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Here's a 220-year-old opera whose anti-hero exhibits reckless behavior and cynical indifference to real-world consequences. (Sound like the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?) Yet the "moral" that's tacked on to Don Giovanni, that he who lives a wicked life dies a wicked death, is a sham; it's delivered by the opera's six suvivors as a tacked-on ending, in the theatrical equivalent of a wink-wink, with house lights up.
Yes, the Don goes to hell (convincingly staged, by the way, with trap door, "flames," smoke, screams -- here's a streaming video preview), but his nominal victims deserve no better. Donna Anna hypocritically demands revenge for her father's death, conveniently forgetting that it was her own indiscretion with Giovanni that precipitated the Commendatore's ill-fated defense of her virtue. "Whatever you say, dear," is the in-denial response from her fiancé, Don Ottavio. The peasant-girl Zerlina deliberately cavorts with Giovanni to provoke Masetto's ire and ensure herself of punishment. The "wronged" Donna Elvira is both enthralled and repelled by her attraction to Giovanni; after he's gone she dreamily wraps herself in his cape. And Leperello, Giovanni's Fox News enabler, literally feeds off his amorality. There's no hint of judgment about their fates.
Seattle Opera's "gold" cast featured Mariusz Kwiecin as a suave and courtly Giovanni, but we found the smirky, smarmy edge of the "silver" star, Morgan Smith, more credible. The silver Anna, too, struck us as more vehemently angry, more visibly deranged. Used to be, the silvers sang in English; with supratitles, that's no longer necessary, and the current production's "second" cast is as strong as the first.
As an opera, Don Giovanni is both tapestry and mystery, interweaving the traditional story of the libertine (over 2,000 conquests!) who, by convention, must be punished, with the 18th Century's spirit of political Enlightenment (the rousing Act I "long live liberty!" finale). As art, Mozart's collaboration with Lorenzo da Ponte transcends mere entertainment; it asks fundamental questions about good and evil, sex and personal responsibility. Seattle Opera's updated, imaginatively staged production (by the stalwart team of Robert Dahlstrom and Chris Alexander), conducted by Andreas Mitisek (who led Cosi fan tutte here last year) enhances those mysteries with sublimely sung music. Even in today's nonjudgmental environment, that's a virtue.
Seattle Opera presents Don Giovanni through Jan. 27. Tickets online or call 206-389-7676
Seattle Opera photo by Rozarii Lynch
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Well, a dramma giocoso traditionally requires an epilog that wraps up the loose ends in a major key finale. Which didn't stop many people -- including not a few in Mozart's day -- from insisting the opera would be far better without it. And many stagings have dropped it.
Mozart's librettist on this work (as well as Le nozze de Figaro and Così fan tutte) was Lorenzo da Ponte, a rather fascinating character in his own right who ended his days in the United States, as a professor of Italian at Columbia University. I once made a point of walking through Columbia before riding the train to see a performance at the Met; Mozart seems so ethereal and distant and Columbia so concrete and immediate, yet this one man intimately links the two.
Another really interesting thing about da Ponte is that he was born Jewish, converted (along with his father, who wanted to marry a Christian) and, as was customary in those days, took the name of his bishop. And when his patron, the bishop, died, da Ponte became a Catholic priest. Article about this in The New Yorker recently.