Sounds of Learning Student Guide: DON GIOVANNI

OperA Philadelphia and t h e S c h oo l D i s t r i c t o f P h i l a d e l p h i a present

MO ZART

DON G IO V A NNI Academy of Music | final Dress Rehearsal W e d n e s d ay, a p r i l 2 3 , 2 0 1 4 A T 2 : 0 0 P. M .

A FA M I LY G U I D E TO OPERA

Opera Philadelphia believes the family is the most important foundation to learning. Let your kitchen table become a classroom where your children can build their knowledge of opera and the humanities.

As you join in the teaching and learning process with your children, watch their eyes sparkle. Opera is a communal celebration, so too should be your children’s education.

Pennsylvania’s standards in education call for students to demonstrate what they know and are able to do and children need to share what they have discovered or learned. Thus, the title of our program is Sounds of Learning™. It reflects our belief that children must actively engage in sharing ideas.

The Sounds of Learning™ workbook and teacher guide will integrate with the local core literacy curriculum in many ways. Just as opera is a uniquely integrated art, combining orchestra, voice, literature, drama, and dance, Sounds of Learning™ is an interdisciplinary, student-centered program. The goal of the Active Learning sections is to engage students in the process of self-teaching. They will be able to show how they gain insights into their learning by drawing, writing, and discussing the issues most relevant to them. In this way, students demonstrate what they can do with what they know.

In reading the libretto, or script, we suggest that you and your family members take turns reading particular roles. Dr. Ellen Winner of Harvard’s Project Zero found that “drama helps to build verbal skills that transfer to new materials,” and helps improve not only students’ reading skills but also “oral and written language development.” ( Journal of Aesthetic Education, v34, #3/4, Fall/Winter, 2000) In preparing for the opera, we suggest you purchase the EMI Classics recording of this opera. We are grateful to EMI for offering us their recording for use in this program. Together, we hope to build future audiences for, and performers of, the arts. Visit EMI on the web at www.emiclassics.com.

G O A L S A N D O B J E C T I V E S O F S O U ND S O F LE A RNIN G ™

Improve literacy achievement by using the opera’s libretto to teach lessons across the curriculum Understand the plot, characters, and their motivations of the opera Learn something about the composer and others involved in writing the opera Make a connection to the historic and social context of the story Know some key musical elements, recognize certain melodies, differentiate between voices Understand the role music plays in expressing emotions and heightening the dramatic experience Understand the various elements of producing opera and the functions of those involved; e.g. conductor, director, set designer, technical crew, etc.

Develop the ability to make inferences about the opera, production, and performance.

Relate incidents in the opera to those of the present day

2

Best Practices in Arts Education is sponsored by Pennsylvania Alliance for Arts Education, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Pennsylvania Department of Education

TA B L E O F CONTENTS

G E T T I N G R E A D Y F O R T H E OPERA 4

Going to the Opera at the Academy of Music

5 Theater Anatomy 6

Opera Vocabulary

7 Connect the Opera Terms 8 The Then and Now of Opera

R E L AT I N G O P E R A TO HIS TORY: 10

Wunderkind: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

11

What in the World? A Mozart Timeline

12

A Man of Words: Lorenzo da Ponte

13

Operatic Inspiration: Don Juan

L I B R E T T O A N D P R O D U C T I O N I N F O R M AT I O N 14 Rap’s Grandparent: Opera’s Recitative 15

Don Giovanni Synopsis

16

Don Giovanni Libretto

42

Don Giovanni: Meet the Artists

A DDITIONAL LESSONS 43 Plot the Action of Don Giovanni 44

Make Your Own Synopsis

45

Web of Deceit

46 Recognizing Facts and Opinions 47

Supporting Your Opinions

48 Careers in the Arts 49

Glossary 3

G O I N G T O T H E O P E R A AT T H E AC A D E M Y O F M U S I C There’s nothing as exciting as attending the opera in a theater like the Academy of Music, where you’ll see the final dress rehearsal of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The Academy is a very special building in that it is the country’s oldest grand opera house still used for its original purpose - performing opera! It is a grand opera house with a huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Its four-level design was based on the famous La Scala opera house in Milan, Italy.

The Academy opened on January 26, 1857 with a Grand Ball and Promenade Concert and the first opera performed there was Verdi’s Il trovatore on February 25, 1857. The Academy is so important to our nation’s history that it was made a Registered National Historic Landmark in 1963.

Thousands of world-famous performers have also appeared on its stage, like Peter Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, George Gershwin, Igor Stravinsky, Arturo Toscanini, Marian Anderson, Maria Callas, and Luciano Pavarotti. More recently Alvin Ailey, Billy Joel, Elton John, Savion Glover, Chris Rock, even Mike Tyson and Jerry Springer have performed there!

When you’re at the Academy of Music for Don Giovanni, you may see several computer monitors and a large table spread out over the seats in the center of the first floor of the auditorium. Seated in this area is the production team: Director, Assistant Director, Costume Designer, Lighting Designer, and Set Designer, among others.

They’ll be taking notes and communicating via headsets with the many people backstage who help make operatic magic. They’ll be able to talk to the crew so changes can be made right away. Should things goes wrong, the rehearsal might be stopped or a part repeated to make sure that it is perfect.

Unlike actors on television or in the movies, performers on stage are very aware of the audience. They want to share their love of performing with you. Everything you do in the audience affects what happens on stage. You can show them how much you appreciate their work and the opportunity to come to the rehearsal by being as quiet as possible. Show your respect for the cast, musicians, the production team, and everyone in the theater by not talking. Give the artists and the production your full attention!

DOs and DON’Ts at the OPERA Here’s some things you can do to make sure everyone in the theater can enjoy the opera: Use the bathrooms before the opera begins or at intermission.

Enter and exit the theater in an orderly fashion.

Turn off your cell phones and all electronic devices.

Applaud after the arias; you can shout “Bravo!” for the men and “Brava!” for the women.

Don’t Forget...

Please obey the theater ushers and staff.

No food, gum or beverages are allowed inside the theater.

No photographs or audio/video recording may not be taken during the performance.

No talking or whispering during the performance.

No shoving, jumping, running, spitting or throwing anything in the theater.

Make your school proud!

AC A D E M Y O F M U S I C F U N FAC T S The auditorium seats 2,897; 14 columns support the Academy’s tiers; the auditorium is encased within a three feet thick solid brick wall.

The Academy Chandelier is 25 feet high, 50 feet in circumference, almost 17 feet in diameter, and 3,500 pounds in weight. It has 23,000 crystals on it, which, if laid out, could reach from Broad Street to Rittenhouse Square and back.

The red and gold pattern on the Academy’s stage curtain is of a pineapple, a Victorian-era symbol for “welcome.”

The first-ever indoor football game was held at the Academy on March 7, 1889 between the University of Pennsylvania and Riverton Club of Princeton. At halftime, tug-of-war matches were held as entertainment.

1,600 people attended the first-ever motion picture screening on February 5, 1870. The film showed a gymnastics routine, a couple dancing, and more.

Air conditioning was installed in 1959.

There was no elevator for the general public in the Academy until 1990!

For more information on the Academy of Music, visit academyofmusic.org.

4

T H E AT E R A N ATO M Y Opera Singers must act on stage as well as sing! This means that they have to understand the stage set-up. When the director is rehearsing with the singers, he or she must be clear about where they should be on stage. Otherwise there could be a big traffic jam! So, special vocabulary is used. Upstage is the very back of the stage (away from the audience) and downstage is at the front (near the audience). Stage Left and Stage Right may seem to be on the wrong sides as well. Can you figure out why? You might also wonder about “up” stage and “down” stage. Opera sets are frequently built on a platform or “deck” that’s lower in the front near the apron and higher in the back near the back stage area. Thus, the lower end is “downstage” and the higher end is “upstage”. Also, when you visit the Academy of Music, look for the bas-relief portrait of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the top of the proscenium.

BACKSTAGE

PROSCENIUM

W I N G S

UPSTAGE RIGHT

UPSTAGE CENTER

W I N G S

UPSTAGE LEFT

CENTER

DOWNSTAGE RIGHT

DOWNSTAGE CENTER

DOWNSTAGE LEFT

CURTAIN LINE APRON

ORCHESTRA PIT

Diagram from OPER A America’s MUSIC! WORDS! OPER A! Level II Teacher’s Manual ©1991, OPER A America Inc.

5

OPERA VOC ABUL ARY

Act - main sections of a play or opera Aria - a solo song sung in an opera Audience - people who watch a performance and sit in the “house” or auditorium Ballet - dance set to music within in an opera Blocking - action on stage Character - person who is part of the opera’s story Chorus - music composed for a group of singers or the name of a group of singers in an opera Conductor - person who rehearses and leads the orchestra Duet - a song performed by 2 singers Orchestra - a group of musicians who play together on various musical instruments Overture - a piece of instrumental music played at the beginning of an opera Program - booklet that contains information about the opera, composer, performers, the opera company, and includes advertisements Recitative - words that are sung in the rhythm of natural speech - a bit like the 18th century version of rap Rehearsal - time when singers/actors practice with or without the orchestra; time when musicians practice together with the conductor Scene - segments of action within the acts of an opera T Y P E S O F S I N G E R S: Soprano - highest pitched female voice Mezzo-soprano - female voice between soprano and contralto Contralto - lowest pitched female voice Tenor - highest pitched male voice Baritone - male voice between tenor and bass Bass - lowest pitched male voice

6

CONNEC T THE OPERA TERMS

1. Opera Seria

A. Dance spectacle set to music

2. Baritone

B. Highest pitched woman’s voice

3. Opera

C. Dramatic text adapted for opera

4. Ballet

D. Low female voice

5. Orchestra

E. Comic opera

6. Libretto

F. A drama or comedy in which music is the essential factor; very little is spoken

7. Duet 8. Aria 9. Soprano 10. Chorus

G. Opera with dramatic and intense plots H. Music composed for a singing group I. A composition written for two performers

11. Act

J. A group of musicians who play together on various musical instruments

12. Contralto

K. Highest pitched man’s voice

13. Tenor 14. Opera Buffa

L. A musical style used in opera and oratorio, in which the text is declaimed in the rhythm of natural speech with slight melodic variation

15. Recitative

M. Male voice between bass and tenor

16. Bass

N. A piece of music originally designed to be played before an opera or musical play

17. Overture 18. Verismo

O. The term describing the realistic or naturalistic school of opera that flourished briefly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; libretti were chosen to depict a ‘slice of life’ P. Deepest male voice Q. Elaborate solo in an opera or oratorio R. Main division of a play or opera

7

THE THEN AND NOW OF OPERA Have you ever wondered where opera got its start? Back in the late 1500s, during the height of the Renaissance (14001600), a group of men called the Florentine Camerata got together to create a new and moving theatrical experience.

They wanted to recreate what the ancient Greeks did during their legendary dramas. The result was something entirely new – opera! Most of the early operas were based on Greek myths. The first opera that we know of was called Dafne by Jacopo Peri in 1598, but the most famous opera of this early period that is still performed today is Claudio Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607). Certain basic ingredients were included in opera: songs, instrumental accompaniments, costumes, dance, and scenery. We still use all of these ingredients today!

The early operas were first performed in the grand courts of Italian nobility, but soon opera became popular with the public, too. As it became all the rage, productions became more lavish! Soon, theaters were built just to mount operas.

These theaters had elaborate stage machinery to create special effects like flying actors or crumbling buildings.

Not everyone embraced the new form of theater. Some critics thought that all of the stage antics in opera detracted from the music and drama. Some people even believed that seeing too much comedy in opera could make you immoral!

During the Baroque period (1600 - 1750), Italian opera spread all over Europe. The Italian style of opera was so popular that even non-Italians wrote in this style. For example, Georg Frederic Handel (1685 – 1759) was a German-born composer who lived and worked in England.

His operas, like Julius Caesar (1724), were written in the

Italian language and used an Italian style of music. The only nation to create its own national operatic style was France. Ballet played a large role in the French culture, and operas often included ballets in the middle of the opera. The most famous French Baroque opera composers were Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) and Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 - 1764).

The eighteenth century was full of change for both Europe and opera. This time period was known as the Age of Enlightenment. People were starting to talk about new forms of government and organization in society, especially the ever-growing middle class. Music displayed this new thinking as composers dropped the Baroque era’s complicated musical style for simpler, more emotional music. In less-flashy music, characters could express their thoughts and feelings more believably. One of the first operas to use this new style was Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (1762).

In 1776 the American Revolution changed the world.

A few years later the French had their own revolution (1789) and the first modern democracies were born. To match the times in which they were created, audiences wanted to see characters like themselves on stage, not gods and goddesses. They also wanted to see issues that were important to them. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (1786) featured a timely story of aristocratic class struggles that had both servants and nobility in lead roles. The ideals of the Enlightenment also came to the stage in Ludwig van Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio (1805), a story about equality and freedom.

In the 1800s opera continued to grow. The Italian tradition continued in the bel canto movement, which literally translates to “beautiful singing.” These operas asked performers to sing complicated groups of fast notes in the melodies. The most famous bel canto composers were Gioacchino Rossini (1792 –1868), Gaetano Donizetti (1797 – 1848), and Vincenzo Bellini (1801 –1835). Their operas, like Rossini’s popular comedies The Barber of Seville (1816) and Cinderella (1817), are still some of the most popular operas performed today.

Photo by Kelly and Massa

By the middle of the century, the Romantic Movement led many composers to champion their own national identities. As a result, operas in languages other than Italian became more common; new works often reflected pride in a country’s people, history, and folklore. German operas like Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz (1821), Russian operas like Mikhail Glinka’s A Life for the Tsar

8

Opera in the twentieth century became even more experimental. Composers like Giacomo Puccini (La bohème, 1896), Claude Debussy (Pelléas et Mélisande, 1902), Richard Strauss (Salome, 1905), and Benjamin Britten (Peter Grimes, 1945) evolved their national styles. Others, horrified by the destruction of World War I (1914-1919) and other aspects of modern life, created music that was new and drastically dissonant. These operas often explored either dark psychological topics (Wozzeck by Alban Berg, 1925), or simple and absurd (The Rake’s Progress by Igor Stravinsky, 1951). American opera had a huge hit with George and Ira Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (1935) which included jazz and blues musical styles.

Today, opera is still growing and expanding. Opera Philadelphia helps to shape the future of opera by producing important new works like Argentinian born composer Osvaldo Golijov’s flamenco-inspired Ainadamar (2003 & 2014), Hans Werner Henze’s Phaedra (2007), which interprets Greek mythology through the eyes of a World War II survivor, and Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters (2011) which explores the lives of the women in a polygamist community.

More recently, Opera Philadelphia co-produced Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell’s Silent Night (2012), an opera based on the World War I Christmas Truce. Upcoming productions include Theo Morrison’s Oscar (2015), based on the life of Oscar Wilde, and Cold Mountain (2016), an opera composed by Philadelphian Jennifer Higdon and based on the book of the same name by Charles Frazier.

Although opera is one of the oldest musical art forms, it still remains and expands today. From the old favorites to the new experimental works opera continues to be a moving art form of the people.

