The Complete Opera Book Part 3

_Cherubino_ is then brought in to try on _Susanna's_ clothes. He sings to the _Countess_ an air of sentiment, one of the famous vocal numbers of the opera, the exquisite: "Voi che sapete, che cosa e amor" (What is this feeling makes me so sad).

[Music]

The _Countess_, examining his officer's commission, finds that the seal to it has been forgotten. While in the midst of these proceedings someone knocks. It is the _Count_. Consternation. _Cherubino_ flees into the _Countess's_ room and _Susanna_ hides behind a curtain. The evident embarra.s.sment of his wife arouses the suspicions of her husband, who, gay himself, is very jealous of her. He tries the door _Cherubino_ has bolted from the inside, then goes off to get tools to break it down with. He takes his wife with him. While he is away, _Cherubino_ slips out and leaps out of a window into the garden. In his place, _Susanna_ bolts herself in the room, so that, when the _Count_ breaks open the door, it is only to discover that _Susanna_ is in his wife's room. All would be well, but unfortunately _Antonio_, the gardener, enters. A man, he says, has jumped out of the _Countess's_ window and broken a flowerpot. _Figaro_, who has come in, and who senses that something has gone wrong, says that it was he who was with _Susanna_ and jumped out of the window. But the gardener has found a paper. He shows it. It is _Cherubino's_ commission. How did _Figaro_ come by it? The _Countess_ whispers something to _Figaro_.

Ah, yes; _Cherubino_ handed it to him in order that he should obtain the missing seal.

Everything appears to be cleared up when _Marcellina_, accompanied by _Bartolo_, comes to lodge formal complaint against _Figaro_ for breach of promise, which for the _Count_ is a much desired pretext to refuse again his consent to _Figaro's_ wedding with _Susanna_. These, the culminating episodes of this act, form a finale which is justly admired, a finale so gradually developed and so skilfully evolved that, although only the princ.i.p.als partic.i.p.ate in it, it is as effective as if it employed a full ensemble of soloists, chorus, and orchestra worked up in the most elaborate fas.h.i.+on. Indeed, for effectiveness produced by simple means, the operas of Mozart are models.

But to return to the story. At the trial in Act III, between _Marcellina_ and _Figaro_, it develops that _Figaro_ is her long-lost natural son. _Susanna_ pays the costs of the trial and nothing now seems to stand in the way of her union with _Figaro_. The _Count_, however, is not yet entirely cured of his fickle fancies. So the _Countess_ and _Susanna_ hit upon still another scheme in this play of complications. During the wedding festivities _Susanna_ is to contrive to send secretly to the _Count_ a note, in which she invites him to meet her. Then the _Countess_, dressed in _Susanna's_ clothes, is to meet him at the place named. _Figaro_ knows nothing of this plan.

Chancing to find out about the note, he too becomes jealous--another, though minor, contribution to the mix-up of emotions. In this act the concoction of the letter by the _Countess_ and _Susanna_ is the basis of the most beautiful vocal number in the opera, the "letter duet" or Canzonetta sull'aria (the "Canzonetta of the Zephyr")--"Che soave zeffiretto" (Hither gentle zephyr); an exquisite melody, in which the lady dictates, the maid writes down, and the voices of both blend in comment.

[Music]

The final Act brings about the desired result after a series of amusing _contretemps_ in the garden. The _Count_ sinks on his knees before his _Countess_ and, as the curtain falls, there is reason to hope that he is prepared to mend his ways.

Regarding the early performances of "Figaro" in this country, these early performances were given "with Mozart's music, but adapted by Henry Rowley Bishop." When I was a boy, a humorous way of commenting upon an artistic sacrilege was to exclaim: "Ah! Mozart improved by Bishop!" I presume the phrase came down from these early representations of "The Marriage of Figaro." Bishop was the composer of "Home, Sweet Home." In 1839 his wife eloped with Bochsa, the harp virtuoso, afterwards settled in New York, and for many years sang in concert and taught under the name of Mme. Anna Bishop.

