(no subject)
There are several reasons to go to the opera. You go to Tosca, Madame Butterfly, Carmen, or La Boheme for passion and powerful emotion. You go to Carmina Burana or Pagliachi for the poetry and sensation. You go to Student Prince, DeFlater Mause, Love for Three Oranges, or even Cunning Little Vixin for farce and satire. You even see Wagner's Ring Cycle for the intense theatrics.
You go to Mozart operas... because they're Mozart. They must be good. ...Right?
Wrong.
Mozart was a musical genius. He tought himself piano at a year and a half and was composing at six. He's one of the most listened to classical composers in the world today. He wrote amazing music, but he wrote really *bad* theater.
So if you go to Don Giovanni expecting "Evenings of Passion"... don't. You will be sorely disappointed.
He tries to temper what he must have known was really boring trilling drivel with a few comic relief characters. This worked quite well in Don Giovanni. Not the tempering, but the comic relief. Leporello was amusing. And Pam South (the soprano) was amazing as usual. But the few amusing scenes were interspersed between eternities of intense boredom while Donna Anna sang about how her father died. We were there. It happened right in front of us. Please do not recount. And if you must angst, may I remind you, Mr. Mozart, that old adage "Show don't tell." And all of these operas he wrote could be shortened to one-hour in one simple trick - don't repeat yourself four times. Please.
So if you find yourself faced with a Mozart opera - my advice is, don't bother. Wait for Tosca.
You go to Mozart operas... because they're Mozart. They must be good. ...Right?
Wrong.
Mozart was a musical genius. He tought himself piano at a year and a half and was composing at six. He's one of the most listened to classical composers in the world today. He wrote amazing music, but he wrote really *bad* theater.
So if you go to Don Giovanni expecting "Evenings of Passion"... don't. You will be sorely disappointed.
He tries to temper what he must have known was really boring trilling drivel with a few comic relief characters. This worked quite well in Don Giovanni. Not the tempering, but the comic relief. Leporello was amusing. And Pam South (the soprano) was amazing as usual. But the few amusing scenes were interspersed between eternities of intense boredom while Donna Anna sang about how her father died. We were there. It happened right in front of us. Please do not recount. And if you must angst, may I remind you, Mr. Mozart, that old adage "Show don't tell." And all of these operas he wrote could be shortened to one-hour in one simple trick - don't repeat yourself four times. Please.
So if you find yourself faced with a Mozart opera - my advice is, don't bother. Wait for Tosca.