven although he greatly admired the music of this opera# he very famously stated the he could not bring himself to write an opera on a sub8ect so BimmoralB as either '"igaro' or 'Don iovanni' .Gowever. this is not to say that ,o6art shared Don iovanni's moral values. %n a letter ,o6art writes to his father shortly after he arrives in >ienna he says Bthe voice of nature speaks as loud in me as it does in others# louder perhaps# but % simply cannot live as most men do these days# in the $rst place& % have too much religion# in the second place& too great a love of my neighbor and too high a feeling of honor to seduce an innocent girl and then in the third place& % have too much horror and disgust# too much dread and fear of diseasesB ,o6art& an eighteenth century practitioner of safe sexHIJHIJ.who knewK Cow# taking a look at the opera# there's been a lot of critical discussion over the years. ,usicologists and critics of all types have written extensively about Don iovanni and one central issue that always seems to appear is the Auestion '%s it a tragic operaK *opera Seria+ or is it a comic operaK*opera @uFa+' and the simple fact is that what it really comes down to is that it is both! ;nd the strength is that it can be both of them# the 8uxtaposition of the tragic and the comic heightens the eFect of
both. This said# it's not simply the alternation between tragic and comic but the fact that ,o6art is often able to have both facets displayed simultaneously. %n this regard he has the ideal collaborator in the form of ?oren6o Da 9onte# because Da 9onte is often praised by his admirers for his ability to interweave the tragic and the comic elements. %t's interesting to note that ,o6art himself labeled this opera as a 'drama giocoso' *9layful drama+ which reEects what he understands the opera to be. To give an example of the 8uxtaposition between the tragic and the comic % $rst have to give you a sense of ,o6arts gifts of characteri6ation# because that is what a great opera composer has to have at his or her disposal. The ability not only to delineate a character in music# sometimes in the instrumental music even before they open their mouths to sing# but also the ability to somehow express diFerent emotional states of that character in the course of the opera. So to give an example of a contrast of emotional states& the duet that follows the death of the '4ommendatore'# his daughter 'Donna ;nna' is Auite understandably upset and agitated. Ger betroved 'Don ttavio' is much more in control and in their music you hear their emotional states - she is agitated and he is calmer. Gere's what they sound like in their duetL Track ou don't have to understand what their singing in %talian to reali6e that she's agitated and he's calmer because you hear it reEected in what they sing. %f you talk about the expression of powerful emotions in music# which is something that also matters here. To begin with one thing you should know about ,o6art# is that he was very much a man of the classic period& in which elegance# balance# restraint and proportion were the stock and trade of the composer. This also extended to his representation of strong emotions. There's a famous letter that he writes to his father# when he is composing his $rst >iennese stage work 'The abduction from the soraleo' in which there is a surly gate keeper at the poshes palace whose name is 6mide# he has an aria of rage directed at a man who's trying to rescue his girlfriend form the heron and ,o6art writing to his father says Byes the emotions that are expressed here are extreme# but the music must never lose itselfB That's one thing you have to recognise# there will be later operatic composers who will go over the top with their music# when the emotions go over the top# but the musical range within which ,o6art operates# suggests that even at the most extreme# emotions never lose the propriety of the music that is expressing them. The musical range is diFerent from what you might encounter in Wagner or in Twentieth century but ,o6art knows exactly what he's doing and the shading of these levels is what it's all about. Cow in act two of Don iovanni its Don ttavio who swears vengeance for the death of the '4ommendatore' he sings the aria 'il mio tesoro' the text begins 'go and console my treasure and try to dry the tears from her lovely eyes.' % mention this aria because % want you to hear a little of what many consider to be the $nest recording of it ever made# which is interesting because it was recorded in M by the great %rish tenor (ohn ,c4ormackL Track / We've really set the stage now for what % mentioned earlier about the 8uxtaposition of the tragic and the comic elements. ;fter the duet you heard earlier# Don iovanni and ?eperello *Don's Servant+ return to the stage and we return to the pera @uFa
style. Donna )lvira then sings a very serious and dramatic aria# it's important to note that in every aria except this one by Donna )lvira# the singer is addressing someone else on the stage. This makes her aria the operatic eAuivalent of a dramatic soliloAuy. %t is intense# and yet the intensity is undercut by the fact that the fact that Don iovanni and ?eperello are oF to the side of the stage eavesdropping and making comments about what she has to sayL Track 1 What makes this convention even more elegant is that the places where Don iovanni and ?eperello are making their side comments are exactly the places where you would normally have an orchestral refrain punctuating what she's saying. So he's using the conventional form# but he's twisting it slightly which again undercuts the dramatic intensity. Cow back to the original play by Tirso de ,olina# if you take a look at that you $nd that at the end Don (uan with his dying breath says that )lvira is 'virgo intacta' *a virgin+ which makes her the only woman in the original play who gets through untouched. %n Da 9ontes libretto though# things are very diFerent. ;s a matter of fact another recurring theme in the critical analyses of this opera is& overwhelming lack of success on behalf of the title character. ?egendary loverHIJHIJ.where's it happeningK Gere's a compilation of comments on this sub8ect made through the yearsL
M/0 BThe action portrays anything but a successful sexual adventurerB
=< BThe cheerful tone that runs through the whole opera depends chieEy on the repulses with which the hero is continually made on the $eld of the heroic deedsB
M:0 Bf all the Don (uans of literature and of drama# that of Da 9onte is professionally the most futileB
%rvin Singer Bou can understand Don iovanni as a professional ;thlete with a very high batting average. That he encounters frustrations within the opera# simple shows how diNcult the sport is B
M< B)very time Don iovanni is absent from the stage you should consider a conAuest is taking place. We are accustomed to crime detection in prose& this is sin detection with all the ma8or clues in the music and plenty of others in the %talianB %t would seem like the last authors interpretation is at odds with the intentions of our librettist ,r. Da 9onte# % say that because in that libretto that iovanni @ertati wrote for a66aniga the conAuests are explicit and overt. ?oren6o da 9onte decides that he will tone down the obviousness of the amorous conAuests in his version of the story. We believe in his seductive powers by virtue of what he says and how he sings it# which of course is what opera is all about. The duet 'la ci darem la mano' is an example of Don iovanni's seductive capabilitiesL Track 0 ; man named )dward Dent *Who wrote a famous book on ,o6art peras+ he says B;fter Don iovanni himself# by far the most interesting character would be Donna )lviraB ne of her $nest moments is very interesting musically because it is ,o6art speci$cally stepping out of the style of his time and stepping back to the style of Gandel. ften you would $nd a composer in any period to be somewhat conservative in their musical style if they're writing sacred music& the idea of reaching back and evoking a certain timelessness and archaic Auality that serves the text. Well here we're in the course of an opera# but it's clear that he probably wants to make this come across like a sermon because what she's singing is 'Eea the traitor# don't listen to what he says# his lips are lying ones# his eyes deceivingB and he crafts it in the style of a Gandel ariaL Track : ;nd then 8ust another indication of the music variety you $nd here a very simple tune @atti @atti *@eat me# beat me+ is rendered less trivial by an obligato solo celloL Track The eFectiveness of that cello leads us into the whole Auestion of orchestral colour. When we think of the drama and the power of ,o6arts music the $rst thing of course that comes to mind of course is melody# the most inescapable part of an operas score. @ut then there's the harmony which we sometimes don't think about as much as the melody but also exerts a powerful inEuence# but also orchestration& the use of varying colours in varying situations# which even if we're not thinking about consciously exerts a very powerful subliminal eFect on us. Gere's a very nice example& orchestral colour used to literally paint an island of repose in the trio 'proteggia if giusto cieloB *may 8ust heaven protect my determined heart+ the strings drop out and the singers are accompanied only by the winds. ou can really get the sense that you are somewhere elseL Track < @ut the most important instrumental point of interest has to do with trombones. %n ,o6art's time# trombones generally belonged to church music and not to the theatre. ;s far as their use in symphonic music it is not until @eethoven's $fth symphony *twenty one years later+ that the trombone made its $rst appearance in a symphony. So to put yourself in the shoes of the 9rague audience '% know trombones but % think of them as belonging to the church' so how does he use them hereK ,o6art associates them with the statue of the commendatore# the statue that is
