ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL ORPHEUS ACADEMY 2008

JULIAN RUSHTON

Don Giovanni and the nature of opera

"By their arias shall ye know them ...
In this paper I wish to develop some thoughts on characterization in opera. I shall proceed from the generic - considering the question ‘what kind of people inhabit the operatic world?´ - to specific instances in which Mozart´s powers of distinguishing character through music is apparent.

The likely progress of the argument is this: Don Giovanni himself, as a character, is demonstrably self-satisfied to the point of being narcissistic. But he alone does not project this element in arias that explore his own feelings - for even ‘Fin ch´han dal vino´ makes no attempt to confront the character´s psychological complexity, his neurosis.

Most major operatic characters, on the contrary, are prone to explore their own feelings, and publicly, usually in arias. Taking the point of departure that the most important element in opera is music, examples are adduced to suggest that the normal behaviour of a major character is to self-dramatize. Sometimes arias are overheard only by the audience, but sometimes (notably Elvira´s entrance aria) they are overheard by other characters as well. It is possible to create an operatic character who seems selfless in motivation, or if not selfless, then at least concerned for others´ welfare, such as Susanna; but this can only be done by careful deployment of musical means, including the choice of aria designs that are not necessarily the standard prerogative of the prima donna (notably, in this period, the Rondò). Among other considerations, the original singers of the roles should be credited with their part in characterizing the operatic persons familiar to us; examples will be given including some from the roles of Nancy Storace, the first Susanna."

Suggested literature:

• Peter Kivy, ‘How did Mozart do it?: Living Conditions in the World of Opera´, in The Fine Art of Repetition (Cambridge University Press, 1993), 160-188
• Dorothea Link, Arias for Nancy Storace, Mozart´s first Susanna (Middleton, Wisconsin: AR Editions, 2002)
• Richard Rusbridger, ‘The Internal World of Don Giovanni´, International Journal of Psychoanalysis 89 (2008), 181-194
• Julian Rushton, ‘Buffo roles in Mozart´s Vienna: tessitura and tonality as signs of characterization´, in J. Webster and M. Hunter (eds), Opera Buffa in Mozart´s Vienna (Cambridge University Press, 1997), 406-425
• James Webster, ‘The Analysis of Mozart´s Arias´, in Cliff Eisen (ed.), Mozart Studies (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), 101-199

KENNETH MONTGOMERY & JAVIER LOPEZ PINON

no abstracts have been provided yet

STEFAN ROHRINGER

1. The two Don Ottavios: Mozart´s modified perspective on his primo uomo in the Vienna version of Don Giovanni

Apart from the lack of the ›scena ultima‹ Mozarts composition of a new aria for his Viennese Don Ottavio, Francesco Morello, involves the most remarkably difference between the Prague premiere of Don Giovanni in Oktober 1787 and the debut performance in Vienna, which followed in May 1788. Cause Morello didn´t comply with the technical requirements Mozart decided to cancel the primary aria Il mio tesoro and wrote a new one: Dalla sua pace. Although Mozart made a number of modifications in the course of supervising the Vieniese production only this substitution leads to a fundamental reappraisal of one of the characters of the opera. In this lecture there will be shown that the different handling of the part of Don Ottavio is not soleley due to the performance practice in Mozart´s time but a result of a new consideration Mozart made after the Prague performance.

Suggested literature:

• Attila Csampai und Dietmar Holland (1981), Don Giovanni. Texte, Materialien und Kommentare, Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowolth.
• Stefan Kunze (1984), Mozarts Opern, Stuttgart:Reclam.
• Manfred Hermann Schmid (1994), Italienischer Vers und musikalische Syntax in Mozarts Opern (=Mozart-Studien 4), Tutzing: Schneider.

2. Mozart and the Sublime: On the relation of the Prague Symphony and the Ouverture of Don Giovanni

It´s commonly presumed, that many of Mozart´s instrumental compositions - exspecially his piano concertos of the Viennese years - are influenced by the composition technique developped in his operas. But in the case of the Prague Symphony and the Ouverture of Don Giovanni it seems to be reversal: although Mozart composed the symphony at the end of 1786 in the run-up to the Prague premiere of The Marriage of Figaro - the quotation of Cherubino´s defenestration at the beginning of the finale referrs to this occation - its musical gestures can be read as a anticipation of the musical language of the Ouverture of Don Giovanni concerning the thematic content, harmonical progressions and the musical form. In this lecture the attempt will be made to point out that both works rest upon the same aesthetic concept, in Mozart´s time well known as the ›sublime‹.

Suggested literature:

• Ludwig Stoffels (1998), Drama und Abschied. Mozart - die Musik der Wiener Jahre, Zürich: Atlantis.
• Peter Gülke (1998), Triumph der neuen Tonkunst. Mozarts späte Sinfonien und ihr Umfeld, Kassel: Bärenreiter.
• Markus Schwering (2006), Mozarts Sinfonie D-Dur KV 504. Drama ohne Bühne, Wilhelmshaven: Noetzel.

