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The Original Portrayal of Mozart’s Don Giovanni

  • Author: Tessing Schneider, Magnus
The Original Portrayal of Mozart’s Don Giovanni

The Original Portrayal of Mozart’s Don Giovanni

  • Author: Tessing Schneider, Magnus

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Book – Paperback

$66.75

Printed on demand: estimated despatch time 7 - 10 days

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About

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.

Contents

  • Introduction
  • Rewriting the myth of Don Juan
  • The demonising of Don Giovanni: A historical overview
  • Chapter 1: Luigi Bassi as Don Giovanni
  • The singer and his role
  • Intention and experience: Prescriptive and descriptive sources
  • The performer as a phenomenon
  • Grace and gallantry: Bassi’s portrayal
  • Performance traditions: Italians and Germans
  • Chapter 2: The opening scene
  • Chapter 3: Don Giovanni and the three women
  • Donna Elvira’s entrance aria
  • The duettino
  • The quartet and Donna Anna’s narration
  • Chapter 4: The party episode
  • The champagne aria
  • The garden scene
  • The ballroom scene
  • Chapter 5: The disguise episode
  • The first duet with Leporello
  • The trio
  • The canzonetta
  • The disguise aria
  • Chapter 6: The graveyard scene
  • Chapter 7: The second finale
  • The supper
  • The last encounter with Donna Elvira
  • Don Giovanni and the stone guest
  • The final scene
  • Postscript: In defence of the operatic work
  • Bibliography
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