Photo by Kelly and Massa

(1836) and French operas like Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots (1836) started to be performed across Europe. By using nationalism in his operas like Nabucco (1842), Italian Giuseppe Verdi became a national hero. In Germany Richard Wagner took Romanticism to the extreme in a four-part operatic miniseries based on Norse mythology, The Ring of the Nibelung (1876), which takes over 15 hours to perform! The operatic stereotype of the singer in the Viking helmet comes from these operas.

above: Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell ’s new American opera, Silent Night below: Up-and-coming soprano Michelle Johnson as Puccini’s Manon Lescaut far left: Bass Morris Robinson dominates Verdi’s patriotic Nabucco

READING COMPREHENSION

1. During the Renaissance, on what were many of the first operas based?

2. What kind of opera spread all over Europe during the Baroque period? Give one example of this kind of opera.

3. What artistic genre played a huge role in French opera during the Baroque period?

4. How did the Enlightenment movement during the 18th century change how composers wrote operas?

5. What new operatic qualities did Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro display due to the American Revolution and its effect in the world?

6. Describe “bel canto” opera and give one example of a composer who used this style.

7. Nationalism was a prominent feature in the operatic world in the 1800s. Give an example of a composer who strayed from the Italian operatic form to write nationalistic operas.

8. What other musical styles did the American opera Porgy and Bess include?

9. Name three new operas that Opera Philadelphia has or will produce.

9

WUNDERKIND: WOLFGAN G AMADEUS MOZART Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria to Leopold Mozart (1719-1787) and his wife, Anna Maria (1720-1778). Leopold was a successful composer and violinist and royal Salzburg court musician. Mozart and his older sister, Maria Anna (17511829), were the only children of the family’s seven to survive infancy. Both showed great musical potential and Leopold began teaching them at a very early age. At the age of three Mozart was able to pick out tunes on the piano and by the time he was five he was composing. Both Mozart and his sister played the harpsichord extremely well and Mozart also mastered the violin. Eager to show off his children’s musical abilities, Leopold left his Salzburg court position to take his family on a concert tour. Mozart, then seven years old, and his sister performed in the major European musical centers including Frankfurt, Brussels, Paris, London, and Amsterdam. During this time Mozart continued to compose, finishing his first symphony at age nine and publishing his first sonatas that same year. The family returned to Salzburg in 1766 but, after spending less than a year there, they left again for Vienna, where Mozart completed his first opera, La finta semplice (The Pretended Simpleton), in 1768 when he was just 12 years old.

Mozart and his father traveled to Italy in 1769, where he toured for more than a year in Rome, Milan, Florence, Naples, and Bologna. While in Italy, Mozart completed another opera and also received a papal audience, during which the Pope conferred knighthood as a tribute to the boy’s genius. In the next few years Mozart would make two more trips to Italy and complete two more operas, including Lucio Silla (1772), as well as eight symphonies, four divertimentos, and several other works.

In 1771 Archbishop von Schrattenbach, Mozart’s supporter since childhood, died and was succeeded by Hieronymus von Colloredo (1732-1812). Mozart didn’t get along well with his new patron, but he stayed in his position in Salzburg for many more years. In 1777 Mozart was granted a leave from Salzburg and went on tour with his mother in hopes of securing a better position. They traveled through Munich, Augsburg, and Mannheim, but Mozart was unsuccessful in finding a post. The next year they continued to Paris, where Mozart composed his Symphony No. 31, the Paris Symphony. While they were there, Mozart’s mother became ill and soon after the symphony’s premiere, she died.

Mozart returned to Salzburg and was given the post of court organist and Konzertmeister. He produced numerous works during this period, including the Coronation Mass (1779).

10

In 1780, he was commissioned to compose an Italian opera for Munich. Idomeneo, King di Crete was completed the next year and became his first great operatic success. Soon after, Archbishop Colloredo summoned Mozart back to Vienna, where the Salzburg court was in residence for the coronation of the new emperor. Fresh from the success of Idomeneo, Mozart was annoyed to find himself back in the service of the court. This, combined with his growing resentment of his employer, soon led to conflict and in 1781 he left his post.

Mozart stayed in Vienna and in 1782 married Constanze Weber (1762-1842). The couple had six children but only two survived. That same year, he finished the opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, which was an immediate success. Also in 1782, he was appointed to the position of chamber composer for Emperor Joseph II, (1741-1790) a post that he held until 1787. These years were very productive for Mozart, during which he met Italian librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte (17491838), who partnered with Mozart on his three most popular operas of his career: The Marriage of Figaro, premiered in Vienna in 1786. Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte (Thus Do They All) followed in 1787 and 1790.

Despite his success, Mozart and his wife lived well beyond their means and were in constant debt. Even his salary from the Kammermusicus position didn’t help the couple’s money problems. He wrote two operas in 1791: the extremely popular The Magic Flute and La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus), the last of the Mozart’s 20 operas. During this time of financial strain, Mozart wrote his last three symphonies: Symphony No. 39 in E flat, Symphony No. 40 in G minor, and Symphony No. 41 in C “the Jupiter Symphony”in C. In 1791, Mozart was commissioned to write a requiem, but he would never finish the piece. He became quite ill, although he had never known very good health, and he died on December 5, 1791 at the age of 35. His death, which gave rise to false rumors of poisoning, is thought to have resulted from rheumatic fever, which he had repeatedly throughout his life. Despite his unquestionable reputation as the greatest musical mind of his time, Mozart was buried with little ceremony in an unmarked grave in Vienna, as was legally required for all those without noble or aristocratic birth.

W H AT I N T H E W O R L D ?

EVENTS IN MOZART’S LIFE Below is a list of important events both in Mozart’s life and throughout the world. The items in boldface type are things that happened to Mozart and items with a arrow ( ) have local significance. All other items are historic or cultural events. Discuss what it might have been like to be alive during the time period. How would your life be different or the same? How did the inventions of the time affect daily life?

1756 1759 1761 1764 1767 1768 1769 1770

Born on January 27 in Salzburg, Austria, son of Leopold and Maria Anna Pertle.

George Washington married Martha Custis. They honeymooned at their home, known as “The White House.”

Mozart’s first known public appearance at Salzburg University in a theatrical performance with music.

Mozart wrote his first symphony at age eight.

The Dominion of Canada formed from the union of British North American colonies.

British troops began occupation of Boston.

Mozart’s first opera buffa La finta semplice premiered at the archbishop’s palace in Salzburg.

Mozart’s first opera seria, Mitridate, Re di Ponto premiered in Milan with great success.

Boston Massacre took place, as reported in the Boston Gazette and Country Journal.

1771 1772 1773 1775 1776 1777 1779 1781 1782 1783 1784 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790

German composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn.

Mozart and his father traveled to Italy after a five month stay in Salzburg. Ascanio in Alba was produced in Milan.

Mozart wrote 8 symphonies, 4 divertimentos, sacred works, and received a salary as Konzertmeister.

Boston Tea Party; 342 chests of tea went into Boston Harbor on December 16.

American Revolution began with battles at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts and lasted until 1783.

Sir James Jay invented invisible ink.

Thomas Jefferson composed the Declaration of Independence from Britain.

The first United States flag on record was made in Philadelphia on Arch Street by Elizabeth (Betsy) Ross.

The first American Thanksgiving Day was celebrated.

Traveled to Paris with his mother, who fell ill and died.

Appointed as court organist in Salzburg which included playing in the cathedral, at court, and in the chapel. The opera seria Idomeneo premiered in Munich. He was released from service in Salzburg and moved to Vienna.

The Abduction from the Seraglio premiered in Vienna. On August 4, he married Constanze Weber, sister of his former lover, Aloysia.

The Supreme Court of Massachusetts abolished slavery in that state.

Mozart became a member of the Freemasons, a society of liberal intellectuals concerned with the philosophical ideals of the Enlightenment including nature, reason and the brotherhood of man.

On May 1, The Marriage of Figaro premiered in Vienna with great success.

His father died on May 28. Mozart wrote Don Giovanni which premiered in Prague.

United States Constitution was ratified in Philadelphia.

In July a mob assaulted the Bastille prison in France, causing French royalists to flee Paris.

First United States Congress met in Philadelphia.

Così fan tutte, commissioned by Joseph II, premiered. Joseph II died shortly after and was succeeded by his brother.

America’s oldest law school, The Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, was founded.

1791

First session of the United States Supreme Court was held in Philadelphia.

La clemenza di Tito premiered in Prague on September 6. The Magic Flute debuted in Vienna on September 30.

Mozart began writing a Requiem Mass which he never completed. He died after a brief illness on December 5 in Vienna at the age of 35. He was buried in an unmarked mass pauper’s grave on December 6.

11

A MAN OF WORDS LO R E N Z O DA P O N T E Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838), librettist for three of Mozart’s operas (including Don Giovanni), lived in Philadelphia between 1811 and I8l8. Although native to Italy, he had immigrated to the United States from London, England, arriving in Philadelphia on a ship called the Columbia in 1805. He settled first in New York City, becoming an American citizen in 1811. Although he never lost his love for Italy, America gave da Ponte a home, a future for his wife and children, and a mission in life: to make Italy and Italian literature known in the New World.

A poet, scholar, and teacher, with musical interests as well, da Ponte arrived in America with a violin, a trunk of books, and little else. He quickly found that there was no living to be made as an Italian poet or scholar in Jeffersonian America, so he took several odd jobs in order to survive.

In Philadelphia, these jobs included opening a millinery store (a store specializing in women’s hats) at 29 North 2nd Street, and operating a delivery wagon which ran between Philadelphia and Sunbury, located about 140 miles away in Central Pennsylvania. da Ponte dreamed of introducing Italian opera to the city. However, after the War of 1812, English opera and opera sung in English became so popular that he complained of the unwillingness of Philadelphians to take an interest in any other kind of opera.

Da Ponte moved back to New York City in 1819, bringing nothing with him from Philadelphia but a large number of Italian books. He offered to sell some of the books to the civic library in Philadelphia, but the trustees turned down his offer. Now, in New York, he made a gift of some sixty volumes to the public library, laying the foundations for the first collection of Italian literature in the New York Public Library System.

He worked at a bookstore in New York where he befriended American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) and Clement Moore, (1779-1863) author of “The Night

Before Christmas.”

Partially through the influence of his new friends, he became the first Italian professor at Columbia College (now Columbia University) in 1825.

It was an unpaid position, but his expenses were met by student fees for his Italian classes.

Da Ponte and Mozart’s Don Giovanni was presented for the first time in Italian on an American stage (by a company of Spanish singers) on May 23, 1826. Da Ponte was at the performance and helped raise money to pay the singers. In 1829, at age eighty, da Ponte began making arrangements for an Italian opera company to come to America. This company arrived in 1832, giving 35 performances in New York and 24 in Philadelphia at the Chestnut Street Theatre. However, the opera season was a financial failure.

Da Ponte insisted that the chief problem had been the lack of a proper theatre, an “Italian opera house.” So once again the old man went to work, raising $150,000 for the construction of New York’s Italian Opera House, the first building in the United States designed exclusively for opera. The opera house opened in 1833 and presented two seasons of opera before being sold in 1836 to new owners.

The opera house’s closing was too much for the undefeatable da Ponte. In 1838, at age eighty-nine, da Ponte died.

He was buried in a New York Catholic cemetery. His countrymen hoped to raise a monument in his memory.

In 1887, to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Don Giovanni’s premiere, several Americans searched for the old cemetery where da Ponte had been buried, only to find it had been paved over long before and all its records lost.

It is unfortunate that someone who tried so hard to enrich the cultural life of his adopted country should lie, like his most famous collaborator Mozart, in an unmarked grave.

Yet, both da Ponte and Mozart have eternal monuments in the three great operas born of their mutual creativity.

AC T I V E L E A R N I N G

Records showed Lorenzo da Ponte lived in Philadelphia at 27 Pow-

ell Street, now the 500 block of

Delancey St. Perhaps one of these

houses is where the great Italian

writer and educator lived? .

Photo: google maps

12

1. Using Google Maps, try to find the block where da Ponte lived. It was called Powell St. then, but we know it as the 500 block of Delancey St. now.

2. Using Google Maps, find Sunbury, PA. How long would it take to drive to Sunbury today? Find three different routes to take from your home to Sunbury.

O P E R AT I C I N S P I R AT I O N DON JUAN Don Giovanni, whose title character was patterned after the legendary Don Juan, is portrayed as an “immortal immoralist.” In simple terms, this means he’s a bad guy who does bad things yet his reputation lives forever. The story of Don Juan has inspired many authors as wideranging as British poet Lord Byron (1788-1824), Danish poet and philosopher Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (18131855), and Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950). To this day, his image still has a hold on popular imagination: we continue to use the term “Don Juan” to describe a womanizer. Don Juan has inspired songs like Buddy Holly’s song “Modern Don Juan” and movies like Don Juan de Marco (1995) with Johnny Depp and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Don Jon (2013).

While some think that tale of Don Juan is inspired by an actual person, his story is purely fictional. Most authorities agree that the first recorded tale of Don Juan is from El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (The Trickster of Seville and Stone Guest) by Tirso de Molina (1579 – 1648). It was published between 1620 and 1625. In it, Don Juan shows no regret for being a womanizer who seduces his victims by disguising himself as their actual lovers, or by promising them marriage and leaves a trail of broken hearts, angry husbands and outraged fathers behind him. Then Don Juan either courts or seduces a young girl of noble family, and kills her father. Later, he comes across a statue of the father in a cemetery and impiously invites it home to dine with him, an invitation which the statue gladly accepts. The ghost arrives for dinner foreshadowing Don Juan’s death. The Statue asks to shake Don Juan’s hand, and when he extends his arm, he drags the Don away to Hell!

This is where our opera version ends but Molina’s tale continues. The Devil informs him that everyone in Hell has a role to play and he presents him with a Jester’s suit.

“You’ll make an excellent fool,” he said. Don Juan is insulted, protesting that no other man is his equal, “I am the man who made a thousand conquests!” Intrigued by this, the Devil tells him that if he could correctly name one of the women he seduced, he would not have to wear the suit. Thus the parade of women begins, and the Don fails to name one correctly. Finally, a woman stands before him, tears on her face. Don Juan is moved. “Yes,” the Devil says, “this is the only woman who truly loved you.” Don Juan looks into her eyes helplessly, then turns to the Devil and says, “Give me the suit!”

After reading the libretto and listening to the music of Opera Philadelphia’s production of Don Giovanni at school, how would you describe him? Is he a ruthless womanizer or

just an innocent lover?

Why do you say this?!

The music of our opera, Don Giovanni was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte wrote the libretto. They first met in 1783 and their first opera was the very successful The Marriage of Figaro.

It seems Don Giovanni was a perfect fit for 1912 painting by Max Slevogt which da Ponte since he was depicts the scene when Don Giovanni invites quite the rake and could the dead Commendatore to dinner, with have been a prototype Leporello hiding behind him of the Don himself!

In fact, da Ponte’s numerous love affairs brought about his downfall, and he was banished from Vienna in 1791 as the result of yet another scandal! He fled to Trieste where he met and married the daughter of an English merchant twenty years younger. At the suggestion of his friend, Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798), the infamous playboy, he moved to London and took the post of Poet to the Italian Opera. But he mishandled his money which caused him to go into debt. He ended up fleeing his creditors in 1805, leaving for New York with his wife and children to join her relatives there. There he began his life as a grocer, but eventually became a teacher of Italian, and in time was revered as the Father of Italian Studies in America. In 1825, he helped found what was to become Columbia University. He died on August 17, 1838, at the age of ninety but not before seeing the New York premiere of his Don Giovanni.

AC T I V E L E A R N I N G 1. On a piece of paper make a list of the words underlined in this article. Using a dictionary, define them and write three separate sentences using each word.

2. To learn more about Da Ponte, read the article on page 12 about his time in America.

3. Who was Casanova and how was he different from Don Juan? Look up 5 facts about Casanova on the internet and share with our classmates.