JAMES WEBSTER

1.Towards a Theory of the Ensemble: Examples from Don Giovanni

Whereas viable theories of the musical and dramatic functioning of 18th-century arias have been developed, the analytical literature on larger ensembles (other than finales) is comparatively scanty. Platoff´s concept "action-expression cycle," describing segments of finales, has been applied to ensembles as well; however, it is inadequate, owing to its restriction to only two components. A three-part model - (1) individual speeches; (2) dialogue; (3) singing together - seems more promising, in both the musical and the dramatic domains. Following brief consideration of the (at least in this respect) straightforward duet "Là ci darem la mano," James Webster will offer an extensive discussion of the complex and controversial sextet in Act II.

2. Mozart´s Finales: Dramatic and Musical Construction

Do Mozart´s finales exhibit musical form? To be sure, they always begin and end in the same key. However, the key-structure in usually is not ´dynamic´ or ´goal-oriented´ (Le nozze di Figaro, Act II, is exceptional in this respect); indeed, if the only sections in the tonic are the first and last, in terms of tonality the only available formal type will be an ´arch´. However, this cannot be appropriate to the drama. An analysis that combines dramatic and musical aspects has a better chance of success. In mid-finales, the resolutions of subplots (if any) take place before the end and outside the tonic, whereas the ending, despite being in the tonic, is overtly unstable. In end-finales, by contrast, the concluding stable tonic correlates with dramatic closure, and the non-tonic (often remote) middle sections often correlate with dramatic conflict and complexity; however, the action at the beginning, despite being in the tonic, is conflict-ridden and unstable, and the denouement does not occur in the tonic (which is reserved for the concluding stretta). In neither case is ´unity´ present. Following a brief discussion of the Act I finale in Don Giovanni, James Webster will offer a comprehensive analysis of the (less celebrated) Act IV finale of Figaro.

Suggested literature:

• Allanbrook, Wye Jamison. Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro & Don Giovanni. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1983.
• Durante, Sergio. "Analysis and Dramaturgy: Reflections Towards a Theory of Opera." In Mary Hunter and James Webster, eds., Opera Buffa in Mozart´s Vienna, pp. 311-339. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1997.
• Hunter, Mary. The Culture of Opera Buffa in Mozart´s Vienna: A Poetics of Entertainment. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1999. (Princeton Studies in Opera.)
[chapter 6: "Ensembles"]
• Platoff, John. "Musical and Dramatic Structure in the Opera Buffa Finale." Journal of Musicology, 7(1989), 191-230.
• Platoff, John. "Operatic Ensembles and the Problem of the Don Giovanni Sextet." In Mary Hunter and James Webster, eds., Opera Buffa in Mozart´s Vienna, pp. 278-305. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1997.
• Waldoff, Jessica, and James Webster. "Operatic Plotting in Le nozze di Figaro." In Stanley Sadie, ed., Wolfgang Amadè Mozart: Essays on his Life and his Music, pp. 250-295. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.
[pp. 250-51 (introduction); 256-64 (on Mozart´s plots; on Figaro)
• Webster, James. "The Analysis of Mozart´s Arias." In Cliff Eisen, ed., Mozart Studies, pp. 101-199. London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1991.
[pp. 122-27, 133-44, on ´multivalence´]
• Webster, James. "Mozart´s Operas and the Myth of Musical Unity." Cambridge Opera Journal, 2(1990), 197-218.

SERGIO DURANTE

1. Mozart´s Don Giovanni then and now

"In the first meeting (or lecture) I will try to clarify problems related to the definition of the text of Don Giovanni (meaning by ‘text´ the complex of verbal, musical, visual and para-textual implications). Once it is clarified in what sense we are discussing the opera (in other words, ‘what´ Don Giovanni we are referring to from time to time), some space will be devoted to investigating the structures the opera is made out of (verbal, narrative, musical, performative etc.), and selected aspects of their relations. The purpose of this lecture is to clear the way (through a mainly theoretical reflection) for a sound approach to problems of performance practice."

2. Types of structures in Mozart´s Don Giovanni

The second lecture will be devoted to a discussion of the main ‘interpretations´ of Don Giovanni within its reception history. Some space will be devoted to the ‘literary´ spin-offs of Mozart´s Don Giovanni during the 19th Century. The ‘romantic´ (or Hoffmannian) Don Giovanni and the reasons for its exceptional vitality against the ‘original´ one will be discussed, partly on the basis of some recent research.

Suggested literature:

• J. Rushton, Don Giovanni, Cambridge U. P.
• N. Pirrotta, Don Giovanni in musica, Venezia, Marsilio 1991 also in English translation as Don Giovanni´s progress: a rake goes to the opera, New York 1994
• S. Kunze, Mozarts Opern, Stuttgart Reclam 1983 also available an Italian translation as Il teatro di Mozart, Venezia, Marsilio 1991, only the chapter on Don Giovanni.