Mozart's 🎼 Don Giovanni

Mozart's Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. 
Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legend about a libertine as told by playwright Tirso de Molina in his 1630 play El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra. It is a dramma giocoso blending comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements (although the composer entered it into his catalogue simply as opera buffa). 
It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the National Theater (of Bohemia), now called the Estates Theatre, on 29 October 1787. 
Don Giovanni is regarded as one of the greatest operas of all time and has proved a fruitful subject for commentary in its own right; critic Fiona Maddocks has described it as one of Mozart's "trio of masterpieces with librettos by Da Ponte".

Several Versions of the Complete Opera Below

Subtitles: 🇮🇹  🇬🇧  🇺🇸  🇫🇷  🇨🇦 

ITALIANO (CC) – ENGLISH (CC) – FRANÇAIS (intégré dans la vidéo).

Don Giovanni 🎼 Teatro alla Scala
Peter Mattei, Bryn Terfel
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Peter Mattei - Don Giovanni 

Bryn Terfel - Leporello 

Kwangchul Youn - Il Commendatore 

Anna Netrebko - Donna Anna 

Giuseppe Filianoti - Don Ottavio 

Barbara Frittoli - Donna Elvira 

Anna Prohaska - Zerlina 

Stefan Kocan - Masetto 

Conductor: Daniel Barenboim 

Director: Robert Carsen * Teatro alla Scala, 2011

 

 Don Giovanni 🎼 Mozart
Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles

Jamais démenti depuis la Première à l'Opéra de Prague en 1787, "Don Giovanni" est un opéra plein de péripéties écrit par Mozart. Dans le rôle principal, Robert Gleadow emmène le spectateur dans les aventures rocambolesques de ce noble séducteur.

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Mozart 🎼 Don Giovanni 
Herbert von Karajan, Salzburg Festival, 1987
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Don Giovanni“ from the Salzburg Festival in 1987. One of the last opera productions under the baton of Herbert von Karajan, directed by Michael Hampe. The entire performance in best possible quality is presented by the “Eliette und Herbert von Karajan Institut”. 
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) 
“Don Giovanni”, dramma giocoso K. 527 
Don Giovanni: Samuel Ramey
Il Commendatore: Paata Burchuladze
Donna Anna:  Anna Tomowa-Sintow
Donna Elvira: Júlia Várady
Don Ottavio: Gösta Winbergh
Leporello: Ferruccio Furlanetto
Masetto: Alexander Malta
Zerlina: Kathleen Battle
Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor
Wiener Philharmoniker
Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
Stage direction: Michael Hampe
Set: Mauro Pagano

Mozart - Don Giovanni (1787)

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Comment by: Agapò te Musikè 2

WITTICISM, PUNS, AND OTHER AMENITIES… 

It's a shame that subtitles often miss so many subtleties of Da Ponte’s libretto, so many allusions, and nuances that only an Italian can grasp! 

For example, in the opera's opening scene, Don Giovanni and Leporello sing at the same time almost the same expression (0:10:07), but employing the verb “precipitar(e)” in two different acceptations, often confused: Don Giovanni does not fear at all his own downfall… it’s Leporello who is afraid to suffer something harmful, while Don Giovanni is justifying to himself whatever misdeed he is ready to commit, as being compelled to, with hypocritical rhetoric… And actually, shortly thereafter he will kill Donna Anna’s father, and again will claim that his victim had it coming! The poetic witticism of putting two different acceptations of the same verb near each other is repeated in the first scene of the II act (1:37:00). It’s striking that someone should “make love” (“fare all’amor”) beneath a window (1:50:13). 

