Part I. Clouds of feeling: excerpt audio recordings. Imagining excerpts; Rhetorics of seduction; Demons and dandies; All too human -- Part II. Invented works : complete audio records. The visual stage; Cruel laughter; Dancing in time -- Part III. Partial visions : video recordings. Zooming in, gazing back; Trauma retold; Libertines punished.
The Original Portrayal of Mozart’s Don Giovanni offers an original reading of Mozart’s and Da Ponte’s opera Don Giovanni, using as a lens the portrayal of the title role by its creator, the baritone Luigi Bassi (1766–1825). Although Bassi was coached in the role by the composer himself, his portrayal has never been studied in depth before, and this book presents a large number of new sources (first- and second-hand accounts), which allows us to reconstruct his performance scene by scene. The book confronts Bassi’s portrayal with a study of the opera’s early German reception and performance history, demonstrating how Don Giovanni as we know it today was not only created by Mozart, Da Ponte and Luigi Bassi but also by the early German adapters, translators, critics and performers who turned the title character into the arrogant and violent villain we still encounter in most of today’s stage productions. Incorporating discussion of dramaturgical thinking of the late Enlightenment and the difficult moral problems that the opera raises, this is an important study for scholars and researchers from opera studies, theatre and performance studies, music history as well as conductors, directors and singers.
Is The Marriage of Figaro just about Figaro? Is Don Giovanni’s story the only one—or even the most interesting one—in the opera that bears his name? For generations of critics, historians, and directors, it’s Mozart’s men who have mattered most. Too often, the female characters have been understood from the male protagonist’s point of view or simply reduced on stage (and in print) to paper cutouts from the age of the powdered wig and the tightly cinched corset. It’s time to give Mozart’s women—and Mozart’s multi-dimensional portrayals of feminine character—their due. In this lively book, Kristi Brown-Montesano offers a detailed exploration of the female roles in Mozart’s four most frequently performed operas, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, and Die Zauberflöte. Each chapter takes a close look at the music, libretto text, literary sources, and historical factors that give shape to a character, re-evaluating common assumptions and proposing fresh interpretations. Brown-Montesano views each character as the subject of a story, not merely the object of a hero’s narrative or the stock figure of convention. From amiable Zerlina, to the awesome Queen of the Night, to calculating Despina, all of Mozart’s women have something unique to say. These readings also tackle provocative social, political, and cultural issues, which are used in the operas to define positive and negative images of femininity: revenge, power, seduction, resistance, autonomy, sacrifice, faithfulness, class, maternity, and sisterhood. Keenly aware of the historical gap between the origins of these works and contemporary culture, Brown-Montesano discusses how attitudes about such concepts—past and current—influence our appreciation of these fascinating representations of women.
Handy practical guide to three of Mozart's most popular operas. Excellent line-for-line English translations face the Italian texts. Also introductions, plot synopses, and lists of characters for each opera.
Don Giovanni has been called the greatest opera ever composed, an almost perfect work. Along with "Aida," "La Boheme," and "Carmen," Mozart's masterpiece is one of the most often performed operas. The work is so admired that when the Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini was asked which of his own operas he liked best, Rossini unhesitatingly replied, ""Don Giovanni."" This Dover edition contains the standard Italian libretto of "Don Giovanni," side by side with a complete new English translation. Convenient and portable, it also includes an informative Introduction, a complete List of Characters, and an easy-to-follow Plot Summary. All repeats are given in full, so you can follow the text as it is sung, without losing your place. With this inexpensive, handy guide, opera lovers can appreciate every word of Mozart's brilliant comic drama in the original Italian or in modern English. An ideal companion for reading along with a recording, a broadcast, or at the performance itself, this superb volume is a first-rate aid to enjoyment of one of the world's most celebrated operas. "
Renowned Mozart scholar Daniel Heartz brings his deep knowledge of social history, theater, and art to a study of the last and great decade of Mozart's operas. Mozart specialists will recognize some of Heartz's best-known essays here; but six pieces are new for the collection, and others have been revised and updated with little-known documents on the librettist's, composer's, and stage director's craft. All lovers of opera will value the elegance and wit of Professor Heartz's writing, enhanced by thirty-seven illustrations, many from his private collection. The volume includes Heartz's classic essay on Idomeneo (1781), the work that continued to inspire and sustain Mozart through his next, and final, six operas. Thomas Bauman brings his special expertise to a discussion of Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782). The ten central chapters are devoted to the three great operas composed to librettos by Lorenzo da Ponte—Le nozze di Figaro (l786), Don Giovanni (l787), and Così fan tutte (l790). The reader is treated to fresh insights on da Ponte's role as Mozart's astute and stage-wise collaborator, on the singers whose gifts helped shape each opera, and on the musical connections among the three works. Parallels are drawn with some of the greatest creative artists in other fields, such as Molière, Watteau, and Fragonard. The world of the dance, one of Heartz's specialties, lends an illuminating perspective as well. Finally, the essays discuss the deep spirituality of Mozart's last two operas, Die Zauberflöte and La Clemenza di Tito (both l79l). They also address the pertinence of opera outside Vienna at the end of the century, the fortunes and aspirations of Freemasonry in Austria, and the relation of Mozart's overtures to the dramaturgy of the operas.
(Faber Piano Adventures ). In this inspiring collection, late-elementary to early-intermediate pianists will find appealing arrangements that advance skills while exploring masterworks of Western music. The famous orchestral, keyboard, and operatic repertoire here spans four periods of music history. In the Baroque & Classical section, discover the elegance of Bach, the beauty of Mozart and the passion of Beethoven. Through the pages of the Romantic & Impressionistic section, sample the lyricism of Chopin, the drama of Grieg, and the atmosphere of Debussy. May the melodies of these and many other composers open an enduring world of expression and sound.