DON GIOVANNI

Opera in two acts by Mozart; text by Lorenzo da Ponte.

Productions, Prague, Oct. 29, 1787; Vienna, May 17, 1788; London, April 12, 1817; New York, Park Theatre, May 23, 1826.

Original t.i.tle: "Il Dissoluto Punito, ossia il Don Giovanni"

(The Reprobate Punished, or Don Giovanni). The work was originally characterized as an _opera buffa_, or _dramma giocoso_, but Mozart's n.o.ble setting lifted it out of that category.

CHARACTERS

DON PEDRO, the Commandant _Ba.s.s_ DONNA ANNA, his daughter _Soprano_ DON OTTAVIO, her betrothed _Tenor_ DON GIOVANNI _Baritone_ LEPORELLO, his servant _Ba.s.s_ DONNA ELVIRA _Soprano_ ZERLINA _Soprano_ MASETTO, betrothed to ZERLINA _Tenor_ [Transcriber's Note: should be 'Baritone']

"Don Giovanni" was presented for the first time in Prague, because Mozart, satisfied with the manner in which Bondini's troupe had sung his "Marriage of Figaro" a little more than a year before, had agreed to write another work for the same house.

The story on which da Ponte based his libretto--the statue of a murdered man accepting an insolent invitation to banquet with his murderer, appearing at the feast and dragging him down to h.e.l.l--is very old. It goes back to the Middle Ages, probably further. A French authority considers that da Ponte derived his libretto from "Le Festin de Pierre," Moliere's version of the old tale. Da Ponte, however, made free use of "Il Convitato di Pietra" (The Stone-Guest), a libretto written by the Italian theatrical poet Bertati for the composer Giuseppe Gazzaniga. Whoever desires to follow up this interesting phase of the subject will find the entire libretto of Bertati's "Convitato" reprinted, with a learned commentary by Chrysander, in volume iv of the _Vierteljahrheft fur Musikwissenschaft_ (Music Science Quarterly), a copy of which is in the New York Public Library.

Mozart agreed to hand over the finished score in time for the autumn season of 1787, for the sum of one hundred ducats ($240). Richard Strauss receives for a new opera a guarantee of ten performances at a thousand dollars--$10,000 in all--and, of course, his royalties thereafter. There is quite a distinction in these matters between the eighteenth century and the present. And what a lot of good a few thousand dollars would have done the impecunious composer of the immortal "Don Giovanni!" Also, one is tempted to ask oneself if any modern ten thousand dollar opera will live as long as the two hundred and forty dollar one which already is 130 years old.

Bondini's company, for which Mozart wrote his masterpiece of dramatic music, furnished the following cast: _Don Giovanni_, Signor Ba.s.si, twenty-two years old, a fine baritone, an excellent singer and actor; _Donna Anna_, Signora Teresa Saporiti; _Donna Elvira_, Signora Catarina Micelli, who had great talent for dramatic expression; _Zerlina_, Signora Teresa Bondini, wife of the manager; _Don Ottavio_, Signor Antonio Baglioni, with a sweet, flexible tenor voice; _Leporello_, Signor Felice Ponziani, an excellent ba.s.so comico; _Don Pedro_ (the Commandant), and _Masetto_, Signor Giuseppe Lolli.

Mozart directed the rehearsals, had the singers come to his house to study, gave them advice how some of the difficult pa.s.sages should be executed, explained the characters they represented, and exacted finish, detail, and accuracy. Sometimes he even chided the artists for an Italian impetuosity, which might be out of keeping with the charm of his melodies. At the first rehearsal, however, not being satisfied with the way in which Signora Bondini gave _Zerlina's_ cry of terror from behind the scenes, when the _Don_ is supposed to attempt her ruin, Mozart left the orchestra and went upon the stage. Ordering the first act finale to be repeated from the minuet on, he concealed himself in the wings. There, in the peasant dress of _Zerlina_, with its short skirt, stood Signora Bondini, waiting for her cue. When it came, Mozart quickly reached out a hand from his place of concealment and pinched her leg. She gave a piercing shriek. "There! That is how I want it," he said, emerging from the wings, while the Bondini, not knowing whether to laugh or blush, did both.

