urila

Don-Giovanni

urila 12/05/2019 אין תגובות

The women of Mozart's operas are strong, they know what they want, and also know how to achieve what they want. Compared to them, the men are all inept. And we start with the main hero Don-Giovanni, on whom the opera is named. The great lover has hundreds of women in every country, and the record number is thousand and three in Spain. In summer he will like thin women and in winter fat ones, and more, and more like that. All in the wives-tales of his servant. There are three women in the opera, but he fails with all three, and nothing comes out for him. Add that the role of Don Giovanni is played by a middle-aged singer with a pot belly and oily wig, quite the opposite of a man that no woman will resist, and you will see the absurd.

Leporello the servant is a grotesque figure by its own merit, and there is no need to elaborate. Indeed, the opera begins when Leporello mourns his bad fate. He has to stand outside the house in the cold and watch, while his master is having a good time with a young woman inside. But quickly enough it turns out that the young woman, Donna Anna, is not very enthusiastic and she starts screaming: "rape", "rape". Don Giovanni tries to calm her, "My lady, my purest intentions", but she carries on. Clearly, all the rape matter is farfetched. Will Don Giovanni, the great lover, that has hundreds of women in each state, go and rape a nervous virgin?

To the sounds of the yelling arrives Donna Anna's father, the Commendatore, whose name indicates military past, something like a retired colonel in our place. A man like that, at his age and experience, is expected to be sensible, to find out what happened, to calm all around and maybe to amend things. But he? No. Immediately he pulls out his sword and starts a duel against Don Giovanni, and eventually, Don Giovanni kills him. When there is a duel, there will be one side that wins and one side that does not. And if the side that did not win also started the duel, then he can complain to no-one, he is already dead. The daughter Donna Anna starts to scream murderer, murderer, and this is quite understandable because he is her father. Don Giovanni takes advantage of the turmoil and runs away together with the servant.

Here we meet a cute young guy, Don Ottavio, that all that he wants in life is to bed his girlfriend Donna Anna, but she has other plans for him. Directly she involves him in a conflict that is not his: To organize a search party, to catch the villain and punish him for his crime. Not for nothing Mozart later puts in Ottavio's mouth, the opera's most beautiful and erotic Arya. We really can hear the excited male. Serge Gainsbourg song is nothing compared to Mozart Arya. Don Ottavio sings something about revenge, but, as it is well known, the lyrics are not that important in the opera.

Giovanni and the servant, who ran away in the first part, encounter an engagement party of the peasant Masetto and his fiancée Zerlina, and Don Giovanni decides to apply his skills and to tempt the future bride. But the punishment party that follows him, arrives and explains to the attending people who the man is, and also convinces Masetto to join them. But Masetto is a bit dumb, and Don Giovanni succeeds to isolate him and beat to him heavy blows. Luckily for Masetto he has a fiancée that loves him, sings to him: "put your hand over my heart", and consoles him for his pain.

Giovanni and the servant continue their wandering and encounter a young beautiful woman. Giovanni decides to operate his charms on her, and he sings to her the sweetest serenade that Mozart has ever written. But it turns out that the young woman, Donna Elvira, is an old lover of his, and immediately he loses interest. Now the problem is how to get rid of her.

Continuing their way Giovanni and the servant pass through the cemetery where the Commendatore is buried, and the arrogant Giovanni invites the statue on the grave to a party in his palace. After more adventures and wandering that take nearly three hours, we arrive at the said party, during which the statue arrives in a dramatic entry, usually through the wall, gives his ice-cold hand to Don Giovanni, and pulls him down to hell. And so, Don Giovanni, that all his crime was his big mouth, came to his punishment.
All the rest gather together, free of the nightmare, and outline their way to the future. The servant will go to look for a new master, and Elvira will go to a monastery. Our cute Don Ottavio sings to his girlfriend Donna Anna: "Finally I can love you", and we all know what he means. No, she tells him, Don Giovanni is dead. Now, one-year mourning.

So, I ask you?

The story of Don-Giovanni:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Giovanni

The serenade: