Favourite Mozart opera

Of all composers one feels that Mozart was an effortless vessel through which the music simply flowed. And of all his operas Cosi is, in my view, the most effortless, artless and complete expression of Mozart's genius. Magic Flute seems laboured, the Don in my opinion has weaknesses, Figaro is delightful and all the rest of it but just misses. No, Cosi fan Tutte, of all Mozart's operatic repertoire delights, dazzles and captivates at every listening. Faultless and perfect. But let's give a hand to da Ponte as well!

Originally posted by Pianoman1
Of all composers one feels that Mozart was an effortless vessel through which the music simply flowed. And of all his operas Cosi is, in my view, the most effortless, artless and complete expression of Mozart's genius. Magic Flute seems laboured, the Don in my opinion has weaknesses, Figaro is delightful and all the rest of it but just misses. No, Cosi fan ...[text shortened]... tivates at every listening. Faultless and perfect. But let's give a hand to da Ponte as well!

No doubt Cosi Fan Tutte is a remarkable work of art, but despite all flaws Don Giovanni is a far superior opera. It seems disjointed because Mozart had to insert arias not fitting the flow of music, despite their beauty, to mollify demanding divas(os) who thought he could and should do better by them. That's why we have the beautiful but odd Dalla Sua Pace, less demanding than "Il mio tesoro" and insterted completely out of context. That aria alone disrupts the flow of the work dramatically. That said, however, no one argues Cosi is also a great work and Da Ponte a genius librettist.

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
No doubt Cosi Fan Tutte is a remarkable work of art, but despite all flaws Don Giovanni is a far superior opera. It seems disjointed because Mozart had to insert arias not fitting the flow of music, despite their beauty, to mollify demanding divas(os) who thought he could and should do better by them. That's why we have the beautiful but odd Dalla Sua P ...[text shortened]... That said, however, no one argues Cosi is also a great work and Da Ponte a genius librettist.

Mozart: Don Giovanni "Juan". Interesting film!!

Released on DVD under the opera's original title, this is actually Kasper Holten's film Juan, aimed at the European and US arthouse circuit, though UK showings have been rare. Based on Don Giovanni rather than interpreting it, it's a striking, piece of work. It's not for purists: insisting on cinematic cogency, Holten cuts and reorders the score in ways no one would find acceptable in the theatre. Transforming the opera into an erotic thriller, the film was shot in Budapest, with the performers singing live on set rather than lip-synching to a pre-recorded soundtrack. There are acknowledged debts to the Bourne trilogy and Steven Soderbergh's Traffic. But hooded figures lurking in doorways remind us of Don't Look Now, and there are inevitable, if unintentional, parallels with Shame.

Holten offers variants on Mozart's narrative. Juan/Giovanni (Christopher Maltman) is an artist-pornographer, prowling bars and streets in search of sexual encounters, which are filmed as potential subjects for paintings by his foul-mouthed sidekick Lep/Leporello (Mikhail Petrenko, revelatory). Anna (Maria Bengtsson), the self-obsessed daughter of the local police chief, has a penchant for copulation in her father's office while he's away. Elvira (Elizabeth Futral) is an out-of-towner, in desperate need of affection. Holten's take on the ending is creepy, though not as startling or morally complex as Mozart's original.

Holten trades too knowingly, at times, on the narrative disparities between the opera and his film. But this is much more erotic than many stagings of the piece, and by the end we really do understand the nature of Juan's unsettling sexual hold over the women who stray into his orbit, only to find themselves unable to leave. That's ultimately due to Maltman's charismatic artistry and Holten's filming of it, both of which are sensational.

Originally posted by Pianoman1
Mozart: Don Giovanni "Juan". Interesting film!!

Released on DVD under the opera's original title, this is actually Kasper Holten's film Juan, aimed at the European and US arthouse circuit, though UK showings have been rare. Based on Don Giovanni rather than interpreting it, it's a striking, piece of work. It's not for purists: insisting on cinematic cog ...[text shortened]... charismatic artistry and Holten's filming of it, both of which are sensational.

Say it ain't so! I am no prude by any stretch, but although this sounds interesting it also repulses me the same way ultra modern settings of Figaro repulse me where they cast Almaviva as a heroin addict and his wife a a sex-crazed promiscuous bitch perennially in heat. I dunno, although I would never consider myself a purist we already have too much explicitness to warrant even more. I'd rather leave things to my imagination. Juan/Giovanni needs no explicit explanation nor does Leporello. Don Giovanni is precisely a great work of art because it stirs the imagination. No two bit film maker need explain Juan/Giovanni so explicitly to the knowing crowd. That said, however, I appreciate your alerting us to a film some may find fascinating indeed. I'd love to hear Teinosuke's take on such a film.

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
Say it ain't so! I am no prude by any stretch, but although this sounds interesting it also repulses me the same way ultra modern settings of Figaro repulse me where they cast Almaviva as a heroin addict and his wife a a sex-crazed promiscuous bitch perennially in heat. I dunno, although I would never consider myself a purist we already have too much ex o a film some may find fascinating indeed. I'd love to hear Teinosuke's take on such a film.

