Yes, Don Giovanni premiered in Prague 224 years ago today, which means it’s a day to celebrate.
I love everything about Don Giovanni–the music, the gothic elements, the comedy, the drama–so much so, that I wrote a novel, DON JUAN IN HANKEY, PA, inspired by the opera. It’s amazing, everything you have to learn to write a book with an opera backdrop. Even more amazing is that you don’t have to know opera to enjoy my book (but you will get all the inside jokes if you do.)
When an opera endures for more than two centuries (while so many others have faded from the repertoire), every company’s done the show in every conceivable way. Here then are a handful of scenes in a variety of treatments–from traditional to very modern interpretations:
Here’s a real “old school” version with superb singing even though the staging is a bit uninspired:
Here’s the same scene from the wonderful movie Amadeus, with some of Salieri’s interpretation of what we are actually seeing. I love the way the Commendatore bursts through the wall in this version:
Another clip, circa 1994, from the Holland Festival, done as chamber opera (opera in the round?), which might have been engaging for the audience to have the Commendatore storming through them:
Here is a version many YouTube watchers criticized. Generally I don’t write off an opera because it’s been contemporized. I look at production values first. Does the whole thing work? Is the vision for the show consistent? You be the judge:
This version, I’m sure, is nothing like you’ve ever seen and may never want to see again. Poor Leporello is missing a hand:
I saw Christopher Alden’s Don G. at New York City opera in 2009, and loved it. No, it was hardly traditional, but it was vital and interesting. I’m sure I would love a traditional production, too, as long as it had a lot of vitality. This was an ironic, erotic, and darkly funny version. Here’s the preview produced by NYC Opera:
So, celebrate with me today, opera fans. Where did you see your favorite Don G. and who sang it?