A performance of Don Giovanni in Vienna
3.Comic Opera
By ERIC WAGNER
Special guest blogger
On page 296 Rosen writes that the listener "must have an educated ear to know what to listen for, educated in the stylistic language and not just in the superficial formalities." I hope this study group helps us all develop educated ears.
One might see Don Giovanni, which deals with a man who sleeps with over a thousand women, as a meditation on the Manosphere. Joseph Kerman discusses dealing with problems of this opera in an essay in "Write All These Down".
I like the discussion of Mozart as subversive and dangerous on page 325.
I came to Don Giovanni backwards. I didn't know the opera at all when I read Rosen's The Romantic Generation when it came out in 1995. In that book he discussed Franz Liszt's Reminiscences of Don Juan, a piano fantasy based on Don Giovanni. In 1995 a CD by Rosen came out also called The Romantic Generation which included that piano piece. Rosen had quoted with approval George Bernard Shaw who said that the best way to appreciate the Liszt piece was to memorize the opera and then to forget it. Instead I fell in love with the piano version, and over the past 31 years I have slowly gotten to know the opera. One might see Liszt as the first rock star. He travelled around Europe performing piano recitals. Women would make bracelets out of his broken piano strings. He had a reputation as a Don Juan, so he plays with his own myth in his piano fantasy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlBYflI8dLM&list=RDjlBYflI8dLM&start_radio=1
5 comments:
I lived for years in Lawton, Oklahoma, and the local university, Cameron University, mounted, if I remember correctly, three Mozart operas: The Marriage of Figaro, Cosi Fan Tutti and Don Giovanni. I've also seen a recording of Don Giovanni. Rosen makes me want to see it again, and I hope to do so soon.
I enjoyed much of this chapter, particularly where Rosen quotes Mozart's letters to his father; also where he delineates the different kinds of comedy - character comedy, situational comedy (in contemporary terms , a sitcom), then calling The Marriage of Figaro a comedy of intrigue.
I found it interesting that the senior Mozart wanted Amadeus to write more commercially, less avant garde, because this still appeared a major concern in modern times with record execs not so long ago when artists and labels actually monetized their recordings before the streaming services took over. Even a genius like Mozart felt commercial pressure.
I resonate strongly with the last paragraph that starts "Almost all art is subversive: it attacks established values, and replaces them with those of its own creation;"
I tried watching a You Tube video of The Marriage of Figaro, but only made it 25 minutes into the 3 hour plus piece. I thought I could get through it with English subtitles, but no such luck. I can understand why it might seem preferable to not know the lyrics. Maybe it gets better, but the first 25 minutes seemed like a melodramatic soap opera. One of the early scenes could have been called The Real Housewives of Seville. I did enjoy the opening music without the singing. I also tried watching Cosi Fan Tutti with English subtitles and again only made it 25 minutes. Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute seem like they might be more subversive from what Rosen says so I might have a better time with those.
Not too long ago Michael Johnson wrote a sub stack piece about the not infrequent correlation between a person's name and what they do in life or the fate that befalls them. Carl Jung held a similar hypothesis regarding nominative determinism. In that spirit, I'd like to point out that Amadeus means love or lover of God.
Thank you for your comments. Rosen writes repeatedly about the scene in Don Giovanni where three orchestras tune up. He writes that one needs to sit close to the stage to really appreciate the affect. I would like to do that someday.
The Bergman Magic Flute comes and goes on YouTube. They have it now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufQxByt7dNM . I love love love that movie. I have shared many times how I visited Ingolstadt, Bavaria, on July 23, 1985. The next day I visited the concentration camp at Dachau. Desparing of humanity, I just wanted to get out of Germany. I had a ticket for the midnight train to Vienna. I wandered around Munich in a funk. I even saw some Robert Anton Wilson books in an English language bookstore. In the park I saw naked people playing frisbee, heard um pah pah music, and ate a giant pretzel (I mean huge). I walked past a theater showing Bergman's Magic Flute. I figured that I could watch the film and then run to the train station to catch my train out of Germany.
That movie restored my faith in humanity. The idea of a secret society trying to guide humanity out of barbarism really resonated for me, especially with Mozart's music and Bergman's music. Plus, at twenty-three I thought the actor playing Sarastro looked like I might look when I got older. I don't think it worked out that way.
Great story, Eric. Thank-you for the link, I started watching and really enjoy it. The audio mix sounds much better than the previous two operas I attempted to watch where I found the singing mixed too loud above the music.
Thanks for your comment. Glad you like the film. I think you will love the final half hour. Some people criticize the film for not having the best singers. I love the film, but you might also want to listen to some other recordings. I like Karajan's fifties recording, but I couldn't find it on Spotify, so I put on the Karl Boehm version with Fischer-Dieskau singing Papageno, the version my college roommate Jai had, the first version I heard. I used to like to listen to the Queen of the Night's aria at 45 rpm.
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