Mozart's Don Giovanni
One of the most interesting challenges in operatic composition , is composing for all the specific characters. A composer has to distinguish between characters through his music. Jan can’t sound like Fran , and Dan can’t sound like Stan. Each character must have his or her own traits. Mozart’s opera , Don Giovanni , provides us with many different characters to compare and contrast. One scene in particular lends itself to the comparison of Don Giovanni , Leporello , and The Commendator. Scene fifteen of Act two, places all three characters in close interaction with each other , making it easy to compare and find out how Mozart and his Librettist Lorenzo da Ponte brought them all to life.
Lorenzo de Ponte’s libretto provides the main character traits of Don Giovanni , Leporello , and The Commendatore. It gives an easy way of distinguishing between the characters. Don Giovanni is portrayed as being smart , charming , and brave , yet selfish , arrogant , womanizing , and pompous. We see all of these traits in the final dinner scene. These opposing traits set up a love hate relationship of Don Giovanni.
Leporello on the other hand , is wimpy , subservient , nervous , and a bit dumb. He is often the butt of Don Giovanni’s jokes , and is always being bossed around. He can be thought of as the comic relief of the opera. In the dinner scene we get a definite feeling of Leporello being a wimpy idiot.
The Commendatore returns , after being slain by Giovanni , as a ghost. He is portrayed as being a mighty , powerful , and ominous. He tries to make Don Giovanni repent for all the terrible things he did. In the dinner scene he is truly a powerful being from beyond. His power is dem...
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... This is just my opinion though. Both performances were very good.
The above thoughts are about a very complex piece of music. The fact that it appears to be simple , is a result of the genius of Mozart and his incredibly ability to write music. This opera works so well because Mozart made it so accessible to regular people. He achieved this simplicity through his meticulous detail to each characters personality. He made sure that Don Giovanni sounded like he should sound; bold , cocky ,and charming. Mozart truly wrote an opera that almost performs itself. I feel that if a person can sing the notes , then most of the point has gotten across. If the singer is boring , the listener can still understand the character through his or her melodic line or the rhythmic patterns of the part. Overall , Mozart composed the perfect music for each character.
As proof that “The Don’s'; philosophies don’t match those of the society that he lives in, the author uses Figaro as a foil. Don tries to convince Figaro that the monogamous life is inferior, and Figaro attempts to redeem “The Don’s'; soul. “The life of a libertine ends badly,'; Figaro says. “ You get old, your teeth turn yellow, you smell like a mutt, and you have to pay women to look at you…'; This passage shows how Figaro tries to convince “The Don'; that the road he travels will end unpleasantly.
"The Mozart Project- Biography." The Mozart Project. mozartproject.org, 25, Apr 1998. Web. 22 Jun 2010. .
Minor characters play a very crucial role in Shakespear's Hamlet. They serve as narrators for events that occurred outside the immediate play: the Dane's ghost. Distinct contrasts are created through the usage of the play's minor characters. The reader gains new perspective on Hamlet's character when he is compared with Laertes. The presence of these minor characters can also have a direct effect on the action of the play. The actors in the play within the play are used to expose the guilt of Claudius; Hamlet then has proof of the King's crimes. The expertise use of these characters - either to exemplify good and purity, or to spread the vile corruption which permeates Elsinore - is one of the main reasons for Hamlet's success as one of the greatest plays ever written.
