[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]batti o mio Masetto, is a light and lovely moment of
supreme opera buffa.
Leporello can be viewed as a direct descendant of
the Commedia dell arte tradition, the standard satirical
portrayal of the comic servant, and the supreme example
of the opera buffa character portraying mock anxieties:
his rebellious indignation when he complains
sarcastically and bitterly about the conditions of his
employment with his libertine master - irregular meals,
lack of sleep, constant waiting around in wind and rain;
his cynical congratulations to his master on successfully
concluding the seduction of a daughter and the
elimination of a father; his horror at the death of the
Commendatore, an eccesso, or excess that was provoked
and certainly the last thing he or his master ever intended;
his anxious patter combined with genuine pathos as he
begs for pity from Giovanni s avengers; his compassion
for Elvira when he tries to persuade her through the
Catalogue of his master s unworthiness, that she is
not the first nor the last of his master s conquests; and,
of course, his pride in describing his master s preferences
and adventures.
In his moments of righteous indignation, when he
tells his master point blank that he considers him to be
leading a wastrel s life and he threatens to leave his
service, resolution and loyalty quickly return with
Giovanni s bonus compensation.
But imitation is the greatest form of flattery, and
when Leporello is among the peasants, he imitates his
master s habits and mannerisms, and is hopeful that
among so many young women, there might be something
for him too. He relishes his moments as a Don Giovanni
in training, although it is an exaggerated moment; he
obviously enjoys the charade and impersonation of his
master as he woos Donna Elvira: Son per voi tutta foco
( I m all fire for you. )
The Leporello character is a magnificent blend of
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wit, a fusion of the comic and serious, and quintessential
opera buffa.
The entrance of the three masked characters provides
a magnificent moment for ambivalent meaning, arcane
subtext, and variety in interpretation. As the three masked
characters Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, and Don Ottavio
arrive at Don Giovanni s party, the music and text
explode with the strains of viva la libertà. (Da Ponte
withheld this portion of the opera when he submitted it
to the censors.)
For each character, liberty may have a different
meaning. For Don Giovanni himself, liberty is perhaps
his right to exploit his surrounding world; he certainly
at that moment has accomplished his goal by inducing
everyone to his castle, if only for the opportunity to
seduce Zerlina.
For Leporello, liberty could define his freedom to
emulate the licentious actions of his master. For Zerlina,
liberty could mean a higher social status, something
she disingenuously believes she could achieve by
spending a night with the aristocratic Don Giovanni. For
Masetto, liberty could mean his right to fight for justice
and what is right.
And for those three masked characters, liberty is
their freedom to enter into Don Giovanni s iniquitous
world and unmask, expose, and punish the horrible
seducer and murderer.
he banquet scene of Don Giovanni is a great tour-
Tde-force of the lyric theater. In a magnificent blend
of the comic and tragic, the Stone Statue of the
Commendatore invades Giovanni s banquet; panic erupts
as Donna Elvira flees, and Leporello hides under the
table. Don Giovanni confronts the terrifying Statue with
ferocious courage. In this symbolic defining moment,
Don Giovanni stops running away from himself, and is
forced to look inward: he invites the Stone Statue to
dine with him.
When Don Giovanni grasps the Stone Statue,
symbolically, he feels an unmistakable coldness, perhaps
the inhuman coldness lurking within his subconscious.
And symbolically again, he cannot free himself from
the grasp of the Stone Statue, even as flames rise up
around him; nevertheless, Giovanni remains resolute and
will not repent his dissolute life.
Mozart s music inventiveness, the scoring of this
moment in the chilling and frightening D minor key, the
Don Giovanni Page 30
same tragic sounding key and chords heard in the
Overture and when the Commendatore was mortally
wounded in Act I, provides a brilliant musical portrait
of that defining moment in which an eternal universal
sinner is about to receive divine retribution for his
transgressions.
Don Giovanni is doomed to Hell: he is supposed to
experience those same transforming fires that
mythological heroes and images of our collective
unconscious have passed in order to achieve a
transformation; a transcendence and epiphany, a return
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