13

R A P ’ S G R A N D PA R E N T : O P E R A’ S R E C I T A T I V E The most basic of musical activities is singing. Every era has its own way of expressing itself in song, including Mozart’s era, when opera was the basis of the “pop” music of the time. lf an opera was popular, minor composers would set the major themes for many different uses: waltzes, street bands, marches, and love songs.

Three different types of song are used in opera: the aria, or solo song; the ensemble, or song for two or more people; and the recitative, or “spoken” song.

The aria had its origins in the solo songs created by minstrels of the 12th and 13th centuries, like Troubadours of southern France, Spain, and Italy. Arias represent the chief opportunities in an opera for a character to strongly express his or her emotions. They can be lyrical or dramatic, simple or difficult, depending on the qualities and emotions of the character who is singing.

Many operatic situations, though, given rise to joint expressions of emotion by two or more people. In such situations, the composer will normally write an ensemble. An ensemble for two people, for example, is called a duet—it is like an aria for two people who may sing sepa-

Here’s an example of recitative from the piano vocal score of Don Giovanni.

This is the recitative from Scene 3 of Act I when Zerlina begs Masetto to forive her for flirting with the Don.

rately, together, or (usually) both. Mozart was a genius at building scenes at the end, or finale, of acts within an opera. For instance, in the finale of Act I of Don Giovanni, seven of the principle characters come together in song to simultaneously express their individual feelings.

The chief action in an opera, however, usually occurs between, rather than during, the lyrical sections (arias and ensembles). These “in-between” sections are the narrative or dialogue parts, called recitative. In recitative, the words are sung in a way best described as “conversational ,” which can be rapid and very lightly accompanied (secco recitative), or can be very much heightened by an expressive orchestral setting to convey strong feeling (accompanied recitative).

Recitative was originally an Italian invention and works most effectively in the Italian language; however, it has been adapted in various ways to fit the needs of the other languages.

In Mozart’s Don Giovanni, most of the action unfolds in secco recitative, with accompanied recitative serving for the more intense dramatic moments. An example of both types of recitative can be heard immediately following the cemetery scene in Act II. The conversation between Don Ottavio and Donna Anna, carried on in secco recitative, flows without break into accompanied recitative, which then gives way to a short orchestral passage preceding Donna Anna’s aria, “Non mi dir.”

Because recitative uses the natural rhythm and inflections of speech, it can be thought of as a musical precursor to today’s popular “rap” music. Both rap and recitative use natural speech patterns, teamed with some type of musical accompaniment, to convey emotion, information, or tell a story. Some of today’s rap musical accompaniment, to convey emotion, information, or tell a story. Some of today’s rap musical accompaniment, to convey emotion, information, or tell a story. Some of today’s rap music expresses opinions of women which are even more negative than Giovanni’s attitudes in the opera. Giovanni treated women as objects which could be used and discarded when he was finished with them. He had no regard for the feelings of dignity of the persons he abused. Mozart deeply loved his wife and celebrated his marriage. He rejected this view of women because he perceived how damaging this behavior was to women and to an enlightened society’s growth and social progress.

Some rappers are expressing their views of women and love in a positive light. Can you name a few?

14

D O N G I O VA N N I : SYNOPSIS ACT 1 Scene 1: Leporello bemoans his destiny as a servant

to Don Giovanni. His master and Donna Anna emerge from the palace struggling, as Anna tries to identify the disguised person who attempted to seduce her in her bedroom. Her father, Commandant of Seville, alarmed by his daughter’s cries, challenges the attacker. Don Giovanni kills the old nobleman. Donna Anna returns with her fiancé, Don Ottavio, but they are too late to save her father.

Don. However, when the Don appears, the jealousies of the bridegroom flare up again. Dance music is heard in the distance and Anna, Elvira, and Ottavio, who are masked, are invited to the party. They swear to punish the libertine.

Scene 4: At the party, Giovanni takes advantage of the

busy crowd to lead Zerlina into his private quarters. When she calls out for help, the three masked guests reveal their identities to the Don and Don Ottavio threatens Giovanni with a pistol. Giovanni escapes the wrath of his guests.

Scene 2: Donna Elvira, abandoned lover and would-be

wife, arrives by train in search of the Don. Don Giovanni, who is on an amorous adventure at the train station, unwittingly approaches Elvira. He escapes, leaving Leporello to show Elvira to the Don’s “not-so-little black book” of conquests that contains the names of thousands of women that the Don has loved.

A group of peasants arrive in a park for a pre-wedding celebration for Zerlina and Masetto. Giovanni immediately tries to charm the young bride, much to the chagrin of her fiancé, who dares to stand up for his rights. In vain, he is taken off by Leporello, leaving the Don to attempt further seduction. Elvira enters and warns the girl against the intentions of the traitor. As the women leave, Anna and Ottavio arrive to ask Giovanni for help in finding her father’s assassin. Elvira interrupts and begs the two nobles not to trust Giovanni, who in turn, indicates that Elvira has lost her mind. He then takes leave of the two, and Anna suddenly realizes that Giovanni is the man who attacked her. She asks Ottavio to avenge her father.

Scene 3: Before the party that he promised the peasants, we find Don Giovanni singing of his happy pursuit of love.

Zerlina begs Masetto’s forgiveness for her behavior and assures him that she did not fall for the advances of the

Act II Scene 1: As Don Giovanni wants to attract the attention

of Elvira’s maid, he exchanges cloaks and hats with Leporello and sings first to Elvira, while his servant is miming the words. As Elvira leaves with the disguised Leporello, Giovanni serenades the servant girl. Masetto and a band of angry peasants, who are after the Don, are sent by Giovanni (in his Leporello disguise) in the wrong direction. He assaults Masetto. Zerlina consoles her groom with tender care. Elvira is still furious at Giovanni for betraying her, but she also feels sorry for him.

Scene 2: Leporello, still in disguise, tries to flee from

Elvira, but instead is met by Anna, Ottavio, Zerlina and Masetto, who all want their revenge. The servant finally unmasks, begs for forgiveness and flees the scene.

Scene 3: Don Giovanni and Leporello exchange their

recent experiences and thereby mock the deceived women.

As they are leaving the graveyard, they hear a voice and recognize the tomb of the slain Commandant. Don Giovanni insists that Leporello read the inscription on the tomb. “I wait to avenge my wrongful death.” Giovanni forces the petrified servant to invite the statue to dinner. Shaken, the two perceive a positive response to the invitation.

Scene 4: In her home, Anna, still in mourning, puts off Ottavio’s offer of marriage until her father is avenged.

Scene 5: Don Giovanni is still leading a life of debauchery,

interrupted only briefly by Elvira, who makes a final, desperate attempt to save the Don. The Don becomes a victim of the demons of guilt that he has, until now, fended off through a dissolute life. In his alcoholic stupor, he perceives the avenging voice of the Commandant and is carried off to his own Hell.

Photo: Original playbill for the Vienna premiere of Don Giovanni

15

D O N G I O VA N N I : LIBRETTO FINAL DRESS REHEARSAL — WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2014 AT 2:00 P.M. AT THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC English translation of the libretto reprinted with permission EMI Classics, ltd.

Words in boldface in the libretto are def ined in the glossary in the back of the guide.

D O N G I OVAN N I (d o n j o e -VA H - n e e). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elli o t M a d o r e, b a r i to n e LEP O R EL LO ( l e h p - o r- EL - o h). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J o s e p h B a r r o n , b ass - b a r i to n e D O N NA

AN NA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M i ch e ll e

J o h ns o n ,

soprano

D O N OT TAV I O (d o h n o h -TA H - ve e - o h). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D av i d Po r t i ll o, te n o r D O N NA ELV I R A ( DOHN - n a e l -V EE - r a h). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A m a n d a M aj e s k i , s o p r a n o ZER LI NA M A SE T TO

(t s a i r- LEE - n a h). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ce ce li a

H a ll ,

(m a h -ZEH T- to h). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .We s

mezzo-soprano

M as o n ,

b a r i to n e

I L CO M M EN DATO R E (e e l co h - m e n - d a h -TOH - r e h). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N i ch o l as M as te r s , b as s CO N D U C TO R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .G e o r g e D I R EC TO R

and

SE T

Manahan

D E SI G N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N i ch o l as

COS T UM E

D E SI G N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D av i d

LI G H T I N G

D E SI G N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J a p hy

CH O R US

M A S T ER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eli z a b e t h

Muni

B u r d i ck We i d e m a n Braden

Production from Cincinnati Opera

c d E x c e r p ttrack 1

OVERTURE

c d E x c e r p ttrack 2

Notte e giorno faticar

gentleman! You stay inside with your lady and I must play the sentinel!

But I think someone is coming! I don’t want them to hear me!

“A C T O N E

(He hides. Enter Don Giovanni and Donna Anna; she is clinging to his arm.)

SCENE I

DON G IO VA NNI Idiot! You scream in vain. Who I am you’ll never know!

A garden of the Commendatore’s home, night. Leporello, in a cloak, is seen pacing back and forth in front of the house; then Donna Anna and Don Giovanni; afterwards the Commendatore LEPORELLO Night and day I slave for one who does not appreciate it. I put up with wind and rain, eat and sleep badly. I want to be a gentleman and to give up my servitude. No, no, no, I want to give up my servitude. Oh, what a fine

16

DONN A A NN A There’s no hope!

DON G IO VA NNI Idiot!

LEPORELLO (to himself) What a racket! Heaven, what screams! My master in another scrape.

DONN A A NN A Help! Everyone! The betrayer!

DON G IO VA NNI Keep quiet! Beware my wrath!

DONN A A NN A Scoundrel!

DON G IO VA NNI Fool!

LEPORELLO (to himself) We will see if this rascal will be the ruin of me!

DONN A A NN A Help! Everyone!

DON G IO VA NNI Keep quiet!

DONN A A NN A Like a desperate fury I’ll know how to pursue you!

Scoundrel! Help! Everyone!

DON G IO VA NNI This desperate fury is aimed at destroying me! Fool! Keep quiet!

(Donna Anna, hearing the voice of the Commendatore, goes into the house.)

COMMEND A T ORE Leave her alone, wretch, and defend yourself.

DON G IO VA NNI Go away! I disdain to fight with you.

COMMEND A T ORE Thus you think to escape me?

LEPORELLO (to himself) If I could only get out of here!

COMMEND A T ORE Fight!

DON G IO VA NNI So be it, if you want to die!

(They fight. The Commendatore is mortally wounded.)

COMMEND A T ORE Help! I’ve been betrayed! The assassin has wounded me!

And from my heaving breast I see my soul escaping.

DON G IO VA NNI Ah, already the wretch has fallen, and he gasps for air.

From his heaving breast I already see his soul escaping.

LEPORELLO What a misdeed! What a crime! I can feel my heart beating hard from fright! I don’t know what to do or say.

(The Commendatore dies.)

DON G IO VA NNI Leporello, where are you?

LEPORELLO I’m here, unfortunately, and you?

DON G IO VA NNI Over here.

LEPORELLO Who’s dead, you or the old man?

DON G IO VA NNI What an idiotic question! The old man.

LEPORELLO Well done! Two misdeeds! First you raped the daughter then murdered the father!

DON G IO VA NNI It was his own doing: too bad for him.

LEPORELLO And Donna Anna, did she ask for it too?

DON G IO VA NNI Keep quiet and don’t bother me. Now come along, unless you’re anxious for something for yourself.

LEPORELLO I have no desires, sir, and no more to say.

(They go out. Enter Donna Anna and Don Ottavio, with servants carrying lights.)

DONN A A NN A Ah, my father is in danger; let us hurry to help him.

DON O T T AV IO I will shed all my blood, if need be. But where is the scoundrel?

17

DONN A A NN A Here... (She sees the body.) But ye gods, what is this horrible sight before me? My father, my dear father!

DONN A A NN A , DON O T T AV IO What an oath, ye gods, what a terrible moment! My heart is stirred by countless seething emotions.

DON O T T AV IO My lady!

DONN A A NN A Swear to revenge his blood!

DONN A A NN A Ah, the assassin killed him! That blood... the wound... his face, the color of death! He no longer breathes... his limbs are cold. My father! Beloved father! I’m fainting! I’m dying! (She faints.)

DON O T T AV IO I swear it upon your eyes, upon our love!

DON O T T AV IO Help my beloved, friends! Find and bring some smelling salts or some cordial! Do not delay! (The servants depart on their errand.) Donna Anna! My bride! My beloved! She is dying of grief!

DONN A A NN A Ah! DON O T T AV IO She is coming to! (The servants return.) Help her up.

DONN A A NN A My father!

DON O T T AV IO Hide it, remove that object of horror from her gaze. (The servants carry away the body.) My beloved, be consoled!

Take heart.

DONN A A NN A Go away, cruel man, go away! Let me die, too, now that my father is dead, oh God, he who gave me life!

DON O T T AV IO Listen, beloved, please listen! Look at me one moment only! Your beloved speaks to you, he who lives only for you!

DONN A A NN A It is you – forgive me, my love – my grief, my distress...

Ah, where is my father?

DON O T T AV IO Your father? Banish, my dear, this bitter memory. You have a husband and father in me.

DONN A A NN A Ah, swear to revenge his blood, if you can.

DON O T T AV IO I swear, I swear it upon your eyes, I swear it upon our love!

18

S c e n e Two A street near an inn. Early morning.

DON G IO VA NNI Come on now, hurry up. What do you want?

LEPORELLO It’s a very important matter.

DON G IO VA NNI I believe you.

LEPORELLO Most important.

DON G IO VA NNI So much the better. Out with it.

LEPORELLO Promise you won’t become angry.

DON G IO VA NNI I swear it on my honor, as long as you don’t speak of the Commendatore.

LEPORELLO Are we alone?

DON G IO VA NNI You can see that.

LEPORELLO No one can hear us?

DON G IO VA NNI Come on!

LEPORELLO May I tell you everything freely?

DON G IO VA NNI Yes.

LEPORELLO Well then, my dear master, the life you are leading is that of a knave!

DONN A ELV IR A I will make a horrible example of him. I will tear out his heart!

DON G IO VA NNI Rascal, you dare...

DON G IO VA NNI (to Leporello) Poor girl! Let us try to console her grief.

LEPORELLO And your oath?

LEPORELLO (aside) Thus he has consoled eighteen hundred.

DON G IO VA NNI I know nothing about oaths. Keep quiet or I’ll...

(Don Giovanni steps forward.)

LEPORELLO I have no more to say, not even a whisper, my dear master.

DON G IO VA NNI That way we’ll remain friends. Now listen, do you know why I am here?

LEPORELLO I don’t know anything. But since it is nearly dawn, could it be some new conquest to add to the list?

DON G IO VA NNI Go on, but you’re a fine one! Then you must know that I love a beautiful lady and I am certain she loves me. I saw and spoke to her. She will come tonight to the villa with me. Quiet! I think I sniff a woman!

LEPORELLO (aside) My, what a perfect sense of smell!

DON G IO VA NNI My lady!

DONN A ELV IR A Who’s there?

DON G IO VA NNI Good heavens! What’s this?

LEPORELLO (aside) Oh wonderful! Donna Elvira!

DONN A ELV IR A Don Giovanni! You here, you monster, you criminal, you pack of lies!

Donna Elvira searches for Giovanni as he and Leporello hide themselves.

DON G IO VA NNI I think she’s attractive.

LEPORELLO (aside) And what an eye!

DON G IO VA NNI Let us hide for a while and see which way the land lies.

LEPORELLO (aside) He’s already excited!

(They hide. Donna Elvira enters.)

DONN A ELV IR A Ah, who is there who will tell me where the rascal is whom, to my shame, I loved and who betrayed me? Ah, if I can find the villain and he will not come back to me, I will make a horrible example of him. I will tear out his heart!

