FREE ESSAY ON DONGIOVANNI OPERA IN MODERN TIMES

DONGIOVANNI OPERA IN MODERN TIMES

Music has the capability to bring forth many emotions and feelings in a person. Depending
on the tone and the melody of the music, emotions such as anger, joy, and grief may
arise. For example, rap music, in general, brings forth emotions such as anger,
frustration, and rage to a person's mind. Melodies such as Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go
On and Aerosmith's I Don't Want To Miss A Thing often arouse emotions of love, sadness,
and hope; lovey-dovey feelings which remind a person of a past or current love. In
Mozart's Opera Don Giovanni, many emotions and feelings, such as hatred, distress, and
sorrow are portrayed and felt through the characters.
Opera is a unique genre of spoken word and song accompanied by music. The music takes one
through ascending and descending ranges of emotions. Mozart's Don Giovanni is a perfect
example of how this genre emits a wide variety of feelings and attitudes. This dark
comedy seems to convey Mozart's feeling that events have both comical and serious
dimensions... (Kerman, 205). The opera, as a whole, is neither exclusively comedic nor
entirely tragic.
The character I have chosen to focus on specifically is Donna Elvira. Her character is
one that portrays many different roles and expresses many different feelings and
emotions. Elvira's main purpose as a character is the role of the avenger, seeking
revenge upon Don Giovanni for his false promises and promiscuous manner. However, as much
as she wants to hate Don Giovanni, ruin his name, and make sure that everyone knows that
he is a liar and a player, one also senses reluctance and fear in not just her voice, but
also through the music which accompanies her. Her tone is often shaken and at times seems
to portray her want for sympathy. One finds themselves feeling sorry for this character
and sympathizes with what she has gone through due to Don Giovanni. Although her words
are brash and unkind (regardless of how just she is in her accusations), the music
carries a distinctive rhythm that provokes the feeling of sorrow and pain; thus one finds
oneself feeling sympathy for Elvira.
The character of Elvira makes a clear distinction between her sorrow, and her anger. In
Act I when Elvira is first introduced as a character, she sings of wanting to kill Don
Giovanni because he had lied to her. Falsely promising her his hand in marriage, this
only leads to heartache and distress for Elvira because she truly believed that he loved
her. Leporello described it, in the Peter Sellars' updated version of Don Giovanni, as a
bad soap opera. Elvira expresses her pain and suffering in these few lines:
Ah, who can tell me where that wretch has gone? I loved him, to my shame, and he broke
his faith to me. If I find him again, and he tries to escape, I'll make a horrible
scandal; I'll tear his heart from his breast! (Act I, 143).
During this scene, Elvira vows to kill Don Giovanni for causing her this grief. She
states that the scoundrel (Don Giovanni) has deceived and betrayed (Act I, 145) her! She
was powerless to his love and gained nothing in return except pain and anguish. One can
hear the mixed tone of Elvira's voice; it is strong and full of fury, yet weak and almost
tearful.
To accompany her words, Mozart has added a unique blend of classical music, which he
mixes to create an opera buff. The music in this specific scene is slightly fast-paced,
yet its tone is one of soft melody. This combination, as I see it, serves the purpose of
allowing an audience to understand Elvira's rage and pain, and therefore, becomes
compassionate and sympathetic to what the character is feeling emotionally.
The swift-like pace of the music which accompanies Elvira's words reveals her anger and
furry towards Don Giovanni. Most rapidly paced music often has the result of whipping
people into an emotional, and sometimes physical, frenzy. Examine Eminem's rap music: his
spitfire words and rapid rhythm get listeners emotionally riled up (mostly geared towards
anger and rage). Mozart purposely makes the rhythm of music in this scene upbeat because
he wants the audience to feel her rage and the emotions Elvira is experiencing. Thus, the
result of this is sympathy towards Elvira, and Don Giovanni is perceived as the villain
(which of course he was).
On the flip side, the tone of the music is also slow and melancholy, which expresses
Elvira's hurt and sorrow. Although the fast-paced rhythm gives one a feel for Elvira's
anger, mixing it with a slower tone allows the audience to feel her pain and sympathize
with the character even further. The sorrow and softness of the music adds an emotional
element of heartache and tears, allowing one to reflect on a tainted love from the past.
Having been reminded of past heartache and pain through the music, one now is able to
relate with Elvira's situation and sympathize with her on a new and deeper level than
before.
By no means am I a musical genius, I can not even carry a tune if one paid me to;
therefore, distinguishing the difference between the tone, rhythm, and pitch of music is
personal difficulty for me. However, relating to a character and feeling emotionally what
he/she does is not a task that takes great skill. It is in our nature, as humans, to be
emotionally moved by music. The sound, melody, rhythm, tone, even words in a song provoke
emotions based on past experiences and current problems. Many people, most for that
matter, use music as an outlet for emotion. Some compose, like Mozart, some write lyrics,
others simply listen to the sounds and let their emotions as a result of the music.