Table Of Content

The Original Portrayal of Mozart’s Don Giovanni 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 a discussion of the 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. Magnus Tessing Schneider (Stockholm University) is a Danish theatre scholar specialising in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Italian opera. He has edited Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito: A Reappraisal (2018), together with Ruth Tatlow, and Felicity Baker’s essay collection Don Giovanni’s Reasons: Thoughts on a Masterpiece (2021). Ashgate Interdisciplinary Studies in Opera Series Editor: Roberta Montemorra Marvin, University of Massachusetts, USA The Ashgate Interdisciplinary Studies in Opera series provides a centralized and prominent forum for the presentation of cutting-edge scholarship that draws on numerous disciplinary approaches to a wide range of subjects associated with the creation, performance, and reception of opera (and related genres) in various historical and social contexts. There is great need for a broader approach to scholarship about opera. In recent years, the course of study has developed significantly, going beyond traditional musicological approaches to reflect new perspectives from literary criticism and comparative literature, cultural history, philosophy, art history, theatre history, gender studies, film studies, political science, philology, psychoanalysis, and medicine. The new brands of scholarship have allowed a more comprehensive interrogation of the complex nexus of means of artistic expression operative in opera, one that has meaningfully challenged prevalent historicist and formalist musical approaches. This series continues to move this important trend forward by including essay collections and monographs that reflect the ever-increasing interest in opera in non-musical contexts. Books in the series are linked by their emphasis on the study of a single genre - opera - yet are distinguished by their individualized and novel approaches by scholars from various disciplines/fields of inquiry. The remit of the series welcomes studies of seventeenth-century to contemporary opera from all geographical locations, including non-Western topics. Digital Scenography in Opera in the Twenty-First Century Caitlin Vincent The Operas of Rameau Genesis, Staging, Reception Edited by Graham Sadler, Shirley Thompson and Jonathan Williams The Original Portrayal of Mozart’s Don Giovanni Magnus Tessing Schneider For more information about this series, please visit: www .routledge. com /music / series /AISO The Original Portrayal of Mozart’s Don Giovanni Magnus Tessing Schneider Cover image: Wilhelm Marstrand: Donna Anna summons her servants (Act I scene 1). Paper and ink. Mid-nineteenth century. Photo ©: The Henrik Engelbrecht Collection, Copenhagen. First published 2022 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 Magnus Tessing Schneider The right of Magnus Tessing Schneider to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Open Access version of this book, available at www .taylorfrancis .com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-0-367-24320-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-15833-4 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-28170-9 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9780429281709 Typeset in Times New Roman by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India To my research group Performing Premodernity, my academic family: Petra Dotlačilová Maria Gullstam Willmar Sauter Mark Tatlow Meike Wagner Contents List of Illustrations ix Preface x Acknowledgements xiii Introduction 1 Rewriting the myth of Don Juan 1 The demonising of Don Giovanni: a historical overview 5 Notes 12 1 Luigi Bassi as Don Giovanni 15 The singer and his role 15 Intention and experience: prescriptive and descriptive sources 18 The performer as a phenomenon 27 Grace and gallantry: Bassi’s portrayal 33 Performance traditions: Italians and Germans 36 Notes 44 2 The opening scene 54 Notes 65 3 Don Giovanni and the three women 68 Donna Elvira’s entrance aria 68 The duettino 75 The quartet and Donna Anna’s narration 83 Notes 92 4 The party episode 98 The champagne aria 98 The garden scene 104 The ballroom scene 109 Notes 126 viii Contents 5 The disguise episode 131 The first duet with Leporello 131 The trio 134 The canzonetta 144 The disguise aria 146 Notes 152 6 The graveyard scene 155 Notes 165 7 The second finale 168 The supper 168 The last encounter with Donna Elvira 175 Don Giovanni and the stone guest 181 The final scene 203 Notes 206 Postscript: In defence of the operatic work 213 Notes 224 Bibliography 227 Index 240 Illustrations 1.1 Medard Thönert: ‘Don Giovanni performed by Signor Bassi’ (Act II scene 3). Engraving. 1797 20 2.1 Wilhelm Marstrand: Donna Anna tries to restrain Don Giovanni (Act I scene 1). Paper and ink. Mid-nineteenth century 58 2.2 Wilhelm Marstrand: Donna Anna summons her servants (Act I scene 1). Paper and ink. Mid-nineteenth century 58 2.3 Reinhold Hoberg after a drawing by Max Slevogt: Donna Anna tries to restrain Don Giovanni (Act I scene 1). Woodcut. 1921 59 2.4 Johann Friedrich Bolt after a drawing by Vinzenz Georg Kinninger: Don Giovanni and the stone guest (Act II scene 15). Engraving. 1801 65 4.1 Max Slevogt: ‘Scene from Don Giovanni (Francisco d’Andrade on the Forestage)’ (Act I scene 15). Oil painting. 1902 100 4.2 Johann Peter Lyser: ‘Arabesque on the Champagne Aria’ (Act I scene 15). Drawing. 1837 105 4.3 Wilhelm Marstrand: ‘Don Giovanni’ (Act I scene 18). Paper and ink. No date (1860s) 108 4.4 Reinhold Hoberg after a drawing by Max Slevogt: Don Giovanni dances with Zerlina (Act I scene 20). Woodcut. 1921 119 4.5 Reinhold Hoberg after a drawing by Max Slevogt: Don Giovanni pulls Zerlina into the closet (Act I scene 20). Woodcut. 1921 120 4.6 Reinhold Hoberg after a drawing by Max Slevogt: Don Giovanni tries to rape Zerlina (Act I scene 20). Woodcut. 1921 121 4.7 Reinhold Hoberg after a drawing by Max Slevogt: Don Giovanni fencing with the peasants (Act I scene 20). Woodcut. 1921 125 5.1 Johann Peter Lyser: the trio (Act II scene 2). Drawing. 1833 139 5.2 Reinhold Hoberg after a drawing by Max Slevogt: Don Giovanni in Leporello’s clothes (Act II scene 2). Woodcut. 1921 141 5.3 Reinhold Hoberg after a drawing by Max Slevogt: Don Giovanni pummels Masetto (Act II scene 5). Woodcut. 1921 151 7.1 Hagesandros, Athenedoros and Polydoros: ‘Laocoön and His Sons’. Marble. Ca. 200 BC 200