DON G IO VA NNI (to Leporello) Did you hear that? Some beauty abandoned by her lover.

19

LEPORELLO (aside) What becoming titles! It’s lucky she knows him well.

DON G IO VA NNI Come, my dear Donna Elvira, calm yourself. Listen. Let me speak.

DONN A ELV IR A What can you say, after so black a deed? You sneaked into my house, and by your artistry, your promises and your sighs, you succeeded in seducing me. I fell in love, oh cruel one, and you declared me your bride. Then contrary to all the laws of earth and Heaven, after three days you fled Burgos, abandoned me, and left me a prey to remorse and to weeping, perhaps as a punishment for having loved you so much!

LEPORELLO (aside) She sounds like a book!

DON G IO VA NNI Oh, as for that, I had my reasons, didn’t I? LEPORELLO Oh yes, and what good reasons!

DONN A ELV IR A And what were they, if not your perfidy, your fickleness?

But just Heaven wanted me to find you, to carry out its, my vengeance.

DON G IO VA NNI Come now, be more reasonable! (aside) This woman is a nuisance! (to Elvira) If you don’t believe what I say, then believe this gentleman here.

LEPORELLO (aside) Anything but the truth.

DON G IO VA NNI (to Leporello) Go on, tell her.

LEPORELLO (aside to Don Giovanni) And what shall I tell her?

DON G IO VA NNI Yes, yes, tell her anything.

DONN A ELV IR A (to Leporello, while Don Giovanni slips away unnoticed by Donna Elvira) All right, but hurry up.

LEPORELLO Madam – really – in this world, when it happens that a square is not a circle...

20

DONN A ELV IR A Wretch! Thus you mock my grief ? Ah, you – (turning to address Don Giovanni) Good Heavens! The villain has fled! Alas, where could he be? Where?

LEPORELLO Oh, let him go. He doesn’t deserve to be worried over.

DONN A ELV IR A The wretch tricked me, betrayed me...

LEPORELLO Calm yourself! You are not, were not and will not be either the first or the last. Look: this fat little book is entirely full of the names of his sweethearts. Each town, each district, each countryside testifies to his affairs with women. cd ExcerpT track 3

ARIA: Madamina, il catalogo è questo

My dear lady, this is a list of the beauties my master has loved, a list which I have compiled. Observe, read along with me. In Italy, six hundred and forty; in Germany, two hundred and thirty-one; a hundred in France; in Turkey ninety-one. In Spain already one thousand and three.

Among these are peasant girls, maidservants, city girls, countesses, baronesses, marchionesses, princesses, women of every rank, every shape, every age. With blondes it is his habit to praise their kindness; in brunettes, their faithfulness; in the very blonde, their sweetness. In winter he likes fat ones, in summer he likes thin ones. He calls the tall ones majestic. The little ones are always charming.

He seduces the old ones for the pleasure of adding to the list. His greatest favorite is the young beginner. It doesn’t matter if she’s rich, ugly or beautiful; if she is rich, ugly or beautiful. If she wears a petticoat, you know what he does.

(He leaves.)

DONN A ELV IR A These are the tricks the villain has used to betray me; is this the reward the barbarian returns for my love?

Ah, I must get revenge for my deceived heart: before he escapes – returns – makes off – I hear only bloody revenge speaking within me, only fury and hate. (She goes off.)

Scene Three The open country near Don Giovanni’s house. Morning.

(Zerlina, Masetto, and peasants are singing and dancing.)

Z ERLIN A You girls who trif le with love, do not let the time pass you by! If in your breasts your hearts are fluttering, here is the cure, as you can see! Ah! What a joy, what a joy it will be!

LEPORELLO (aside) It’s quite enough he should be a good husband.

Z ERLIN A Oh, my Masetto has a very good heart.

DON G IO VA NNI And I, too, you see. I want to be your friend. Your name?

Z ERLIN A Zerlina.

Don Giovanni and Leporello stumble upon Zerlina and Masetto’s wedding.

PE A S A N T G IRLS Ah! What a joy, what a joy it will be!

M A SE T T O You light-hearted young men, don’t go wandering here and there. A fool’s holiday is very short, but for me it has not yet begun. Ah! What a joy, what a joy it will be!

PE A S A N T L A DS Ah, what a joy it will be!

Z ERLIN A , M A SE T T O Come, my dear, let’s enjoy ourselves and sing, dance and play! What a joy, what a joy it will be!

(Don Giovanni and Leporello enter.)

DON G IO VA NNI Well, at last she is gone. Oh look, what handsome young people, and what lovely women!

LEPORELLO (aside) Among so many, there ought to be one for me, too.

DON G IO VA NNI My dear friends, good morning. Go on enjoying yourselves, go on playing, my good people. Is there a wedding?

Z ERLIN A Yes, sir, and I am the bride.

DON G IO VA NNI I am happy to hear it. And the groom?

DON G IO VA NNI And yours?

M A SE T T O Masetto.

DON G IO VA NNI Oh, my dear Masetto! And my dear Zerlina! I offer you my protection. (to Leporello, who is flirting with the girls) Leporello, what are you doing there, you rascal?

LEPORELLO I, too, dear master, am offering my protection.

DON G IO VA NNI Hurry, go with them. Take them at once to my villa. See that they are served chocolate, coffee, wines, and hams.

Try to keep them all amused; show them the garden, the gallery, the rooms. Be sure that my dear Masetto is made happy. Do you understand?

LEPORELLO I understand. Let’s go!

M A SE T T O Sir! DON G IO VA NNI What is it?

M A SE T T O Zerlina cannot stay here without me.

LEPORELLO His Excellency will take your place, and he will know how to fill your shoes.

M A SE T T O I am he, at your service.

DON G IO VA NNI Oh, Zerlina is in the hands of a cavalier. Go on; she and I will come later.

DON G IO VA NNI Well spoken. At my service – this is the way a real gentleman talks.

Z ERLIN A Go on, don’t worry. I am in the hands of a cavalier.

21

M A SE T T O And I, by heaven...

Z ERLIN A You?

Z ERLIN A And that means there is nothing to worry about.

DON G IO VA NNI Of course. That little villa there is mine, and there, my jewel, we will be married.

DON G IO VA NNI Hey there, let’s end this bickering! If you don’t leave us at once, Masetto, be careful, you’ll regret it! (He taps his sword significantly.)

M A SE T T O I understand, yes sir, I do. I bow my head and go away.

Since this is the way you want it, I make no objections.

No, no objections. After all you are a cavalier, and I really must not doubt you. I am reassured by the kindness which you want to show me. (aside to Zerlina) You nasty little witch! You always were my ruin! (to Leporello) I’m coming, I’m coming. (to Zerlina) Stay here. It’s a very innocent affair! Perhaps this cavalier will make you a lady. You nasty little witch!.

(He goes out, accompanied by Leporello and the peasants.) cd ExcerpT track 4

SCENE & DUETTINO: Là ci darem la mano ARIA: Ah, fuggi il traditor

DON G IO VA NNI At last we are free, my dearest Zerlina, of that boor. Tell me, my dear, didn’t I handle it neatly?

Z ERLIN A Sir, he is my husband.

DON G IO VA NNI Who? That one? Do you suppose an honorable man, a noble cavalier, as I believe myself to be, could permit such a lovely little face, such sweet beauty to be stolen by a clumsy oaf ?

Z ERLIN A Ah, but I do not wish...

DON G IO VA NNI What don’t you wish?

Z ERLIN A To be deceived in the end. I know that you cavaliers are only rarely honest and sincere with women.

DON G IO VA NNI Oh, a mere slander spread by common folk. True nobility can be seen in the honesty of one’s eyes. Come now, let’s not waste time. I want to marry you on the spot.

22

There you will give me your hand, there you will tell me “yes”. You see, it is not far; Let us leave, my beloved.

Z ERLIN A I’d like to, but yet I would not. My heart trembles a little.

It’s true I would be happy, but he may just be tricking me.

DON G IO VA NNI Come, my dearly beloved!

Z ERLIN A I’m sorry for Masetto.

DON G IO VA NNI I will change your life!

Z ERLIN A Soon I won’t be able to resist.

DON G IO VA NNI Come! Come! There you will give me your hand.

Z ERLIN A I’d like to, but yet I would not.

DON G IO VA NNI There you will tell me “yes”.

Z ERLIN A My heart trembles a little.

DON G IO VA NNI Let us leave, my beloved.

Z ERLIN A But he may just be tricking me.

DON G IO VA NNI Come, my dearly beloved!

Z ERLIN A I’m sorry for Masetto.

DON G IO VA NNI I will change your life.

Z ERLIN A Soon I won’t be able to resist.

DON G IO VA NNI Let us go!

Z ERLIN A Let us go!

DON G IO VA NNI , Z ERLIN A Let us go, let us go, my beloved, to soothe the pangs of an innocent love, etc. (Donna Elvira enters.)

DONN A ELV IR A Stop, villain! Heaven willed that I should overhear your lies. I am in time to save this innocent from your dreadful scheming.

Z ERLIN A Poor me! What’s this I hear?

DON G IO VA NNI (aside) Love, come to my aid! (to Donna Elvira) My dear woman, can’t you see that I want to enjoy myself ?

Don Giovanni tries to get Zerlina to marry him.

DONN A ELV IR A Enjoy yourself! It’s true! Enjoy yourself ? I know, cruel one, how you enjoy yourself!

DON G IO VA NNI (aside) Now we’ll see that the devil will have told her something. (to Donna Anna) What a question! Why?

Z ERLIN A But, your lordship, is it true what she is saying?

DONN A A NN A We need your friendship.

DON G IO VA NNI (aside to Zerlina) The poor woman is in love with me, and out of pity I must pretend to love her, for it is my misfortune to have a kind heart.

DON G IO VA NNI (aside) I breathe again. (to Donna Anna) At your service. My relatives, my parents, this arm, this sword, my possessions, my blood, all I will give to serve you. But, Donna Anna, why do you weep thus? Who was the cruel one who dared to trouble your peace of mind? (Donna Elvira returns.)

DONN A ELV IR A Ah, flee the traitor! Don’t listen to what he says! His lips are lying ones, his eyes deceiving. Learn from my suffering to trust what I say, and let my misfortune make you afraid. Ah, flee the traitor! (She leaves with Zerlina.)

DON G IO VA NNI It seems the devil must be amusing himself at my expense today. Everything is going badly.

(Donna Anna and Don Ottavio enter.)

DON O T T AV IO Ah now, beloved, that tears are in vain, let us talk of vengeance. Ah, Don Giovanni!

DON G IO VA NNI (aside) This is all I needed!

DONN A A NN A Friend, we find you in time. Do you have a heart, a generous nature?

DONN A ELV IR A Ah, I’ve found you again, faithless monster! Do not believe, unhappy one, in that faithless heart! The villain has already betrayed me! Now he seeks to betray you.

DONN A A NN A , DON O T T AV IO Heavens, what noble bearing, what sweet majesty! Her pallor, her tears fill me with pity!

DON G IO VA NNI The poor girl is mad, my friends, leave me alone with her, she’s mad, my friends. (aside) Perhaps she will calm down.

DONN A ELV IR A Ah, do not believe the faithless one! Stay, for Heaven’s sake, stay!

DON G IO VA NNI She’s mad, pay no attention.

23

DONN A A NN A , DON O T T AV IO In whom should we believe?

DON G IO VA NNI Is a little mad.

DONN A A NN A , DON O T T AV IO , DON G IO VA NNI A feeling of strange import stir within my breast

DONN A A NN A (to Donna Elvira) So then he –

DONN A ELV IR A Scorn, rage, disdain and fear stir within my breast.

DONN A ELV IR A Is a betrayer.

DON G IO VA NNI Poor woman!

DONN A A NN A , DON O T T AV IO , DON G IO VA NNI They tell me of this poor woman a hundred things I cannot yet grasp.

DONN A ELV IR A Liar! Liar! Liar!

DONN A ELV IR A They tell me of this betrayer a hundred things I cannot yet grasp.

DONN A A NN A , DON O T T AV IO I’m beginning to suspect.

DON O T T AV IO (aside) I will not leave here until I find out the truth.

DON G IO VA NNI (to Donna Elvira) Softly, softly. People are beginning to gather around us.

Be a little more prudent, you will become an object of gossip.

DONN A A NN A (aside) There is no sign of madness in her manner, in her speech.

DON G IO VA NNI (aside) If I should go, they might suspect something.

DONN A ELV IR A From his expression they should be able to estimate his bad character.

DON O T T AV IO (to Don Giovanni) So then she –

DONN A ELV IR A (loudly to Don Giovanni) Don’t place your hopes there, villain, I have lost my sense of modesty! Your guilt and my situation shall be known to all.

DONN A A NN A , DON O T T AV IO (aside) Those whispered undertones, that constant blushing, are all too clear an indication and banish all my doubts.

(Donna Elvira goes off.)

DON G IO VA NNI Unfortunate woman! I must follow her. I don’t want her to do anything rash. Excuse me, most beautiful Donna Anna. If I may be of service to you I await you in my house. My friends, farewell.

(He leaves hurriedly.) cd ExcerpT track 5

SCENE and ARIA: Or sai chi l’onore

DONN A A NN A Don Ottavio, I shall die!

DON O T T AV IO What is it?

DONN A A NN A For pity’s sake, help me!

Don Giovanni tries to stop Donna Elvira from talking to Donna Anna and Don Ottavio

24

DON O T T AV IO My beloved, take heart!

DONN A A NN A O ye gods! O ye gods! That man is my father’s murderer!

DON O T T AV IO What are you saying?

DON O T T AV IO How can I believe that a nobleman could be guilty of so black a crime! Ah, I must get at the truth any way I can.

I feel that as a friend and lover my duty is plain: I must either undeceive her or avenge her.

DONN A A NN A There is no doubt about it. The parting words the villain uttered, his whole voice recalled to my heart that worthless creature who, in my apartment...

Upon her peace of mind mine also depends; what pleases her is what gives me life, what displeases her is what gives me death. If she sighs, then I, too, must sigh. Her anger becomes my own. Her tears belong to me. And there can be no joy for me if she is not happy.

DON O T T AV IO Oh heaven! Is it possible that beneath the sacred cloak of friendship...? Tell me about the strange happening.

DONN A A NN A It was already quite late when into my rooms, where I unluckily happened to be alone, I saw a man enter, wrapped in a cloak. At first I mistook him for you, but then I realized that I was mistaken.

DON O T T AV IO Good Lord! Continue!

DONN A A NN A Silently he approached me and tried to embrace me. I tried to free myself but he seized me all the harder. I screamed, but no one came! With one hand he tried to quiet me, and with the other he seized me so hard that I already thought myself lost.

DON O T T AV IO The scoundrel! And then?

DONN A A NN A Finally my despair, my horror of the deed so strengthened me that by dint of twisting, turning and bending I freed myself of him!

DON O T T AV IO Ah me, I breathe again!

DONN A A NN A Then I redoubled my screams for help. The felon fled.

Quickly I followed him as far as the street in order to catch him, becoming in my turn the pursuer. My father ran out, wanted to learn his identity, and the rascal, who was stronger than the old man, completed his misdeed by murdering him!

Now you know who tried to steal my honor from me, who was the betrayer who took my father’s life. I ask you for vengeance. Your heart asks for it, too. Remember the wound in the poor man’s breast, the ground all around covered with blood, if ever in your heart your just anger weakens. Now you know who tried to steal my honor. I ask you for vengeance! (She leaves.)