One of the most striking features of the score, the warning words which the statue of the _Commandant_, in the plaza before the cathedral of Seville, utters within the hearing of _Don Giovanni_ and _Leporello_, was originally accompanied by the trombones only. At rehearsal in Prague, Mozart, not satisfied with the way the pa.s.sage was played, stepped over toward the desks at which the trombonists sat.

One of them spoke up: "It can't be played any better. Even you couldn't teach us how."

Mozart smiled. "Heaven forbid," he said, "that I should attempt to teach you how to play the trombone. But let me have the parts."

Looking them over he immediately made up his mind what to do. With a few quick strokes of the pen, he added the wood-wind instruments as they are now found in the score.

It is well known that the overture of "Don Giovanni" was written almost on the eve of the first performance. Mozart pa.s.sed a gay evening with some friends. One of them said to him: "Tomorrow the first performance of 'Don Giovanni' will take place, and you have not yet composed the overture!" Mozart pretended to get nervous about it and withdrew to his room, where he found music-paper, pens, and ink.

He began to compose about midnight. Whenever he grew sleepy, his wife, who was by his side, entertained him with stories to keep him awake.

It is said that it took him but three hours to produce this overture.

The next evening, a little before the curtain rose, the copyists finished transcribing the parts for the orchestra. Hardly had they brought the sheets, still wet, to the theatre, when Mozart, greeted by enthusiastic applause, entered the orchestra and took his seat at the piano. Although the musicians had not had time to rehea.r.s.e the overture, they played it with such precision that the audience broke out into fresh applause. As the curtain rose and _Leporello_ came forward to sing his solo, Mozart laughingly whispered to the musicians near him: "Some notes fell under the stands. But it went well."

The overture consists of an introduction which reproduces the scene of the banquet at which the statue appears. It is followed by an allegro which characterizes the impetuous, pleasure-seeking _Don_, oblivious to consequences. It reproduces the dominant character of the opera.

Without pause, Mozart links up the overture with the song of _Leporello_. The four princ.i.p.al personages of the opera appear early in the proceedings. The tragedy which brings them together so soon and starts the action, gives an effective touch of fore-ordained retribution to the misdeeds upon which _Don Giovanni_ so gaily enters.

This early part of the opera divides itself into four episodes.

Wrapped in his cloak and seated in the garden of a house in Seville, Spain, which _Don Giovanni_, on amorous adventure bent, has entered secretly during the night--it is the residence of the _Commandant_--_Leporello_ is complaining of the fate which makes him a servant to such a restless and dangerous master. "Notte e giorno faticar" (Never rest by day or night), runs his song.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Copyright photo by Dupont

Scotti as Don Giovanni]

_Don Giovanni_ hurriedly issues from the house, pursued by _Donna Anna_. There follows a trio in which the wrath of the insulted woman, the annoyance of the libertine, and the cowardice of _Leporello_ are expressed simultaneously and in turn in manner most admirable. _The Commandant_, attracted by the disturbance, arrives, draws his sword, and a duel ensues. In the unequal combat between the aged _Commandant_ and the agile _Don_, the _Commandant_ receives a fatal wound. The trio which follows between _Don Giovanni_, the dying _Commandant_, and _Leporello_ is a unique pa.s.sage in the history of musical art. The genius of Mozart, tender, profound, pathetic, religious, is revealed in its entirety. Written in a solemn rhythm and in the key of F minor, so appropriate to dispose the mind to a gentle sadness, this trio, which fills only eighteen measures, contains in a restricted outline, but in master-strokes, the fundamental idea of this mysterious drama of crime and retribution. While the _Commandant_ is breathing his last, emitting notes broken by long pauses, _Donna Anna_, who, during the duel between her father and _Don Giovanni_, has hurried off for help, returns accompanied by her servants and by _Don Ottavio_, her affianced. She utters a cry of terror at seeing the dead body of her father. The recitative which expresses her despair is intensely dramatic. The duet which she sings with _Don Ottavio_ is both impa.s.sioned and solicitous, impetuous on her part, solicitous on his; for the role of _Don Ottavio_ is stamped with the delicacy of sentiment, the respectful reserve of a well-born youth who is consoling the woman who is to be his wife. The pa.s.sage, "Lascia, O cara, la rimembranza amara!" (Through love's devotion, dear one) is of peculiar beauty in musical expression.