The four scenes that best illustrate the theme of selfishness and the realities of a self-centered life, and empathy are the first scene in which Juvencio begged his son to save him, the scene in which Juvencio describes the crime he committed with a total lack of empathy, the scene in which don lupe describes the viciousness with which Juvencio killed his father, and the scene in which don lupe’s son orders that Juvencio be killed. All of these factors add up to a very interesting work of
At the age of the Enlightenment, Antonio Salieri becomes the most triumphant musician in the city of Vienna, however, without any warning his harmonious universe comes to an utter halt. Salieri’s absolute faith in the world, in himself, and in God is all at once diminished by this spontaneous child composer. When the two opposite ends meet, there emerges a fury, a rage, and a passion in Salieri to sabotage the boy that has secured Salieri’s deserved God given talent; to destroy the one pubescent child that has made him so mute and naked now in a world of discordance. Salieri’s entire reputation and boyhood prayer to attain fame thus rests on his ability to annihilate that child prodigy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.In analyzing the two composers, Salieri and Mozart, there is a distinct line that clearly divides them. Salieri’s operas receive astounding receptions, making them the “talk of the city,'; shaking the roofs, buzzing the cafes, and even the name Salieri “sounds throughout all of Europe'; (2,3). The reason for Salieri’s success, as well as many musicians of the eighteenth century, is because they have become enslaved by the well-to-do and hence are “no better than servants'; (1,3). This applies especially to the king. For example, in Amadeus, His Majesty forbid any ballet in his operas. Imperial commands such as this are not to be interpreted in any way, in other words, they are to be merely obeyed without any dispute. Since operas tend to the needs of the high society in order to obtain recognition, the operas must communicate through the language of the nobility, that is, Italian. In addition, since the majority of the audience is made up of the upper class, the subject matter of the operas must consist of elevated themes. Such as, mythological heroes, kings, and queens, and so forth. According to the eighteenth century view, operas are supposed to be a sublime and an aggrandizing art. The elevated subject matter is then chosen in order to venerate and honor the nobility. It’s purpose is to “celebrate the eternal in man'; says Van Swieten (2,4). Meaning that there is an element in a noble person that lasts without any end, like God who is immortal. God represents the everlasting and the eternality of existence, thus God gives inspiration to operas that...
Countless dozens of Ph.D. theses must be written about Mozart's The Magic Flute, and yet it is so lively with elements of fantasy and free-flying imagination that it is often the first opera to which children are taken. It has a plot of such complexity that it takes several viewings for all but the most studious opera buffs to sort out the characters and follow the ins and outs of the multilevel story. At the same time, it has so much easily accessible charm and so many glorious Mozart tunes that even the novice will be captivated. There is a large cast of characters including the priest Sarastro (a very serious, proselytizing basso), the Queen of the Night (a mean, angry, scheming coloratura), and her daughter, the beautiful and courageous Pamina. There is the handsome hero, Tamino, on the quintessential road trip, and his cohort in misadventure, the bird seller, Papageno.
Gossett, Philip, William Ashbrook, Julian Budden, Friedrich Lippmann, Andrew Porter, Mosco Carner. Masters of Italian Opera. New York: Norton and Company, 1980.
Some male characters in this book have values that do not draw parallels with their stature in life. For example, Schedoni is a monk, supposedly a loving and caring individual who spreads the word of God. In reality, he conspires with the Marchesa (in a church) to commit a mortal sin, by telling her, "...this girl is put out of the way of committing more mischief..." (173). This action shows his true color, usually green, and through his large ego, this jealous nature reveals itself. If he is secure as a person, these petty grievances against Vivaldi would be just that, petty. Bonarmo's personality does not correspond to his stature either. He is a servant whose loyalty to his master deserts him. He is too independent and too intelligent to be in servitude to a master whom he does not believe superior to himself. These characters possess too much pride and ego to live in a world where they are not always in co...
Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart born January 27, 1756, in Salzburg Austria. Mozart was an esteemed composer, widely recognized as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. Unlike other composers in musical history, he wrote in all the musical genres of his day and excelled in every one. His taste, his command of form, and his range of expression have made him seem the most universal of all composers; yet, it may also be said that his music was written to accommodate the specific tastes of particular audiences. His father, Leopold was the author of a famous violin-playing manual which was published in the year of Mozart’s birth. His mother, Anna Maria Pertly, was born of a middle-class family active in local administration; Mozart and his sister Maria Anna were the only two of their parents’ seven children to survive. Mozart was extremely talented at an early age his father considered him the miracle of Salzburg, his early life and two of his biggest masterpieces are the three topics that will be discussed in this paper.