(He leaves. Enter Leporello, then Don Giovanni.)

LEPORELLO I must find some way to leave this fine lunatic. There he is now. Look at the indifference with which he comes.

DON G IO VA NNI Oh, my dear Leporello, is everything going well?

LEPORELLO My dear Don Giovanni, everything is going badly.

DON G IO VA NNI What do you mean, everything is going badly?

LEPORELLO I went home, as you told me to, with all those people.

DON G IO VA NNI Well done!

LEPORELLO By chattering, flattery and lies, tricks I picked up from you, I tried to detain them.

DON G IO VA NNI Bravo!

LEPORELLO I told Masetto a thousand lies in order to free his mind of jealous thoughts.

DON G IO VA NNI Well done, on my oath!

LEPORELLO I saw to it that both the men and the women drank. They soon became intoxicated. Some sang, some joked, others continued to drink. At the height of it all, guess who dropped in?

DON G IO VA NNI Zerlina?

LEPORELLO Bravo! And who was with her?

25

DON G IO VA NNI Donna Elvira!

LEPORELLO Right! And she said about you – DON G IO VA NNI Everything bad she could think of.

LEPORELLO Right, on my oath.

DON G IO VA NNI And what did you do?

LEPORELLO I kept quiet.

DON G IO VA NNI And she?

LEPORELLO She went right on screaming.

DON G IO VA NNI And then you...?

LEPORELLO When I guessed she had finished, I quietly led her out and skillfully locked the door in her face, leaving her alone in the street.

DON G IO VA NNI Well done, excellently done! The affair could not be going better. You began it, I will finish it. These lusty peasant lasses are too much on my mind. I want to amuse them until night comes. cd ExcerpT track 6

ARIA: Finch’han dal vino

So that the wine may set their heads whirling, go and prepare a wonderful party. If on the way you meet some young lady, try also to bring her along. Let the dancing be spontaneous. They can do the minuet, the gavotte or the waltz, just as you like. And I in the meantime behind the scenes will be flirting with this one and that one. Ah, to my list tomorrow morning you will have to add at least ten names! (They depart.)

S cene Four A garden outside Don Giovanni’s house (Zerlina, Masetto and

peasants)

Z ERLIN A Masetto, listen to me. Masetto, I say.

M A SE T T O Don’t touch me.

Z ERLIN A Why? M A SE T T O You ask me why? Cheat! Why should I let a hussy like you touch me?

Z ERLIN A Ah, no! Don’t speak that way, cruel man. I don’t deserve such treatment from you.

M A SE T T O What? You have the effrontery to make excuses? To remain alone with a man, abandoning me on my wedding day! To shame an honest working man in such a manner!

Ah, if it were not for the scandal I would like to – (The peasants leave.)

Z ERLIN A But if I am not to blame? If I have been tricked by him?

And then, what do you fear? Calm yourself, my love; he did not touch even the tips of my fingers. You don’t believe it? Ungrateful one! Come here! Vent your anger!

Kill me! Do everything you want to me, but afterwards, my Masetto, let us make peace.

Beat me, beat me, my Masetto, beat your poor Zerlina. I’ll stay here like a lamb and await your every blow. I’ll let you pull my hair out, I’ll let you gouge my eyes out, and then happily I will kiss your wonderfully sweet hands. Ah, I see you have no heart! Let’s make up, my own true love. In happiness and joy we must pass the days and nights, yes, each day and every night. Let’s make up, my own true love.

M A SE T T O See how this little witch knew how to get around me! We must be weak in the head!

DON G IO VA NNI Get everything ready for a big celebration.

Z ERLIN A Ah, Masetto, that’s the voice of his lordship the cavalier!

M A SE T T O Well then, what of it?

26

Z ERLIN A He’s coming!

DON G IO VA NNI Zerlina, my lovely, I’ve seen you; don’t run away!

M A SE T T O Let him come.

Z ERLIN A Oh please let me go!

Z ERLIN A Ah, if there were only some place to hide!

DON G IO VA NNI No, no, stay, joy of my life!

M A SE T T O What are you afraid of ? Why do you grow pale? Ah, I understand, you hussy! You fear that I will learn how things went between you two.

Z ERLIN A If there’s pity in your heart –

M A SE T T O Hurry, before he comes I must hide somewhere: there’s a nook off to one side where I can stay and remain quiet.

Z ERLIN A Listen! Where are you going? Don’t hide here, Masetto! If he finds you, woe is you. You don’t know what he might do.

M A SE T T O Let him do or say what he pleases.

Z ERLIN A Your brave words mean nothing!

M A SE T T O Speak up and stay here.

Z ERLIN A (aside) What could he have in mind?

M A SE T T O Speak up, and stay here. (aside) I will learn if she is faithful, and how the affair went.

Z ERLIN A (aside) The ungrateful, cruel man wants to cause a crisis now.

(Masetto hides. Don Giovanni enters, followed by a group of servants. The peasants return.)

DON G IO VA NNI Come, wake up everybody! Come, courage, my good people! We want to have a good time, we want to laugh and joke. To the ballroom now lead everybody and see to it that refreshments are served in plenty.

(The servants and the peasants go out. Zerlina is looking for a place to hide.)

Z ERLIN A Among these bushes perhaps he won’t see me.

DON G IO VA NNI Yes, my dear, I’m full of love. Come over here for just a moment; I want to make you happy.

Z ERLIN A (aside) Oh, if he sees my husband, I know well what he will do.

(Don Giovanni pulls Zerlina away but coming face to face with Masetto, stops in amazement.)

DON G IO VA NNI Masetto?

M A SE T T O Yes, Masetto.

DON G IO VA NNI Hiding in there? What for? Your beautiful Zerlina cannot, poor girl, stay any longer without you.

M A SE T T O I understand, sir, indeed I do.

DON G IO VA NNI Now cheer up, both of you, do you hear the musicians?

Now come along with me.

Z ERLIN A , M A SE T T O Yes, yes, let us cheer up, and go and dance with the others, all three of us.

(They go out. Don Ottavio, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira enter together. They are masked.)

DONN A ELV IR A We must be brave, my dear friends, and thus we shall be able to uncover his misdeeds.

DON O T T AV IO Our friend is right, we must be brave. Banish, my darling, your anguish and fear.

27

DONN A A NN A The step is a dangerous one; there could be dire results. I fear for my beloved, and for us all.

(Leporello opens a window.)

LEPORELLO (to Don Giovanni) Sir, look for a moment at this handsome masked trio!

DON G IO VA NNI (at the window) Have them come in, tell them they honor us.

DONNA ANNA, DONNA ELVIRA, DON OTTAVIO (aside) His looks and his voice reveal the betrayer.

LEPORELLO Psst! Masqueraders! Psst!

DONNA ANNA, DONNA ELVIR A (to Don Ottavio) Go on, answer him.

LEPORELLO Psst, psst! Masqueraders!

DON O T T AV IO What do you want?

LEPORELLO If you would care to enter, my master invites you to the dance.

DON O T T AV IO You do us an honor! Let us go, my dear friends.

LEPORELLO (aside) Our friend will also try his hand on these. (He retires from the window.)

LEPORELLO Refresh yourselves, my brave lads.

DON G IO VA NNI , LEPORELLO You will soon be dancing again. You will soon be joking again.

DON G IO VA NNI (to the servants) Hey there, coffee!

LEPORELLO Chocolate!

M A SE T T O (to Zerlina) Oh, Zerlina, be careful!

DON G IO VA NNI Ices!

LEPORELLO Sweets!

M A SE T T O Oh, Zerlina, be careful!

Z ERLIN A Masetto looks out of his mind. This is getting worse all the time.

DON G IO VA NNI , LEPORELLO Masetto looks out of his mind. Now we’d better use our heads.

M A SE T T O She’s lapping it up! Go on and touch her, so I can lop off your head! Ah, flirt, you’re driving me to distraction.

DONN A A NN A , DON O T T AV IO May just Heaven protect my determined heart!

(Donna Anna, Donna Elvira and Don Ottavio now enter, still masked.)

DONN A ELV IR A May just Heaven avenge my betrayed love!

LEPORELLO Come forward, come forward, my gracious masqueraders!

(They leave.)

Scene Five A ballroom in Don Giovanni’s house

(Don Giovanni escorts some girls to their places. Leporello is chatting to some of the men.)

DON G IO VA NNI Take a rest, my pretty ones.

28

DON G IO VA NNI Everyone is welcome! Hurray for freedom!

DONNA ANNA, DONNA ELVIRA, DON OTTAVIO We thank you for so many signs of boundless generosity.

A LL Hurray for freedom!

DON G IO VA NNI (to the musicians) Resume your playing! (to Leporello) You, pair off the dancers.

cd ExcerpT track 7

FINALE: Act I

LEPORELLO Now everyone dance!

(They dance.)

DONN A ELV IR A (to Donna Anna) That’s the peasant girl.

DONN A A NN A I’m dying!

DON O T T AV IO Hide your feelings!

Don Giovanni invites his guests to enjoy the party.

DON G IO VA NNI , LEPORELLO It’s really going well!

DON G IO VA NNI (to Zerlina) Come with me, my own! Come!

M A SE T T O (sarcastically) It’s really going well!

M A SE T T O Leave me alone! Ah no! Zerlina!

DON G IO VA NNI (to Leporello) Keep your eye on Masetto.

Z ERLIN A I am lost! (Don Giovanni and Zerlina go to another room.)

LEPORELLO (to Masetto) You’re not dancing, poor boy? Come here, my dear Masetto, let us do what the others are doing.

LEPORELLO This will be a disaster! (He leaves hastily after them.)

DON G IO VA NNI (to Zerlina) I am your partner. Zerlina, come this way.

M A SE T T O No, no, I don’t want to dance.

LEPORELLO Yes, dear Masetto!

DONN A A NN A I can’t stand it!

DONN A ELV IR A , DON O T T AV IO Pretend, for pity’s sake!

DONNA ANNA, DONNA ELVIRA, DON OTTAVIO The scoundrel draws a noose around his own neck!

Z ERLIN A (offstage) Help, everyone, help!

DONNA ANNA, DONNA ELVIRA, DON OTTAVIO Let us rescue the innocent girl!

M A SE T T O Ah, Zerlina!

Z ERLIN A (offstage) Scoundrel!

LEPORELLO Dance!

DONNA ANNA, DONNA ELVIRA, DON OTTAVIO Now she’s screaming from over there! Let us break down the door!

M A SE T T O No, no, I don’t want to.

Z ERLIN A (offstage) Save me! Ah save me, or I am lost!

LEPORELLO Now dance, my friend! Let us do what the others are doing. (Leporello dances with Masetto. Don Giovanni, dancing with Zerlina, leads her towards an exit.)

DONNA ANNA, DONNA ELVIRA, DON OTTAVIO We are here to help you!

(Don Giovanni, sword in hand, re-enters dragging Leporello with him.)

29

DON G IO VA NNI Here’s the lout who did it! But I will punish him! Die, I say!

LEPORELLO What are you doing?

DON O T T AV IO (to Don Giovanni, pistol in hand) Don’t try to trick us!

DONNA ANNA, DONNA ELVIRA, DON OTTAVIO The villain thinks his trick will serve to hide his villainy!

(They take off their masks.)

DON G IO VA NNI Donna Elvira!

DONN A ELV IR A Yes, monster!

DON G IO VA NNI Don Ottavio!

DON O T T AV IO Yes, sir!

DON G IO VA NNI You must believe – ALL except DON GIOVANNI and LEPORELLO Traitor! We know everything! Tremble, tremble, scoundrel! Now the whole world shall know of the horrible, black crime of your arrogant cruelty! Listen to the sound of vengeance as it thunders all around you!

Upon your head this very day its thunderbolt shall fall.

LEPORELLO His head is whirling in confusion, he no longer knows what’s happening. A dreadful storm, oh Lord, its thundering over him. But he does not lack for courage.

He is not lost or worried. If the world itself should end, nothing could make him afraid.

DON G IO VA NNI My head is whirling in confusion, I no longer know what’s happening. A dreadful storm, oh Lord, is thundering above me. But I do not lack courage. I am not lost or worried. If the world itself should end, nothing could make me afraid.

(Exit Don Giovanni.)

ACT T WO Scene One A street near an inn. Night.

DON G IO VA NNI Go on, clown, don’t annoy me!

LEPORELLO No, no, master, I won’t stay!

DON G IO VA NNI Listen, my friend – LEPORELLO I want to go, I tell you!

DON G IO VA NNI But what have I done to you that you want to leave me?

LEPORELLO O, nothing at all. You almost killed me.

DON G IO VA NNI Go on, you are mad! It was only a joke.

LEPORELLO And I am not joking. I want to go.

(Leporello starts to go.)

DON G IO VA NNI Go on, clown.

LEPORELLO No, no, master, DON G IO VA NNI Leporello!

30

LEPORELLO Sir? DON G IO VA NNI (offering him money) Come here! Let’s make up. Here.

LEPORELLO What is it?

DON G IO VA NNI Four pistoles.

LEPORELLO (taking the money) Oh, well, then, this time I yield, but don’t make a habit of it. Don’t think you can get around me as you do with your women, not even with money.

DON G IO VA NNI Let’s talk no more about it. Have you the nerve to do what I tell you?

LEPORELLO As long as we leave the women alone.

DON G IO VA NNI Leave the women alone? You’re mad! You know that they are more necessary to me than the bread I eat! Than the air I breathe!

LEPORELLO Do you have the gall, then, to betray them all?

DON G IO VA NNI Love is much the same in any form. He who remains faithful to one is being cruel to the others; I, who have an overabundance of sentiment, love them all. Since women cannot think clearly, they call my natural, kindly feelings betrayal.

LEPORELLO I have never come across kindness more abundantly dispensed! Now then, what is it you want me to do?

DON G IO VA NNI Listen! Have you seen Donna Elvira’s little maid?

LEPORELLO I? No. DON G IO VA NNI Then you have missed something, my dear Leporello. Now I want to try out my luck with her, and I thought, since it is almost evening, that I would whet her appetite all the more by presenting myself disguised in your clothes.

LEPORELLO And why couldn’t you present yourself in your own clothes?

DON G IO VA NNI A nobleman’s clothes are not very popular among people of her class. (He removes his cloak.) Come on, hurry up!

LEPORELLO Sir, for more than one reason – DON G IO VA NNI Keep quiet! I can’t stand being argued with! (They exchange cloaks and hats. Donna Elvira appears at a window of the inn.)

DONN A ELV IR A Keep still, unjust heart! Do not beat so within my breast!

He is a villain, a betrayer, and it is wrong to feel pity.

LEPORELLO Quiet! I hear, sir, Donna Elvira’s voice!

DON G IO VA NNI I want to seize my opportunity. You stand there!

(He stands behind Leporello and speaks for him, making appropriate gestures with his servant’s arms.) Elvira, my beloved!

DONN A ELV IR A Is it the ingrate?

DON G IO VA NNI Yes, my own, it is I, and I beg for your mercy.

DONN A ELV IR A Lord, what a strange feeling awakens in my breast!

LEPORELLO Wait and see, this madwoman will still believe what he says!

DON G IO VA NNI Come down here, my lovely, you will see you are the one whom my soul adores. I am really penitent.

DONN A ELV IR A No, I don’t believe you, cruel one!

DON G IO VA NNI Believe me, or I’ll kill myself! My darling, please come here!

LEPORELLO (to Don Giovanni) If you go on, I’ll laugh!

31

DONN A ELV IR A What a quandary is this! I don’t know what to do! Oh Lord, please protect my credulous heart.

