Τετάρτη 14 Μαΐου 2014

Oper Frankfurt - DON GIOVANNI

DON GIOVANNI
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1756 - 1791
Dramma giocoso in two acts
Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte
World Premiere: Second version Mai 7th 1788, k. k. National-Hof-Theater, Vienna
Sung in Italian with German surtitles
Duration: 3 1/2 hours with one interval
ABOUT THE PIECE

Mozart’s dramma giocoso is about the power of sensual desire, a continual burning, longing, worlds away from the logical and conceptual order of things. The music alone describes the title character’s »boistrously lighthearted cheerfulness«, wrote Sören Kierkegaard. »It comes from another kind world«, said Mozart.
Everybody knew the story about the most famous erotomaniac of modern times when Lorenzo Da Ponte set about re-creating him in 1787. It all began in an era of the galante and libertine, when bedrooms were more like altars and churches, theatres. »I was a slave to my vices, but a free man in my conscience«, noted Jean-Jacques Rousseau describing, better than anyone else, philosophy during the rococo period, which included depths being hidden on the surface, difficulties disguised to make them look easy and death and the devil made a fool with exuberant vitality. Don Giovanni’s laugh never dies away, even in the graveyard. The manic seducer’s last word, his »Ah…!« as he descends into the flames – could be interpreted as the sensuous revolting against a life after death, whether it be in heaven or hell.