...the opera Cosi Fan Tutte (All Women Are Like That, 1790), much of his early instrumental music, and canons (rounds) with nonsense words. Mozart also produced deeply serious music. His most profound works include the piano concerto in D minor, several string quartets, the string quintet in G minor, and his last three symphonies - E flat major, G minor, and the Jupiter. Larger works may contain both serious and light elements, as does Don Giovanni. Mozart belonged to the Order of Freemasons and wrote several compositions for their meetings. Some scenes from his fairy-tale opera The Magic Flute was inspired by Masonic traditions and beliefs. A catalog of Mozart’s works was first prepared by Ludwig Kochel (1800-1877), a German music lover. Today, Mozart’s works are still identified by the number Kochel assigned to them. Today Mozart’s music is well known and admired throughout the world. His compositions continue to exert a particular fascination for musicians and music lovers today.
Gioachino Rossini, like many great composers, was born in the right place at the right time. The musical firmament was still mourning the loss of Wolfgang Mozart in 1792 when Rossini was born. His parents were both gifted musicians, and young Gioachino was in a music conservatory by the age of 14. Rossini composed ten operas within the following seven years and had established himself as a gifted composer in the opera buffa style. This genre of comic opera was strikingly different from the rigorous opera seria, but it still managed to acquire some noticeable traits. Primarily, the arias in opera buffe shirk the da capo style of the seria mold. The subject matter deals frequently with common people in every day situations, instead of the mythological gods of seria. Arias often incorporate patter singing, which contrasts strongly with melismatic seria vocal melodies. The buffa style originated in Naples in the early 18th century and spread north through Rome and Bologna. Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro are considered two paradigmatic examples of this style. Rossini was influenced heavily by Mozart’s work, to the extent that he referred to the Viennese composer as “The admiration of my youth, the desperation of my mature years, the consolation of my old age”.
Mozart’s Don Giovanni is an opera, written during the classical period. During the classical period the compositions are not centered on aristocrats or the church as they were in the baroque period but rather the middle class. The opera Don Giovanni is the story of the Spanish Don Juan in which an aristocrat believes he is able to have whomever or whatever he desires without consequence. The music portrays the emotions of Leporello with Act 1 beginning mezzo piano and allegro. The music alternates between wood winds and strings to full orchestra. When Donna Anna and Don Giovanni enter you have a polyphonic sound with Donna Anna singing soprano and Don Giovanni singing tenor, the music becomes fortissimo until Don Giovanni has fatally wounded the Commandant. Once the Commandant is mortally wounded the dynamic changes there is a sudden stop in the music, then a change to pianissimo with a tempo of andante and the tone changes to a dark sound-minor key.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is perhaps the most well-known composer of all time. Countless accounts of his life have been created through the years, and all of them approach the topic of his life with a slightly different perspective. Amadeus provides a humorous and insightful look into the life of Mozart through the flashbacks of an elderly Italian man named Salieri. In his old age, Salieri confesses to a priest that he felt God taunting him throughout life because he always had a profound appreciation for Mozart’s music, but yet could never produce anything like it. Therefore, he turned bitter and spent his life trying to ruin Mozart and his career. Through Salieri’s lense, the audience learns about Mozart’s unique personality. Mozart is shown in the movie as a musical prodigy with an impeccable ability to play and compose. However, Mozart also has a childish, socially awkward side that causes him to be misunderstood by many adults. He lacks practicality and appreciation for social graces, instead preferring to make inappropriate jokes and attend wild parties. Our class’s textbook, The Enjoyment of Music, also
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is often referred to as the greatest musical genius of all time in Western musical tradition. His creative method was extraordinary: his writings show that he almost always wrote a complete composition mentally before finally writing it on paper. Mozart created 600 works in his short life of 35 years. His works included 16 operas, 41 symphonies, 27 piano concerti, and 5 violin concerti, 25 string quartets, and 19 masses.
Mozart and Salieri are both great composers. Salieri pretended to be Mozart’s friend, he was jealous and people thought he killed Mozart. Salieri felt threaten by Mozart and frequently put obstacles in Mozart way.