DON G IO VA NNI I hope she yields to me quickly! What a nice little coup this is! Nowhere have I found as fertile a talent as mine!

LEPORELLO Already those lying lips are again seducing this poor woman; oh gods, protect her from her own credulous heart!

(Donna Elvira disappears from the window.)

DON G IO VA NNI My friend, what do you think?

LEPORELLO I think you have a soul of bronze!

DON G IO VA NNI Go on, what a fool you are! Listen closely: when she comes out, you run to embrace her, give her a caress or two, imitate my voice. Then skillfully lead her away with you.

LEPORELLO I, my own?

DONN A ELV IR A You. LEPORELLO Poor girl, how sorry I am!

DONN A ELV IR A Will you ever run away from me again?

LEPORELLO No, my angel.

DONN A ELV IR A Will you be mine forever?

LEPORELLO Forever.

DONN A ELV IR A Beloved!

LEPORELLO But, sir –

LEPORELLO Beloved! (aside) The deception is proving pleasant.

DON G IO VA NNI No more arguments!

DONN A ELV IR A My treasure!

LEPORELLO And if she recognizes me?

LEPORELLO My Venus!

DON G IO VA NNI She won’t recognize you if you are careful. Quiet, she’s coming! (Don Giovanni hides to one side. Donna Elvira enters.)

DONN A ELV IR A I am all aflame for you.

DONN A ELV IR A Here I am.

DON G IO VA NNI (aside) Let’s see what she does.

LEPORELLO (aside) What a mess!

DONN A ELV IR A Can I believe that my tears have won over your heart?

Penitent, my beloved returns to his duty and to my love?

LEPORELLO Yes, my dear!

DONN A ELV IR A Cruel one, if you knew how many tears and sighs you cost me!

32

LEPORELLO I am burnt to ashes.

DON G IO VA NNI (aside) The rascal is warming up.

DONN A ELV IR A And you won’t betray me?

LEPORELLO Certainly not.

DONN A ELV IR A Swear it.

LEPORELLO I swear it on this hand, which I kiss in ecstasy, and those lovely eyes.

DON G IOVA NNI (Coming out of hiding to surprise them) Ha, ha, ha! Death to you!

DON G IO VA NNI Certainly! Of that scoundrel!

DONN A ELV IR A , LEPORELLO Ye gods! (They run off.)

M A SE T T O Of that man without honor. Ah, tell me, where we can find him? We are looking for him to kill him!

DON G IO VA NNI Ha, ha, ha! Fate seems to be on my side! Now let’s see.

These are the windows. Let us serenade them. (He picks up a mandolin left behind by Leporello and begins to accompany himself.) cd ExcerpT track 8

CANZONETTA: Deh, vieni alla finestra

Come to the window, my treasure, come to console my lament. If you deny me some relief, I want to die before your eyes! You whose mouth is sweeter than honey, you whose heart cradles sweet desires! Do not, my beloved, be cruel to me! At least let me see you, my loved one!

DON G IO VA NNI There’s someone at the window! Perhaps she! Psst! Psst!

(Masetto enters followed by a group of peasants.)

M A SE T T O Let us not become tired. My heart tells me we must find him.

DON G IO VA NNI (aside) Someone speaks!

M A SE T T O Halt! I think someone moves over there.

DON G IO VA NNI (aside) Unless I’m mistaken, it’s Masetto!

M A SE T T O Who goes there? No answer. Now then, shoulder arms!

Who goes there?

DON G IO VA NNI (aside) He’s not alone. I must be careful. (aloud) Friends. (aside) I mustn’t give myself away. (aloud) Is that you, Masetto?

M A SE T T O Exactly right; and you?

DON G IO VA NNI Don’t you know me? I’m the servant of Don Giovanni.

M A SE T T O Leporello, the servant of that unworthy nobleman!

DON G IO VA NNI (aside) What nonsense! (aloud) Well said, Masetto! I will join you to put an end to that rascal of a master. But listen a moment to my plan.

Some of you go this way, the rest of you go that way! And quietly, softly look for him, he is not far from here! If a man and a girl you see strolling in the square, if under some window you hear someone making love, fire away, by all means fire, for it will be my master. On his head he wears a hat covered with white plumes, over his shoulders a great cloak and at his side a sword.

Hurry, go and find him, but, you, come with me, Masetto.

We will do the rest, and soon you will learn what that is.

(The peasants go off.)

DON G IO VA NNI Quiet! Let me listen! Good! Now then, must we kill him?

M A SE T T O Certainly.

DON G IO VA NNI Wouldn’t it be sufficient to break his bones?

M A SE T T O No, I want to kill him, and cut him into a hundred pieces!

DON G IO VA NNI Are your weapons good ones?

M A SE T T O Indeed they are! I have this musket and then this pistol, too.

(He hands the weapons to Don Giovanni for inspection.)

DON G IO VA NNI And then?

M A SE T T O Isn’t that enough?

DON G IO VA NNI (beating Masetto) Oh, certainly it’s enough. Now this one is for the pistol, this one for the musket!

M A SE T T O Oh, oh, my head!

33

DON G IO VA NNI Keep quiet or I’ll kill you! This one is for killing him, this one for wanting to cut him into pieces! Villain!

Blackguard! Food for dogs! (Don Giovanni leaves.)

M A SE T T O Oh, oh, my head! Oh, my shoulders! Oh, my chest!

M A SE T T O The villain, the scoundrel broke my bones and shattered my nerves.

Z ERLIN A Oh, poor me! Who? M A SE T T O Leporello, or some devil who looks like him!

Z ERLIN A Cruel man, didn’t I warn you that this insane jealousy of yours would bring some trouble? Where does it hurt?

M A SE T T O Here.

LEPORELLO I see lights all around us, my love. Let us stay hidden here until they go away.

DONN A ELV IR A What are you afraid of, my adored husband?

LEPORELLO Nothing, nothing. Merely precautions. I’ll go and see if the lights are moving away from us. (aside) Oh, how to free myself of her? (aloud) Stay here, beloved!

DONN A ELV IR A Ah, do not leave me! cd ExcerpT track 10

SEXTET: Sola, sola, in buio loco

DONN A ELV IR A Alone, in this dark place I feel my heart beating loudly, and such a fear assails me that I feel like dying.

Z ERLIN A And then?

M A SE T T O Here, and also here!

Z ERLIN A Nothing else hurts?

M A SE T T O This foot hurts a little, this arm, and this hand.

Z ERLIN A Come, come, no great harm is done if the rest of you is sound. Come home with me, and if you promise to be less jealous, I will take care of you, my dear husband. cd ExcerpT track 9

S c e n e Two A dark courtyard of Donna Anna’s house

ARIA: Vedrai carino

You’ll see, my darling; if you are good, what a fine cure I will give you! It is a natural one, not unpleasant, and the chemist can’t make it. It’s a sure balm which I have with me. I can give it to you, if you would like to try it. Do you know where I keep it? Feel my beating heart!

(They go out together.)

LEPORELLO The more I search for this door, the harder it is to find it.

Softly, softly, I have found it! Here’s the moment to escape!

(Donna Anna and Don Ottavio enter.)

DON O T T AV IO Dry your eyes, my own, and ease your suffering! By now the shade of your father should have pity on your grief.

DONN A A NN A Leave me this small outlet to my grief. Only death, my treasure, can put an end to my tears.

DONN A ELV IR A Ah, where is my betrothed?

LEPORELLO If she finds me, I am lost!

DONN A ELV IR A , LEPORELLO I see a door there. Softly. softly, I must leave!

(As Leporello is about to leave, Zerlina and Masetto appear and confront him.)

Z ERLIN A , M A SE T T O Halt, rascal! Where are you going?

DONNA ANNA, DON O T TAV IO There is the wretch! How did he get there?

34

DONNA ANNA, ZERLINA, DON O T TAV IO, M A SE T T O Ah, death to the ingrate who has betrayed me!

DONN A ELV IR A He is my husband! Have mercy! Have mercy!

DONNA ANNA, ZERLINA, DON O T TAV IO, M A SE T T O Is that Donna Elvira? I can hardly believe it! No! He must die!

(Don Ottavio draws his sword on Leporello who removes his disguise and falls on his knees.)

LEPORELLO Pardon, pardon me, good people! I am not he; she is mistaken! Let me live, I beg you!

DONNA ANNA, ZERLINA, DONNA ELVIR A, DON O T TAV IO, M A SE T T O Leporello! What trick is this? I am shocked! What does it mean?

LEPORELLO A thousand strange thoughts are whirling in my head. If I save myself from this storm, it will truly be a miracle.

DONNA ANNA, ZERLINA, DONNA ELVIR A, DON O T TAV IO, M A SE T T O A thousand strange thoughts are whirling in my head.

What a day, my stars, this is! What an unfortunate occurrence! (Donna Anna leaves.)

Z ERLIN A So it was you who, a short time ago, beat up my Masetto!

DONN A ELV IR A So it was you who tricked me, rascal, passing yourself off as Don Giovanni!

DON O T T AV IO So it was you who in this disguise came here to commit some felony?

Z ERLIN A It’s up to me to punish him.

DONN A ELV IR A No, to me.

DON O T T AV IO No, no, to me.

M A SE T T O Let us all have a hand in it.

Don Giovanni’s victims confront Leporello, thinking he’s the Don.

LEPORELLO Mercy, dear people! Have mercy on me! You are right to be angry, but the fault is not mine. My overbearing master led me astray. Donna Elvira, have pity! You know what happened. (to Zerlina) Of Masetto I know nothing, (indicating Donna Elvira) this lady will confirm it. For the past hour or thereabouts, we have been together. (to Don Ottavio) To you, sir, I say nothing, I was afraid, an unlucky chance, a light approaching, darkness within. No way out, the door, the wall, then... well... I started that way then hid over here, you know the rest. But had I known I’d have fled this way! (Leporello approaches the door and runs out.)

DONN A ELV IR A Halt, villain, halt!

M A SE T T O The rascal has wings on his feet!

Z ERLIN A With that trick he escaped us, the wretch.

DON O T T AV IO My friends, after such doings we can no longer doubt that Don Giovanni is the villainous murderer of Donna Anna’s father. Stay inside the house, and shortly I promise you vengeance. This is the demand of pity, duty, and love!

Meanwhile, go and console my beloved, and try to dry the tears from her lovely eyes try. Tell her that her wrongs I will avenge, that I shall not return except with tidings of death.

(All go off except Donna Elvira.)

DONN A ELV IR A Into what excesses, oh Lord, into what horrible misdeeds the scoundrel has fallen! Ah, no, the wrath and the justice of Heaven cannot delay any longer. I already seem to see the fatal thunderbolt striking his head! I see the grave opening at his feet! Wretched Elvira! What contrasting emotions rend me apart. Why these sighs?

Why this anguish?

35

That ungrateful wretch betrayed me, made me miserable, O Lord. He betrayed and abandoned me, but I still would forgive him. When I feel my dreadful anguish, my heart cries out for vengeance. But if I gaze upon his features, my heart still beats with excitement. (She leaves.)

Scene Three A graveyard. Night.

(This lonely spot is decorated with a number of statues, including one of the Commendatore.)

DON G IO VA NNI (entering over a wall) Ha, ha, ha. That’s a good one. Now let her try to find me!

What a lovely night! It’s clearer than daytime, almost made for chasing the girls. Is it late? Oh, not yet two o’clock. I would like to hear how the affair ended between Leporello and Donna Elvira. I wonder if he was prudent!

LEPORELLO But what are you doing here? (Leporello enters; they change clothes.)

DON G IO VA NNI Come over here and I’ll tell you. A number of amusing incidents have befallen me since we separated, but I will relate them another time. Just now there is only one I will tell you.

LEPORELLO Feminine, for certain.

DON G IO VA NNI Can you doubt it? A damsel pretty, young, flirtatious, I met in the street; I drew near to her, took her hand. She tried to escape. I spoke a few words, and she mistook me for, but guess who?

LEPORELLO (from behind the wall) He wants to be the ruin of me.

LEPORELLO I have no idea.

DON G IO VA NNI It is he; oh, Leporello!

DON G IO VA NNI For Leporello.

LEPORELLO Who wants me?

LEPORELLO How nice.

DON G IO VA NNI Don’t you know your master?

DON G IO VA NNI So then she took my hand.

LEPORELLO If only I didn’t!

LEPORELLO Better still.

DON G IO VA NNI What, you wretch!

DON G IO VA NNI She caressed me, embraced me: “My dear Leporello!

Leporello, my dear!” So I realized she was one of your conquests.

LEPORELLO (entering) Ah, it’s you? Pardon me.

DON G IO VA NNI What happened?

LEPORELLO Because of you I was nearly killed.

DON G IO VA NNI Well, would you not have been honored?

LEPORELLO It’s an honor I can do without.

DON G IO VA NNI Now listen! What wonderful things I have to tell you.

36

LEPORELLO Damn you!

DON G IO VA NNI Naturally I took advantage of her mistake. I don’t know how she recognized me, but suddenly she began to scream.

I heard people coming and I ran away. Then quickly I climbed over that wall.

LEPORELLO And you tell me this with such indifference?

DON G IO VA NNI Why not?

LEPORELLO But what if this girl had been my wife?

DON G IO VA NNI Better still!

DON G IO VA NNI Finish it, or in your breast I’ll sink this blade!

T HE S T A T UE OF T HE COMMEND A T ORE You will have your last laugh before the next dawn!

LEPORELLO (aside) What a mess! What an idea!

DON G IO VA NNI Who spoke?

DON G IO VA NNI (aside) What fun! What a joke!

LEPORELLO Ah, it must be some spirit from another world who knows you well.

LEPORELLO I’m frozen with fright!

DON G IO VA NNI Keep quiet, you fool. Who goes there?

(He puts his hand on his sword.)

T HE S T A T UE Audacious libertine! Leave the dead in peace!

LEPORELLO I told you so!

DON G IO VA NNI I want to make him tremble!

LEPORELLO O most noble statue, although you’re made of marble...

Ah, master, look! He’s gazing at me still!

DON G IO VA NNI Die then!

DON G IO VA NNI It must be someone outside having a joke on us! Hey, isn’t this the Commendatore’s statue? Read the inscription.

LEPORELLO No, wait! Sir, my master, I said my master, not I, would like to dine with you! Ah, what a scene this is! Oh Heaven, he nodded his head!

LEPORELLO Excuse me, but I never learned to read by moonlight.

DON G IO VA NNI Go on! You’re a buffoon!

DON G IO VA NNI Read, I tell you!

LEPORELLO Look again, master!

LEPORELLO “Upon the base one who sent me to my death I here await vengeance.” Did you hear that? I’m afraid!

DON G IO VA NNI What should I look at?

DON G IO VA NNI You buffoon! Tell him that tonight I expect him to dinner!

LEPORELLO With his marble head, he nods like this, like this!

DON G IO VA NNI (to the statue) Speak, if you can. You’ll come to dinner?

LEPORELLO What madness! But do you think – oh Lord, look at the terrible glances he throws us! He seems alive! As if he heard us and wants to speak!

T HE S T A T UE Yes!

DON G IO VA NNI Go on, go over there! Or I’ll kill you on the spot and bury you right here!

LEPORELLO I can barely move, my strength, oh Lord, has fled! For pity’s sake, let’s go, let’s fly away from here!

LEPORELLO Softly, softly, sir. Now I obey. Duet Oh, most noble statue of the great Commendatore... Master, I’m afraid. I cannot go through with it!

DON G IO VA NNI The scene is truly strange, the old man will come to dinner. Let us go and prepare it, let us leave this place.

(They leave.)