going to come to life# and when it comes to life in the graveyard scene that's when the trombones appear. ou can be sure the audience in those days we're terri$edL Track = ;nd when the statue comes to Don iovanni's banAuet he brings his trombonesL Track M When the statue that has come to life shows up with his trombones# the music is not new to us because we've already heard it in the overture# and what is very# very signi$cant about this& it is the only time in ,o6arts entire operatic career that he writes an overture that begins with a slow introduction. The obvious reason why he does it in this case is because he wants to give us a taste of that terrifying music at the very beginningL Track 2 %t's interesting to note that the night before the premiere of Don iovanni& ,o6art had to stay up all night to write the overture which according to a member of his orchestra Bhad not even been sketchedB! ;nother wonderful point of interest# a very famous passage in Don iovanni# which is a reEection of ,o6arts experience writing dance music for the ballrooms of imperial >ienna that is where he simultaneously gives us three diFerent dances representing three diFerent levels of society. ,o6art who we all know could work things out in his head and spew it out on the paper without eFort actually made sketches for this# it was something he actually had to think about. %t's the same eFect that 4harles %ves is going to create somewhat later. The idea of standing in a certain place with diFerent ensembles playing# you hear them simultaneously and the soundscape is the composite of three diFerent elements. This is what it sounds like in Don iovanniL Track Cow that's simultaneous combination# %'d like to also tell you about a kind of consecutive 8uxtaposition of things which is very interesting# it represents a little of the 'in' humour of what's going on here& we are almost at the end of the opera# and we're in the banAuet hall of Don iovanni whose own personal orchestra is playing. The $rst tune they play is the act one $nale of ,artin y Soler's *one of ,o6art contemporaries# and another composer asking Da 9onte for a liberetto+ opera 'Ona cosa rara' so you'll hear the acknowledgement of 'cosa rara'L Track / Then they play an excerpt from an opera of another one of his contemporaries named i due littiganti by Sarti. ?eperello cheers the selection# Don iovanni simply tells him to pour more wineL Track 1 There is a basic rule of humour or comedy writing that is& 'set up# set up and punch line'# ,o6art knows how to do that! We have 'something' by ,artin# 'something' by Sarti# the third thing that Don iovanni's orchestra plays is 'non piu andrai' from the ,arriage of "igaro. Cow of course every single person in that audience in 9rague would have immediately recognised it from the $rst few notes because as we know these were the tunes to which they were singing# whistling# humming# dancing etc. these were the tunes that took over 9rague before Don iovanni! Gow does ?eperello respond he says '% know that tune 'troppo' *too well+'L Track 0 Since %'ve already given away the ending of the opera# % will play some of the music that accompanies Don iovanni's descent into hell.......through a trap door in the
stage# which is a lesson to all of us to beware of trap doors in stages# because you know where they lead! ;gain with orchestral eFects and an oFstage chorus# it absolutely terri$ed the audiences of ,o6arts timeL Track : There's a famous story told of a somewhat 'out of shape' Don who got stuck in the trap door on the way down# and no matter what he did# he couldn't push himself either way# at which point someone in the audience yelled out BGurray boys# hells full!B %'d like to close by posing and answering a Auestion# obvious in the light of the history that %'ve provided you with# and that is& after it was performed in 9rague# how did Don iovanni fair in >iennaK Well seven months after the triumphant performances in 9rague# it premiered in >ienna# but unfortunately the reception was somewhat cool. The )mperor said to Da 9onte BThe opera is divine# % would even venture that it is more beautiful that '"igaro' but such music is not meat to the teeth of my >ienneseB and the story goes that Da 9onte relayed this message back to ,o6art and his reply was Bwell let them chew on itB. So Gappy 4hewing!
Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”: Perfection in Musical Characterization Posted on May 1, 2012 by David Nelson
When asked which of his own operas he liked best, Gioachino Rossini wishfully said “Don Giovanni”. When Tchaikovsky looked at Moart!s "anuscript for the opera, he co""ented that he as “in the presence of divinity”. #harles Gounod clai"ed that “Don Giovanni” was “a work without ble"ish, of uninterrupted perfection.” Gustave $laubert, author of “Mada"e %ovary”, believed that “Don Giovanni, &a"let and the sea were the three finest thin's God ever "ade.”
The Estates Theater in Prague, where "Don Giovanni" was frst er!ored on #$tober 2%, 1&'&(
There are "any reasons for such ad"iration of the “Don Giovanni”. #ertainly, Moart was at the peak of his creative ability when he fulfilled this co""ission for the (ostit )now *states+ Theater in ra'ue, and his three collaborations with librettist -oreno Da onte )“Marria'e of $i'aro”, “Don Giovanni”, “#osi fan tutte”+ are a"on' opera!s finest creations. f course, the
Pla)ue inside the Estates Theater saying that "Don Giovanni" and "*a +leena di Tito" were frst er!ored there(
“Don /uan” story0the downfall of a serial wo"anier and the inability of a person to chan'e for the better0is a tale that has had universal appeal and nu"erous settin's. )1ncidentally, Da onte "ay have had so"e e2tra insi'ht into the lead character as he was friends with #asanova in 3enice.+ $inally, the opera "i2es serious and co"ic ele"ents to perfection.
What 'ives Don Giovanni its ti"eless value and "akes it a superior "usical work is not only the sub4ect "atter or the balance between the co"ic and the serious5 it is Moart!s absolutely brilliant portrayal of the inner e"otional states of each character throu'h his "usic. 1t is as if Moart could look directly into the soul and psyche of each person on sta'e and then create the "elodies and har"onies to 'ive the audience an uncanny view into this character!s "ost inti"ate feelin's.
- haun.ng eorial to the + oentadore outside the theater(
This is "ost readily apparent in the "usic sun' by Don Giovanni hi"self, which "irrors the twists and turns of his co"ple2 personality as the story unfolds. When Giovanni is confronted by the #o""entadore in the openin' scene, Moart!s "usic depicts the lead character as so"ewhat reluctant to en'a'e the distin'uished older 'entle"an, but then the "usic "orphs to e2pose the a "ore a''ressive side of Giovanni as he is unwillin' to walk away fro" the conflict. The "ost i"portant conflict of the opera is enhanced by Moart!s "usic. 6 contrastin' side of the sa"e character is shown as he atte"pts to show his trustworthiness and 'entle nature in his ro"antic pursuits of 7erlina in 6ct 8 and Donna *lvira!s "aid in 6ct 9. 1n the duet with 7erlina )“-a ci dare" la "ano”+, Giovanni invites his “prey” to overco"e her resistance until the two sin' to'ether before leavin' the sta'e. 1n “Deh, vieni”, the cloaked leadin' "an shows his "andolin:playin' prowess in another atte"pted seduction. &is e2cite"ent for an upco"in' party co"es out in spades in the fast and e2uberant “#ha"pa'ne 6ria” in which he clai"s his list of fe"ale con;uests will be enhanced by at least ten “by to"orrow "ornin'.”
The auditoriu o! the Estates Theater is unusual be$ause it is in blue( - adinistrator told David Nelson that they $hose that be$ause P rague "had seen too u$h red" re!erring to the $ounist era(
The absolute core of Don Giovanni!s character does not co"e out until the end of the opera when the #o""entadore co"es back to life as the =. Moart!s portrayal of the other characters is 4ust as rich. Don ttavio!s overly acco""odatin' personality, as he continues to wait for his beloved Donna 6nna to finish her see"in'ly never:endin' 'rievin', co"es out in his two solo arias.