After _Donna Anna_ and _Don Ottavio_ have left, there enters _Donna Elvira_. The air she sings expresses a complicated nuance of pa.s.sion.

_Donna Elvira_ is another of _Don Giovanni's_ deserted ones. There are in the tears of this woman not only the grief of one who has been loved and now implores heaven for comfort, but also the indignation of one who has been deserted and betrayed. When she cries with emotion: "Ah! chi mi dice mai quel barbaro dov'e?" (In memory still lingers his love's delusive sway) one feels that, in spite of her outbursts of anger, she is ready to forgive, if only a regretful smile shall recall to her the man who was able to charm her.

_Don Giovanni_ hears from afar the voice of a woman in tears. He approaches, saying: "Cerchiam di consolare il suo tormento" (I must seek to console her sorrow). "Ah! yes," murmurs _Leporello_, under his breath: "Cos ne consol mille e otto cento" (He has consoled fully eighteen hundred). _Leporello_ is charged by _Don Giovanni_, who, recognizing _Donna Elvira_, hurries away, to explain to her the reasons why he deserted her. The servant fulfils his mission as a complaisant valet. For it is here that he sings the "Madamina" air, which is so famous, and in which he relates with the skill of a historian the numerous amours of his master in the different parts of the world.

The "Air of Madamina," "Madamina! il catalogo"--(Dear lady, the catalogue) is a perfect pa.s.sage of its kind; an exquisite mixture of grace and finish, of irony and sentiment, of comic declamation and melody, the whole enhanced by the poetry and skill of the accessories.

There is nothing too much, nothing too little; no excess of detail to mar the whole. Every word is ill.u.s.trated by the composer's imagination without his many brilliant sallies injuring the general effect.

According to _Leporello's_ catalogue his master's adventures in love have numbered 2065. To these Italy has contributed 245 [Transcriber's Note: should be '640'], Germany 231, France 100, Turkey 91, and Spain, his native land, 1003. The recital enrages _Donna Elvira_. She vows vengeance upon her betrayer.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Copyright photo by Dupont

Sembrich as Zerlina in "Don Giovanni"]

The scene changes to the countryside of _Don Giovanni's_ palace near Seville. A troop of gay peasants is seen arriving. The young and pretty _Zerlina_ with _Masetto_, her affianced, and their friends are singing and dancing in honour of their approaching marriage. _Don Giovanni_ and _Leporello_ join this gathering of light-hearted and simple young people. Having cast covetous eyes upon _Zerlina_, and having aroused her vanity and her spirit of coquetry by polished words of gallantry, the _Don_ orders _Leporello_ to get rid of the jealous _Masetto_ by taking the entire gathering--excepting, of course, _Zerlina_--to his chateau. _Leporello_ grumbles, but carries out his master's order. The latter, left alone with _Zerlina_, sings a duet with her which is one of the gems, not alone of this opera, but of opera in general: "La ci darem la mano!" (Your hand in mine, my dearest). _Donna Elvira_ appears and by her denunciation of _Don Giovanni_, "Ah! fuggi il traditore," makes clear to _Zerlina_ the character of her fascinating admirer. _Donna Anna_ and _Don Ottavio_ come upon the stage and sing a quartette which begins: "Non ti fidar, o misera, di quel ribaldo cor" (Place not thy trust, O mourning one, in this polluted soul), at the end of which _Donna Anna_, as _Don Giovanni_ departs, recognizes in his accents the voice of her father's a.s.sa.s.sin. Her narrative of the events of that terrible night is a declamatory recitative "in style as bold and as tragic as the finest recitatives of Gluck."

_Don Giovanni_ orders preparations for the festival in his palace. He gives his commands to _Leporello_ in the "Champagne aria," "Finch' han dal vino" (Wine, flow a fountain), which is almost breathless with exuberance of antic.i.p.ated revel. Then there is the ingratiating air of _Zerlina_ begging _Masetto's_ forgiveness for having flirted with the _Don_, "Batti, batti, o bel Masetto" (Chide me, chide me, dear Masetto), a number of enchanting grace, followed by a brilliantly triumphant allegro, "Pace, pace o vita mia" (Love, I see you're now relenting).

[Music]

The finale to the first act of "Don Giovanni" rightly pa.s.ses for one of the masterpieces of dramatic music. _Leporello_, having opened a window to let the fresh evening air enter the palace hall, the violins of a small orchestra within are heard in the first measures of the graceful minuet. _Leporello_ sees three maskers, two women and a man, outside. In accordance with custom they are bidden to enter. _Don Giovanni_ does not know that they are _Donna Anna_, _Donna Elvira_, and _Don Ottavio_, bent upon seeking the murderer of the _Commandant_ and bringing him to justice. But even had he been aware of their purpose it probably would have made no difference, for courage this dissolute character certainly had.

After a moment of hesitation, after having taken council together, and repressing a movement of horror which they feel at the sight of the man whose crimes have darkened their lives, _Donna Elvira_, _Donna Anna_, and _Don Ottavio_ decide to carry out their undertaking at all cost and to whatever end. Before entering the chateau, they pause on the threshold and, their souls moved by a holy fear, they address Heaven in one of the most touching prayers written by the hand of man.

It is the number known throughout the world of music as the "Trio of the Masks," "Protegga, il giusto cielo"--(Just Heaven, now defend us)--one of those rare pa.s.sages which, by its clearness of form, its elegance of musical diction, and its profundity of sentiment, moves the layman and charms the connoisseur.

[Music:

D ANNA Protegga il giusto cielo

D ELVIRA Vendichi

D OTTAV Protegga il giusto cielo]

The festivities begin with the familiar minuet. Its graceful rhythm is prolonged indefinitely as a fundamental idea, while in succession, two small orchestras on the stage, take up, one a rustic quadrille in double time, the other a waltz. Notwithstanding the differences in rhythm, the three dances are combined with a skill that piques the ear and excites admiration. The scene would be even more natural and entertaining than it usually is, if the orchestras on the stage always followed the direction _accordano_ (tune up) which occurs in the score eight bars before each begins to play its dance, and if the dances themselves were carried out according to directions. Only the ladies and gentlemen should engage in the minuet, the peasants in the quadrille; and before _Don Giovanni_ leads off _Zerlina_ into an adjoining room he should have taken part with her in this dance, while _Leporello_ seeks to divert the jealous _Masetto's_ attention by seizing him in an apparent exuberance of spirits and insisting on dancing the waltz with him. _Masetto's_ suspicions, however, are not to be allayed. He breaks away from _Leporello_. The latter hurries to warn his master. But just as he has pa.s.sed through the door, _Zerlina's_ piercing shriek for help is heard from within. _Don Giovanni_ rushes out, sword in hand, dragging out with him none other than poor _Leporello_, whom he has opportunely seized in the entrance, and whom, under pretence that he is the guilty party, he threatens to kill in order to turn upon him the suspicion that rests upon himself.