37

Scene Five A room in Don Giovanni’s house

(The table has been set for dinner. Don Giovanni’s musicians are awaiting the order to play.)

DON G IO VA NNI The dinner is prepared. Play, my dear friends! Since I spend my money freely, I want to be amused. Leporello, serve me, quickly.

LEPORELLO I am ready to serve you.

Donna Anna begs Don Ottavio give her time to mourn her father’s death.

S cene Four A room in Donna Anna’s house

DON O T T AV IO Calm yourself, my beloved. We will see the base one punished for his grave crimes; and we will be avenged.

DONN A A NN A But my father, Lord!

DON O T T AV IO We must bow our heads to Heaven’s will. Compose yourself, my dear! If you wish, I will compensate tomorrow for your bitter loss, with my heart, my hand, my tender love.

DONN A A NN A Ye gods! What are you saying at such a sad time?

DON O T T AV IO What now? Would you with new sorrows increase my own grief ? Cruel one!

DONN A A NN A Cruel? Ah no, my love, I am too unhappy at having to put off the joy which we have both desired for so long. But what would people say! Do not try to shake the resolution of my poor heart. Your love speaks for you!

Do not tell me, my true love, that I am cruel to you. You know well how much I love you, you know to whom I am pledged. Calm your anguish, if you do not wish me to die of grief. Perhaps some day Heaven will have pity on me.

(She leaves.)

DON O T T AV IO Ah, I shall follow her, and share her sorrows; with me at her side her sighs will be less painful.

(He leaves.)

38

DON G IO VA NNI Since I spend my money freely, I want to be amused. Play, my dear friends. (The orchestra begins to play an aria from Martín’s “Una cosa rara”.)

LEPORELLO Excellent! “Cosa rara!”

DON G IO VA NNI What do you think of this fine concert?

LEPORELLO It is worthy of you.

DON G IO VA NNI Ah, what a delicious dish!

LEPORELLO (aside) Ah what a barbarous appetite! What gigantic mouthfuls! I think I’m going to faint!

DON G IO VA NNI (aside) As he sees my huge mouthfuls, he thinks he’s going to faint. (to Leporello) Service!

LEPORELLO At once! (The orchestra begins to play a piece from Sarti’s “Fra i due litiganti”.) Hurray for “The litiganti”.

DON G IO VA NNI Pour the wine! Excellent marzimino!

LEPORELLO (aside) This piece of pheasant I myself will swallow.

DON G IO VA NNI (aside) The rogue is eating! I’ll pretend I do not notice. (The orchestra begins to play from Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro”.)

LEPORELLO I know this piece only too well.

DON G IO VA NNI Leporello!

LEPORELLO (his mouth full) Master!

DON G IO VA NNI Speak clearly, you rascal!

LEPORELLO A cold prevents me from speaking better.

DON G IO VA NNI While I eat whistle something.

LEPORELLO I don’t know how.

DON G IO VA NNI Why not?

LEPORELLO Excuse me, but your cook is so excellent that I too wanted to taste it.

DONN A ELV IR A (entering excitedly) The last test of your love I want to make now. I no longer remember your lies. Pity I feel.

DONN A ELV IR A Stay here then, ingrate! Wallow in your crimes, a horrible example of iniquity!

LEPORELLO If her grief fails to move him, his heart is of stone, or he has none at all.

DON G IO VA NNI Hurray for women, hurray for wine! The substance and glory of humanity!

DONN A ELV IR A Ah! (Donna Elvira starts out of one door, screams, recoils and rushes through another door.)

DON G IO VA NNI , LEPORELLO Why did she scream?

DON G IO VA NNI Go and see what it was. (Leporello goes out and before reentering also screams.)

LEPORELLO Ah! DON G IO VA NNI What a scream! Leporello, what is it?

DONN A ELV IR A (kneeling) My sorrowful heart does not beg for boons.

LEPORELLO Oh, sir, for pity’s sake don’t leave the room! The man of stone, the man in white, ah, master, I’m afraid, I’m going to faint. If you could see what he looks like, if you could hear how he moves! Ta ta ta ta!

DON G IO VA NNI I am amazed! What do you ask? If you don’t arise, I won’t remain standing.

DON G IO VA NNI I understand none of this. You’ve gone out of your mind.

(There is a loud knocking at the door.)

DONN A ELV IR A Ah, do not laugh at my despair!

LEPORELLO Ah, listen!

LEPORELLO She almost makes me weep.

DON G IO VA NNI Someone knocks. Open the door! Open it, I say!

DON G IO VA NNI I laugh at you? Heavens! What do you want, my dear?

LEPORELLO I’m afraid!

DONN A ELV IR A That you change your ways!

DON G IO VA NNI Lunatic! To put an end to it I shall have to go myself.

DON G IO VA NNI Good for you! Now let me eat, and if you wish to, eat with me.

LEPORELLO I have no wish to see that again, so quietly I’ll hide. (The statue enters. Leporello hides under the table.)

DON G IO VA NNI , LEPORELLO What is it?

39

cd ExcerpT track 11

TRIO: Don Giovanni, a cenar teco

DON G IO VA NNI No one will say of me that I have ever been afraid.

T HE S T A T UE Don Giovanni, you invited me to dinner and I have come!

T HE S T A T UE Make up your mind!

DON G IO VA NNI I never would have believed it, but I will do what I can.

Leporello, see to it that another dinner is served at once!

DON G IO VA NNI I have done so already!

LEPORELLO Ah, master, we are lost.

DON G IO VA NNI Go, I said!

T HE S T A T UE You will come?

LEPORELLO Tell him no!

DON G IO VA NNI My heart beats firmly. I’m not afraid: I’ll come!

T HE S T A T UE Wait a moment! He who dines on Heavenly food has no need for the food of the mortals! Other more serious considerations have caused me to come here!

T HE S T A T UE Give me your hand upon it!

LEPORELLO I feel as if I have a fever, for I cannot control my limbs.

DON G IO VA NNI Here it is! (He gives the statue his hand.) Oh me!

DON G IO VA NNI Speak then! What do you ask? I am listening. What do you wish?

T HE S T A T UE What is wrong?

T HE S T A T UE I will speak. Listen! My time is short! You invited me to dinner, now you know your duty. Answer me: will you come to dine with me?

LEPORELLO Oh my! Excuse him, but he doesn’t have time.

DON G IO VA NNI What is this deadly chill?

T HE S T A T UE Repent! Change your ways, for this is your last hour!

DON G IO VA NNI (trying to free himself) No, no, I will not repent. Let me be!

T HE S T A T UE Repent, scoundrel!

DON G IO VA NNI No, you old fool!

T HE S T A T UE Repent!

DON G IO VA NNI No! T HE S T A T UE Ah, your time is up!

The Commendatore’s statue appears at the door and commands Giovanni to repent his evil ways.

40

(The statue disappears. Flames appear on all sides and the earth begins to tremble under Don Giovanni’s feet.)

T HE O T HERS Quickly, tell us, hurry up!

LEPORELLO In flames and smoke, listen to this, the man of stone – wait a moment – just over there gave the sign, and just over there the Devil came and dragged him down!

T HE O T HERS My stars, what did I hear!

LEPORELLO I’ve told you the truth!

Don Giovanni is dragged into Hell.

DON G IO VA NNI What strange fear now assails my soul! Where do those flames of horror come from?

CHORUS OF DEMONS No horror is too dreadful for you! Come, there is worse in store!

DON G IO VA NNI Who lacerates my soul? Who torments my body? What torment, oh me, what agony! What a Hell! What a terror!

LEPORELLO What a look of desperation! The gestures of the damned!

What cries, what laments! How he makes me afraid! Ah! (The flames engulf Don Giovanni. After his disappearance everything returns to normal and the other characters enter.)

Epilogue DONN A ELV IR A , DONN A A NN A , Z ERLIN A , DON O T T AV IO , M A SE T T O Where is the villain? Where is the ingrate? All my rage I want to vent on him!

DONN A A NN A Only when I see him bound in chains will my anguish be soothed.

LEPORELLO Abandon hope of ever finding him. Give up your search, he has gone far away.

T HE O T HERS What has happened? Tell us! Come now, hurry up!

LEPORELLO A giant came, but I can’t go on –

DONN A ELV IR A Ah, it must have been the ghost I met out there.

DONN A A NN A , Z ERLIN A , DON O T TAV IO, M A SE T T O Ah, it must have been the ghost she met out there.

DON O T T AV IO Now, my treasure, that we have been avenged by Heaven, grant me my reward, do not let me pine any more.

DONN A A NN A My dearest, let me mourn for one year more.

DON O T T AV IO , DONN A A NN A A lover must yield to the desires of one who adores him.

DONN A ELV IR A I shall retire to a convent to end my life there!

Z ERLIN A , M A SE T T O We will go home to dine together!

LEPORELLO And I’ll go to the tavern and find myself a better master.

Z ERLIN A , M A SE T T O , LEPORELLO So the wretch can stay down there with Proserpine and Pluto. And we, good people, will now gaily sing to you the old, old refrain. cd ExcerpT track 12

SEXTET: Questo è il fin di chi fa mal!

A LL This is the end which befalls evildoers. And in this life scoundrels always receive their just deserts!

Translation by William Murray Capitol Records Inc., 1961

41

D O N G I O VA N N I MEET THE ARTISTS Baritone Elliot Madore (Don Giovanni) returns to Opera Philadelphia where he debuted as Prince Yamadori (Madama Butterfly, 2009). Before his career took him to the world’s major stages, the Canadian won the 2010 Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions, which led to an invitation to join the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Program. There he further learned his craft, performing in many operas there, several of which were broadcast into movie theaters all over the world. Before his world-wide success, Elliot earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at the Curtis Institute of Music and appeared in many Curtis opera productions.

Learn more on the web: elliotmadore.com.

Michelle Johnson (Donna Anna) wowed

critics and audiences in the title role of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut (debut, 2011). A graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, the soprano starred in many operas there, like Suor Angelica, Capriccio, and Falstaff. In 2011 the Texas native won the Met’s National Council Auditions. In the past few years she’s performed leading roles throughout the country as her star continues to rise. Meet Michelle on her website: belcantoglobalarts.com/johnsonbio.php.

Illinois native Amanda Majeski (Donna Elvira) was last seen at Opera Philadelphia in Rigoletto (2007) while a student at the Curtis Institute of Music. She’s completed the Lyric Opera of Chicago young artist program and is in demand at opera houses throughout the world. Future seasons see the soprano in New York City, London, Salzburg, Frankfurt and more.

Texan David Portillo (Don Ottavio) debuted with Opera Philadelphia in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges (2009), and also performed in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Madama Butterfly that same year. A graduate of the Lyric Opera of Chicago young artist program, the San Antonio native has won bravos on stages from Japan to France and everywhere in between. Check out David’s Facebook fan page at facebook.com/davidportillotenor.

Pittsburgh native Joseph Barron (Leoporello), debuted at Opera Philadelphia as Montano (Otello, 2010). The Curtis Institute graduate won the Met’s National Council Auditions in 2011. Recently he’s been a resident artist at Pittsburgh Opera while appearing at the prestigious Glimmerglass Festival, Aix-en-Provence Festival in France and Italy’s La Fenice, among others. At home in comic and serious roles, learn more at josephrbarron.com.

Cecelia Hall (Zerlina) debuts with Opera

Philadelphia in this opera. The mezzo-soprano graduated from DePaul University, Juilliard School of Music, and was a resident young artist at Lyric Opera of Chicago, where she performed many operas. She joined the Metropolitan Opera for Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, which was shown in movie theaters worldwide.

Wes Mason (Masetto) began working

professionally on opera stages at the age of 16 before completing studies at University of Michigan and Academy of Vocal Arts.

The busy baritone has performed throughout the country and makes his Opera Philadelphia debut in Don Giovanni. The Virginia native is a very versatile artist and equally at home in comedy or drama, opera to rock, on stage or in front of a camera. Meet Wes at wesmasonstage.com.

Connecticut bass Nicholas Masters (Commendatore) makes his Opera Philadelphia debut with this opera. A graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts, where he sang in many operas including the world premiere of Margaret Garwood’s The Scarlet Letter. He was finalist in the Met’s 2011 National Council and is a recent graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Studio. Learn more about this deep voiced up-and-coming singer at nicholasmastersbass.com.

Photo credits: Elliot Madore by Kristin Hoebermann; Amanda Majeski by Dario Acosta; Cecelia Hall by Pat Arnow

42

P LOT T H E AC T I O N I N D O N G I O VA N N I Directions: Fill in the required information for each section below in numerical order. Use the information that appears with each section to help you proceed. It’s okay to write through the gray diagonal line in two of the sections.

2. As the story continues, the Rising Actions introduce complications and problems for the main characters. These difficulties create suspense!

3. The Climax of the story is when the reader is most interested in how the story will end. The suspense is at its peak, but the outcome is not yet known.

3. Climax

2. Rising Actions

4. Falling Action

4. Falling Action appears at the ending of the story. Suspense has been eliminated and these events show characters’ lives returning to normal.

1. The Exposition

1. The Exposition appears at the beginning of the story. It introduces us to the setting, characters and background information.

5. Resolution

5. The Resolution is the final solution to the problem or conflict. In stories with happy endings it’s called the denouement.

Tragic endings are called catastrophe.

43

MA K E YO U R O W N SYNOPSIS A synopsis is a concise summary or brief statement of events. In

1. In a small group, examine the main characters of Don

writing a synopsis, the main points or ideas are written and the

Giovanni. How did the actions of the characters move the plot

supporting details are left out. To do this successfully, we must

forward? What were the most important things which hap-

make judgments on what are the most important facts or details.

pened?

Often you are asked after a day of school, “How was your day?” or “What did you learn today?” You know how to answer

2. Make a word bank of the main characters. List important ad-

these questions because you know what the important things you

jectives which describe their character traits. Then list the verbs

did were.

or action words which highlight their actions.

CHARACTERS

DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES

ACTIONS

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ (Use additional paper if necessary.)

44

WEB OF DECEIT

First, place the names of all the characters on the Web of Deceit. Place Don Giovanni’s name in the middle since he is clearly the central figure in this opera. Next, add the remaining characters to the outside circles: Leporello, Donna Anna, the Commendatore, Don Ottavio, Donna Elvira, Zerlina, and Masetto. On the line connecting the Don to each character, jot notes about how these two people are connected to one another. Later, you will want to draw arrowed lines between the outside characters as you see how they relate to each other. For example, you could draw a line from Leporello to Donna Elvira and write what he did to her..

45

RECOGNIZING FAC T S A N D O P I N I O N S The following lessons are designed to be worked on in pairs. Pick a partner with whom you can answer the questions. After answering the questions, discuss your answers and the different opinions found in the questions. How do these opinions make you feel?

How can facts be misused when backing up opinion? l. Read the following statements. After each statement write whether it is a fact or an opinion.

_________________

1. Don Giovanni was wrong to seduce Zerlina away from Masetto.

_________________

2. Don Giovanni should have turned himself in to the police after killing the Commendatore.

_________________

_________________

3. Leporello shouldn’t have helped Don Giovanni escape from trouble.

Don Giovanni deserves to be punished for his mistakes.

4. Lorenzo DaPonte wrote the libretto for Don Giovanni.

_________________

5. This opera is based on a very popular folk tale about the character of Don Giovanni.

In Spanish stories, he is known as Don Juan.