Two $herubs as art o! the interior o! the auditoriu(
-eporello!s clu"sy yet hu"orous atte"pt to pacify the an'ry Donna *lvira by tellin' her of all 9,?@A of Giovanni!s ro"antic con;uests )so far+ is presented in the intentionally over:the:top “#atalo'ue 6ria”. )-isten to how the “"ale” low strin's chase the “fe"ale” upper strin's as the "usic be'ins.+ The peasant character of 7erlina is beautifully reflected in the si"ple “%atti, batti”, and her “3endrai #arino” is one of the "ost "ovin' depictions of pure love ever written. “Don Giovanni” is an opera that works on "any levels. 1t has a ti"eless story, beautifully developed characters, and a wonderful te2t. %ut the words co"in' fro" the sta'e can only tell us so "uch about each personality. 1t is Moart!s inspired "usic that hi'hli'hts the inner nature of each character in ways that no libretto ever could.
The Music of Mozart's
The Marriage of
Figaro The first thing that can be noted about Figaro is its directness and brevity (not to be confused with its overall length). The arias and ensembles are all relatively short, getting to the dramatic point quickly so that we can move on to the next plot point. In short, o!art treats "eaumarchais# play exactly as it is meant to be$ as a comedy. o!art and his librettist %a &onte must have respected the "eaumarchais original greatly. 'cts I and II are virtually the same as they exist in the play, point for point. Things get a little more complicated in the final acts but that is because much of what %a &onte had to excise in order to pass the censors is contained in those acts. hat#s fascinating, however, is how o!art uses his music to insinuate and hint at what %a &onte had to leave on the table. ow else does one explain the ascending scale passages in *usanna#s +%eh vieni, non tardar other than to say that they unmistakably underline the sexual suggestiveness that the character intends- r the presence of those wonderful passages for a pair of horns at the end of /igaro#s +'prite un po# quegl#occhi, a bold reference to his supposed cuckolding by *usanna (0corni# or 0horns# referring to a husband having been 0horned# by his cheating wife)The glories of this score all lay in the brilliance of o!art#s musical characteri!ations. Take the character of 1herubino, the adolescent page to 1ount 'lmaviva who spends much of the opera dealing with his raging hormones (the fact that the character is sung by a me!!o2soprano in trousers
rather than by an actual adolescent boy who could never do 3ustice to the role is as much about the underlying titillation in his scenes with the 1ountess, whom he adores, as about vocal appropriateness). 4ote how in his first act aria +4on so pi5 the vocal line and the orchestral accompaniment work together to give us a kind of breathless, excited quality as he tries to describe these new sensations coursing through his body. In his second act aria, +6oi che sapete, these same feelings bubble up again and o!art cleverly takes him through numerous distant key areas in order to pro3ect his nervousness in the presence of his ideal love. ther characters are dealt with similarly. In +*e vuol ballare, considering that the text expresses the servant#s intention to make the 1ount 0dance to his tune#, o!art casts the aria in the form of a minuet, adding shorter note2 values, sixteenth notes, in the accompaniment to express /igaro#s underlying hurt and anger. 'fter the 1ount sends 1herubino off to the army, /igaro sings +4on pi5 andrai. 7isten to the running commentary in the orchestra$ as he refers to the feathered hats that 1herubino will no longer wear we hear a 0feathered# flourish from the violins in the previous measure. The 3oke continues as he says +8ou#ll no longer have those feathers, that hat, that head of hair, that sparkling aspect$ cascading and descending scales describe both 1herubino#s finery as well as the direction of his mood as he glumly looks forward to 0boot camp9# Through these rather simple musical means the composer humani!es his characters and helps us to identify with them. 4othing can compare to the moment when, at the end of the opera, 1ount 'lmaviva begs forgiveness of his 1ountess for all of his digressions during 0day of folly# ( La Folle Journée ou Le Mariage de Figaro is "eaumarchais# official title for the original play). The allegro assai of the previous number comes to a halt, o!art indicates a silent pause in the music, and then the 1ount begs his wife for pardon in an exquisitely simple vocal phrase, accompanied in the orchestra by the outlining of the most basic cadence in estern music$ tonic to dominant. +1ontessa, perdono9 &erdono, perdono9 The 1ountess# response is equally simple but in the context of the drama, ultimately stunning. *implicity, economy and beauty$ no other opera rivals The Marriage of Figaro in these qualities. It is a supreme achievement in lyric theatre.