But this idiom has shifted in meaning over time in both languages: nothing to do with the present meaning: at that time, it meant “to woo”, “to court”. Ignoring the possible meaning hidden behind the words and overlooking the libretto’s indications often could prove misleading, as shown by the common misunderstanding of the duettino “Là ci darem la mano”. Here correctly, initially Zerlina sings toward the audience, her backs on Don Giovanni, thinking out loud, trying to decide what to do. Her aside “Quick, I’m no longer strong” is not meant to urge the seducer, but amounts to saying: “Somebody help me at once! I’m afraid my strength is failing ”. This last (half-hearted) hint at resistance is shaken at the prospect of elevating her own station through marriage and (pretty comically) finally overcome when the Don explicitly promises to improve her lot… (so much for pitying Masetto!) It really isn't about romance, on either side! It’s rather a tug of war between two different cunnings. And the words with which Don Giovanni mocks Zerlina’s expectations are not accidental. “There we shall give each other our hands” is not just an invitation to “hold hands”: he intends to evoke the ritual “join your right hands” at the exchange of the wedding vows. But “to give one’s hand”, besides to swear or to seal a vow, is done to confirm a generic agreement; “darsi la mano”, as “to shake hands” intended, binds a bargain... Similarly “there you will tell me yes” patently would lead Zerlina to foresee the wedding declaration of consent, her “I do”. But surely Don Giovanni has in mind another kind of consent… 

At the end, Don Giovanni and Zerlina are going to “ristorar le pene”, “to redress”, “to reward” (with marriage, or so Zerlina believes) the sufferings endured by their innocent love... Less innocent is the pun: it seems to wink at us: definitely the two don't mean the same thing! It could approximately be rendered… (0:46:26) 

But how tricky it is to… “restore” such tricks!

DON GIOVANNI 🎼 W. A. MOZART. 

HD full opera

🇮🇹  🇬🇧  🇺🇸  🇫🇷  🇨🇦
Subtitles:

ITALIANO (CC) – ENGLISH (CC) – FRANÇAIS (intégré dans la vidéo).

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👇  https://youtu.be/8wEMzWH52FA?si=dbSdrLDjN1r4gD4T 

One of the best known and most popular operas ever.  This version was enacted at the Festival of Aix–en–Provence, in France. The staging presents some quite radical features – very interesting and thought–provoking, by the way – concerning mainly the personality of Don Giovanni himself.  A little bit too devilish, perhaps.  But the singing is quite classical – and excellent.

 

Conductor: Jérémie ROHRER.
Stage Director: Jean–François SIVADIER.
Orchestre: LE CERCLE DE L'HARMONIE.

Don Giovanni: Philippe SLY.
Leporello: Nahuel di PIERRO.
Donna Elvira: Isabel LEONARD.
Donn'Anna: Eleonora BURATTO.
Don Ottavio: Pavol BRESLIK.
Zerlina: Julie FUCHS.
Masetto: Krzysztof BACZYK.
Il Commendatore: David LEIGH.

DO NOT MISS the opportunity to compare this more "classical" version with the very original staging of ACHIM FREYER (musically also excellent):   

Don Giovanni, opera. W. A. Mozart.

 Subtitles: ITALIANO – FRANÇAIS.

Orchestre de Bretagne, conductor Antony HERMUS.

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👇  https://youtu.be/1IBkJI_ec-s?si=zeNXet4WvqDQlbd_

The musical level is outstanding. Extremely original and colorful "mise en scène".  Its intention could possibly be – as proposed by Walter Benjamin in an insightful comment, for which many thanks – to present human beings as puppets, moved by the invisible threads of uncontrollable passions.  A notion that could be fairly close to da Ponte's and Mozart's actual inspiration.
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NOTE: 

De nombreux passages, à plusieurs voix, sont très complexes à sous–titrer de manière un tant soit peu intelligible.  N'hésitez pas svp à signaler des erreurs ou à suggérer de possibles améliorations de présentation.
NOTE: 

To be compared with the version in DON GIOVANNI. HD full opera by W. A. MOZART. Subtitles: ITALIANO – ENGLISH – FRANÇAIS (embedded) ,which, albeit more classical, has quite an original staging too, in that case regarding the psychology of the main characters.

Mozart 🎼 Don Giovanni ♪ Complete 🇺🇸 Subtitles 

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https://paulcpw.blogspot.com/2017/08/don-giovanni-complete-with-english.html

 

Mozart's 🎼 Don Giovanni 
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https://paulcpw.blogspot.com/2020/04/mozarts-don-giovanni.html

Mozart ♫ Don Giovanni ♫ Carlo Maria Giulini
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https://paulcpw.blogspot.com/2017/08/mozart-don-giovanni-carlo-maria-giulini.html