Yes and no. Great works should be open to varied interpretations. The Macbeth set in 50's York York, Fidelio in outer space (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), the many Ring interpretations at Bayreuth etc. each with a valid message disseminated by passionate and sincere directors. That said, to prostitute the music and pornographise the libretto in such a way as indicated in this film does seem to cross the line. I welcome all attempts at introducing classical music to those whose eyes and ears are, as yet, closed, but I just wonder whether those who have been converted by such a bizarre film will, in fact,return for more.

Originally posted by Pianoman1
Yes and no. Great works should be open to varied interpretations. The Macbeth set in 50's York York, Fidelio in outer space (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), the many Ring interpretations at Bayreuth etc. each with a valid message disseminated by passionate and sincere directors. That said, to prostitute the music and pornographise the libretto in such a way as ...[text shortened]... der whether those who have been converted by such a bizarre film will, in fact,return for more.

You make my very point for me. Such persons tend to not return to classical, tend to create bizarre imagery in their minds in a Pavlovian manner instead of focusing their inner eye on the beauty of what they were being exposed to. Kind of in the manner of being desensitized to baseness in the same way child pornography may push the borderline molester over the edge.

I am not talking about the "fresh look" approach some stage directors take. That I don't mind, but deviating from a story wildly or inserting a nonsensical character that leaves one scratching ones head is what I'm talking about. Can you imagine a Miley Cyrus style "La ci darem la mano" with nubile nymphet Zerlina in revealing underwear grinding her hips surrounded by teddy bears while Don Giovanni stick his face in her crotch? Too much explicitness ruins great art. The very lack of subtlety is anti-intellectual, invades ones mind to the detriment of the music and eliminates the old maxim of "leave 'em wanting more", which is in great measure imagination stimulating to a greater degree than laying it all out.

Just imagine, scacchipazzo, what operatic wonders Mozart would have composed, had to lived to be Wagner's age!! After all, Wagner had not even started Das Rheingold until 1853, at the age of 40 - five years later than Mozart lived!

Originally posted by Pianoman1
Just imagine, scacchipazzo, what operatic wonders Mozart would have composed, had to lived to be Wagner's age!! After all, Wagner had not even started Das Rheingold until 1853, at the age of 40 - five years later than Mozart lived!

I have always wondered and yearned for a full life like Wagner's having been granted to Mozart, Schubert, von Weber, Pergolesi, Chopin and many others who died too young yet reached artistic maturity. One can only imagine what gifts these greats might have bestowed upon us had they lived longer lives. We see it indeed in Beethoven, Wagner, Brahms, Verdi and Haydn. I also wish Rossini had not retired so young.

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
I have always wondered and yearned for a full life like Wagner's having been granted to Mozart, Schubert, von Weber, Pergolesi, Chopin and many others who died too young yet reached artistic maturity. One can only imagine what gifts these greats might have bestowed upon us had they lived longer lives. We see it indeed in Beethoven, Wagner, Brahms, Verdi and Haydn. I also wish Rossini had not retired so young.

And Mendelssohn. What music he was writing in his teens! The extraordinary E flat major string octet, and the incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream to name just two precocious works of this genius.

Originally posted by Pianoman1
And Mendelssohn. What music he was writing in his teens! The extraordinary E flat major string octet, and the incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream to name just two precocious works of this genius.

In the end, because of his youth, everything ended up being precocious with Mendelssohn! Have you heard his Elijah, an oratorio half of history's composers would kill to have written anything half as good. Mendelssohn's quartets and other chamber works are also awesome, but like you I am very fond of his octet and no one could ever dislike Midsummer Night's Dream.

"Amadeus", the movie has just begun. Any suggestions on scenes I should focus on? Thanks.

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
"Amadeus", the movie has just begun. Any suggestions on scenes I should focus on? Thanks.

Not really. The whole movie truly emphasizes Mozart's greatness. My favorite moment is when Salieri narrates his first encounter with "the creature" at Mozart's employer's palace where he hears the slow movement from Mozart's Serenade for winds in B flat major K361 Gran Partita, a wonderful masterpiece. This was one of the Mozart works that homed my ear to great music after repeated listening.

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
Makes sense to stage Oberon in English instead of German. I had no idea it was originally in English. I still envy anyone who can follow German. I'd be content to understand it without speaking it. My enjoyment of Wagner would be greater still.

Wagner of all Composers is not really about the words as I hear his work.

Originally posted by Ponderable
Wagner of all Composers is not really about the words as I hear his work.

Sorry to disagree, but I must gently dissent. Wagner is entirely about the words. He always maintained that the words, the story, were the most important part and that the music, the leitmotivs etc, simply bring the story to life. Difficult to process in the light of how powerful his music is, but true nevertheless. The Ring would be utterly meaningless without the story. It is not pure, abstract music.

Originally posted by Ponderable
Wagner of all Composers is not really about the words as I hear his work.

I am going to agree with pianoman1. Wagner indeed all about the words melded with the music into a coherent whole unlike any composer's before or since. Only Schubert evidenced the same ability although he did not write any of the poetry he set to music. Take Erlkonig for example. Is there a more dramatic lied than this? I cannot think of one other than perhaps Der Leierman from the Die Wintereisse song cycle. The Ring is wonderfully poetic and for it all to have been written by the same person is nothing short of amazing.