_________________

6. Don Giovanni should not have pretended to be Leporello and beaten Masetto.

2. Write an opinion about each of the following topics. Support each opinion with two facts.

Seduction ___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Loyalty ______________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ the opera Don Giovanni__________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ the character Leporello___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Mozart______________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

46

S U P P O R T I N G YO U R OPINION 1. Write ‘I believe’ or ‘I think’ four times. Then complete each phrase with a different statement regarding the opera Don Giovanni.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ (Use additional paper if necessary.)

2. Identify which statements are fact and opinion by placing an ‘F’ or ‘O’ next to each one. Then, combine the two statements to make a sentence using the following connective: since, because, therefore, thus. The first one has been done for you. __F__1a. Leporello did anything Don Giovanni asked. __O__1b. Leporello was as evil as Giovanni.

Sentence: Leporello did anything Don Giovanni asked; therefore, he was as evil as Giovanni _____ 2a. Zerlina was a fool. _____ 2b. Zerlina believed Don Giovanni was an honorable cavalier.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____ 3a. Elvira pleaded for Don Giovanni’s life. _____ 3b. Elvira must have truly loved Giovanni.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____ 4a. Don Ottavio was as bad as Don Giovanni. _____ 4b. Don Ottavio swore to Anna that he would kill her father’s murderer.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____ 5a. Don Giovanni refused to repent. _____ 5b. Don Giovanni wasn’t afraid of anything.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____ 6a. Anna, Elvira, and Ottavio were cowards. _____ 6b. They wore masks to Don Giovanni’s house.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

47

CAREERS IN THE ARTS It takes a lot more people to put on an opera than just the singers on the stage. All of the people who have the jobs below work together to help the opera come to life. If you’re interested in a job in the arts, here are just some of the jobs that could help you have a career in the arts!-

CAREERS IN THE ARTS

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Accompanist Actor/Actress Advertising Director Announcer Architect Architectural Model Builder Artist Artistic Director Art Festival Coordinator Art Teacher Arts Administrator Arts Consultant Arts Ed. Curriculum Writer Audio Engineer (recording) Band Director Book Designer Book Illuminator Box Office Director Business Manager Casting Director Choir Director Choreographer Cinematographer Clothing Designer Comedian Commercial Artist Composer Computer Graphics Design Concert Singer Conductor Contract Specialist Copyright Specialist

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Costume Buyer • Costume & Mask Designer • Creative Consultant • Critic • Cutter (costumes) • Dancer • Dialect Coach • Dramaturg • Draper (costumes) • Dresser (theater) • Extra (background actor) • Fashion Designer • First Hand (seamstress) • Fundraiser (Development) • Furniture Designer • Graphic Designer • House Manager (theater) • Illustrator (fashion, book, etc.) • Instrumentalist • Librettist • Lighting Designer • Makeup Artist • Manager (arts organizations) • Master Electrician (stage) • Model Builder • Mold Maker • Music Contractor • Music Copyist & Transcriber • Music Editor • Music Librarian • Music Teacher • Musician •

Musicologist Orchestrator Painter Photographer Producer (theater, TV, movies) Proofreader (music) Props Buyer Props Designer Public Relations Specialist Publicist Publisher Scene Painter Scenic Designer Sculptor Set Decorator Set Dresser Shop Foreman (stage) Singer Special Effects Coordinator Stage Carpenter Stage Director Stage Hand Stage Manager Stitcher (costumes) Stunt Coordinator Theater Director Ticketing Agent TV Camera Operator Videographer Vocalist Wardrobe Mistress Wigmaker

AC T I V E L E A R N I N G Which of the careers listed above are interesting to you? Where do you think you could go to learn more about it? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

48

G LO S S A RY OF TERMS A C T (AK T) N. One of the main divisions of a play or opera.

A LLE G RO (UH-LEG-ROH) ADV. musical term for fast and

c o n t r a lt o (kuhn-tral-toh) n. the lowest female sing-

ing voice.

lively.

c o r d i a l [kawr-juhl] v.t. courteous and gracious; warm.

A ND A N T E (AHN-DAHN-TEY) ADV. moderately slow music.

c o u p [koo] n. a highly successful act, or move; a clever action.

a n g u i s h [ang-gwish] n. excruciating suffering, or pain.

A N TA G ONIS T (AN-TAG-O-NIST) N. an adversary of the main character or protagonist in an opera, play, or other drama. a r r o ga n t [ar-uh-guhnt] adj. making claims or preten-

sions to superior importance or rights.

a s s a i l [uh-seyl] v. to attack vigorously or violently; assault.

c r e d u l o u s [krej-uh-luhs] adj. willing to believe or trust

too readily.

d e c e i v e [dih-seev] v. to be unfaithful to (one’s beloved). d e ta i n [dih-teyn] v. to keep from proceeding; keep waiting. d i r e [dahyuhr] adj. indicating trouble, disaster, or misfortune. d i s d a i n [dis-deyn] v. to look upon or treat with contempt;

a s t r ay [uh-strey] adv. out of the right way; off the correct

despise; scorn.

A RI A (AHR-EE-UH) N. an operatic song for one voice.

dent boldness; barefaced audacity.

a u d a c i o u s [aw-dey-shuhs] adj. recklessly brave; fearless.

e n g u l f [en-guhlf] v. to swallow up; submerge.

av e n g e [uh-venj] v. to take vengeance on behalf of.

f i c k l e n e s s [fik-uhl] n. not constant or loyal in affections.

ba l m [bahm] n. an oily substances, often of medicinal value.

f l at (flat) adj. a half-step lower than the corresponding note or key of natural pitch.

or known road, path, or route.

ba n i s h [ban-ish] v. to compel to depart; send or drive away.

B A R (BAHR) N. a division of music, marked by two bar lines,

containing a set number of beats.

B A RI T ONE (BAR-I-TOHN) N. the range of the male voice

e f f r o n t e r y [ih-fruhn-tuh-ree] n. shameless or impu-

f o r t e (fawr-tey) adv. a musical term meaning loudly. f o r t i s s i m o (for-tee-see-moh) adv. a musical term for

very loud.

between tenor and bass.

ga l l [gawl] n. impudence; effrontery.

B A SS (BEYS) N. the lowest male singing voice.

i n g r at e [in-greyt] n. an ungrateful person.

b e a r i n g [bair-ing] n. the way in which one carries oneself.

i n i q u i t y [ih-nik-wi-tee] n. gross injustice or wickedness.

B E AT (BEET) N. the basic pulse of a piece of music. b e t r ay [bih-trey] v. to be disloyal to; to reveal a secret b e t r o t h e d [bih-trohthd] adj. engaged to be married. c a r e s s [kuh-res] n. an act or gesture expressing affection an embrace, kiss, especially a light touching.

i n s c r i p t i o n [in-skrip-shuhn] n. words cut, impressed,

or written on stone.

i n t o x i c at e d [in-tok-si-key-tid] v. mentally or emotion-

ally exhilarated.

c ava l i e r [kav-uh-leer] n. one having the spirit or bearing

k e y (kee) n. the basic note of the main scale used in a piece of music. In the key of G, for example, G is the fundamental note; the music often returns to it and comes to rest on it.

c h o r d (kawrd) n. a group of notes played at the same time

person.

c h o r u s (kawr-uh s) n. 1. a group of singers. 2. a piece of

l a m e n t (luh-ment) n. a formal expression of sorrow or mourning, especially in verse or song; an elegy or dirge.

c h r o n o l o g i c a l (kron-o-loj-i-kuhl) adj. a method

slow time and dignified style.

c o m p e n s at e [kom-puhn-seyt] v.t. to make amends to

ally unrestrained, a rake.

c o n s o l e [kuhn-sohl] v.t. to alleviate or lessen the grief or

musical.

of a knight; a courtly gentleman. in harmony.

music for these.

of arrangement that puts events in order of occurrence. (someone), esp for loss or injury. sorrow; give comfort.

k n av e [neyv] n. an unprincipled, untrustworthy, or dishonest

l a r g o (lahr-goh) adv. & adj. a musical term meaning in l i b e r t i n e [lib-er-teen] n. a person who is morally or sexul i b r e tt o (li-bret-oh) n. the words of an opera or other long l o u t [lout] n. an awkward, stupid person; clumsy, ill-man-

nered boor; oaf.

4 99

l u s t y [luhs-tee] adj. lustful; lecherous m aj o r (mey-jer) adj. music in a major key uses a major scale, in which the first three notes are the key note followed by intervals of a tone and then another tone (for example, A, B, C). It often has a cheerful, strong sound. m i n o r (mahy-ner) adj. Music in a minor key uses a minor

scale, in which the first three notes are the key note followed by intervals of a tone and then a semitone ( for example A, B, C). It often has a sad, melancholic sound. m o c k [mok] v. to attack or treat with ridicule, contempt, or

derision.

n at u r a l (nach-er-uhl) adj. a note that is neither flat-

q u a n d a r y [kwon-duh-ree] n. a state of perplexity or

uncertainty, dilemma.

r a k e [reyk] n. a dissolute or immoral person, especially a man

who is licentious.

r e d o u b l e d [ree-duhb-uhl] v. to double; twice as great. r e s o l u t i o n [rez-uh-loo-shuhn] n. the act determining

upon a course of action, method.

r e t i r e [ri-tahyuhr] v. to withdraw, or go away or apart, to

a place of privacy.

r e v e n g e [ri-venj] v. to take vengeance for; inflict punish-

ment for; avenge.

tened nor sharpened.

r o g u e [rohg] n. a dishonest, knavish person; scoundrel.

n o o k [nook] n. any small recess or sheltered spot.

r u s e [rooz] n. a trick, stratagem, or artifice.

o at h [ohth] n. a solemn appeal to some revered person with determination to keep a promise.

SC A LE (SKEYL) N. a series of notes arranged in descending or ascending order of pitch.

o c tav e (ok-tiv) n. a note that sounds twice as high in pitch as another is an octave above the other note, and has the same letter naming it.

s c h e m i n g [skee-ming] adj. given to making plans, especially sly and underhand ones; crafty.

o p e r a (op-er-uh) n. a play in which the words are sung to

s c o u n d r e l [skoun-druhl] n. a shady person; villain.

musical accompaniment.

s e e t h e [seeth] v. to be in a state of agitation or excitement.

o p u s (oh-puhs) n. a musical compostion numbered as one of a composer’s works (usually in order of publication).

interval midway between two whole tones.

o r c h e s t r a (awr-kuh-struh) n. a large body of people playing various musical instruments, including stringed and wind instruments.

O V ER T URE (OH-VER-CHER) N. an orchestral composition

forming a prelude to an opera or ballet.

pa l l o r [pal-er] n. unusual or extreme paleness, as from fear,

ill health, or death.

pa n g [pang] n. a sudden feeling of mental or emotional

distress or longing.

p e n i t e n t [pen-i-tuhnt] adj. feeling or expressing sorrow

for sin or wrongdoing

p e r f i d y [pur-fi-dee] n. an act or instance of faithlessness or

treachery.

PI A NISSIMO (PEE-UH-NEES-EE-MOH) adv. a musical term

meaning very softly.

PI A NO (PEE-AN-OH) adv. a musical term meaning softly. p i s t o l e [pi-stohl] n. a former gold coin of Spain.

PLO T (PLOT) N. the series of events in an opera, story, novel, etc.

P l u t o [p l o o -toh] n. ruler of the underworld.

SEMI T ONE (SEM-EE-TOHN) N. a half step or half tone, an s e r e n a d e [ser-uh-neyd] v. a vocal performance at night, by a lover under the window of his lady. s e r v i t u d e [sur-vi-tood] n. slavery or bondage of any kind.

SH A RP ( # ) (SHAHRP) N. any note a semitone higher than another note. Also, slightly too high in pitch. s l a n d e r [slan-der] n. a malicious, false, statement or report.

SOPR A NO (SUH-PRAN-OH) N. the highest female or boy’s

singing voice.

S TA G E (STEYJ) N. a platform on which an opera, play, etc. are performed for an audience.

S TA G IN G (STEY-JING) N. the presentation or production on

the stage.

SYMPHONY (SIM-FUH-NEE) N. a long elaborate musical composition (usually in several parts) for a full orchestra.

SYNOPSIS (SI-NOP-SIS) N. a summary.

T ENOR (TEN-ER) N. the highest male singing voice.

T ONE (TOHN) N. 1. an interval equal to two semitones. 2. the sound quality of an instrument or voice.tragic (traj-ik) adj. ex-

tremely mournful, melancholy, or pathetic.

P r o s e r p i n e [proh-sur-puh-nee] n. a Roman goddess of

t r i f l e [ t r a h y- fuhl] n. a matter, affair, or circumstance of

PRES T O (PRES-TOH) ADV. a musical term meaning very fast.

v e n g e a n c e [ v e n -juhns] n. infliction of injury on a

springtime and wife of Pluto.

PRO TA G ONIS T (PROH-TAG-UH-NIST) N. the leading char-

acter in an opera, play, story, etc.

p r u d e n t [prood-nt] adj. wise or judicious in practical

affairs; discreet or sober.

little importance or significance.

person who has been harmed; violent revenge.

V ERISMO (VUH-RIZ-MOH) N. realism in opera. v i l l a [ v i l -uh] n. a large country residence or estate. v i l l a i n [ v i l - uhn] n. a cruel person involved in wickedness. w h e t [ w e t ] v. t. to make keen or eager; stimulate w o e [ w o h ] n . grievous distress, affliction, or trouble

50

THE S CH O O L DI S TRICT O F PHIL A DELPHI A S CH O O L REF O R M C O M M I S S I O N Joseph A. Dworetzky, member

Feather Houston, member

Wendell E. Pritchett, member Sylvia P. Simms, member

William R. Hite, Jr., Ed.D Superintendent of Schools

Penny Nixon Chief Academic Officer

Dennis W. Creedon, Ed.D. Deputy Chief, Academic Enrichment & Support

Sounds of Learning™ was established by a

generous grant from The Annenberg Foundation.

Dedicated funding for the Sounds of Learning™ program has been provided by:

Corrado Rovaris, John P. Mulroney Music Director

Michael Bolton, Vice President of Community Programs

Programs Department ©2014

1420 Locust Street, Suite 210 Philadelphia, PA 19102

Tel: 215.893.5927

Universal Health Services

operaphila.org/learn

Anonymous

Michael Bolton Vice President of Community Programs bolton@operaphila.org

Hamilton Family Foundation Wells Fargo Foundation

$10,000 to $19,999

Fax: 215.893.7801

Eugene Garfield Foundation

Adrienne Bishop Community Programs Assistant bishop@operaphila.org

The Hirsig Family Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation

Special thanks to:

$5,000 to $9,999

Philip Groshong Don Giovanni production photos Cincinnati Opera

The ARAMARK Charitable Fund

Morgan Stanley Foundation

O PER A PHIL A DELPHI A

Opera Philadelphia Community

$20,000 to $49,999

GlaxoSmithKline

David B. Devan, General Director & President

Written and produced by:

Alpin J. & Alpin W. Cameron Memorial Trust Ethel Sergeant Clark Smith Memorial Fund

The McLean Contributionship $1,000 to $4,999

Louis N. Cassett Foundation Mutual Fire Foundation

Dr. Dennis W. Creedon Creator, Sounds of Learning™ Curriculum Consultant Dr. Daniel Darigan Curriculum Consultant Eleanor Bracey Consultant EMI Classics, Ltd. Maureen Lynch Operations Manager Academy of Music Cornell Wood Head Usher Academy of Music

Opera Philadelphia is supported by major grants from The William Penn Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and The Lenfest Foundation.

Additional support is provided by the Independence Foundation and the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.

Opera Philadelphia receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Academy of Music Ushers Karma Agency Design Concept and Cover Design Kalnin Graphics Printing

51

operaphila.org