Question existentielle (406)

Cela faisait un bon bout de temps que je n'avais pas posé de question existentielle. Et il m'est venu en tête une question existentielle aussi brillante qu'érudite. Alors voici donc:

-Dans Don Giovanni de Mozart, en prenant en considération les chiffres donnés par Leporello lors de l'aria du Catalogue, de quelle grandeur et de quel format devrait être ledit catalogue donnant les conquêtes amoureuses de Don Giovanni?

 Pour les amateurs d'opéra et les mozartiens parmi vous.

Lorenzo da Ponte (une biographie)

Je reviens sur la production de Don Giovanni de Mozart  par Opéra du Royaume, qui bat son plein en ce moment. Dernière représentation demain, piur ceux qui peuvent. Je voulais aussi dire quue vous pouvez lire sur le site d'Opéra du Royaume une courte biographie de Lorenzo da Ponte, le librettiste de l'opéra. Je savais pas mal tout ça, à part un détail ou deux. Mais dans tous les cas, c'est un bon résumé de la vie du plus grand librettistes (à mon humble avis) de l'histoire de l'opéra. En fait, da Ponte est un grand dramaturge, point.

'Mozart, You Drive Me Crazy!'

Here's some great musical news, at least for me: South African soprano Golda Schultz (maybe my favourite soprano) is releasing a new album, called Mozart, You Drive Me Crazy!. About Mozart's music from the three operas he composed in collaboration with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. Now, there are many like this, but Schultz just gets Mozart, she is one of the most Mozartian opera singers we have now. Plus, she loves the composer so much, she is as much a fan as she is a singer. And it shows when she sings it. This album is a labour of love and I intend to either buy it, or put it on my birthday presents list. But maybe I will not be able to wait until my birthday, even though it is soon. In any case, check this video about it:

Don Giovanni's Fall to Hell

Here is another countdown to Halloween post for Halloween, but of a different kind. You may know that I love opera. There are also some of them which I consider suitable to listen to during the Halloween season. Among them, Don Giovanni by Mozart. Incidentally, it is my favourite opera. I find the scene where the titular character is thrown in Hell by a vengeful ghost paticularly fitting. So anyway, a few months ago, I found out that Italian artist Milo Manara had actually published a book titled Penditi, about Mozart, with one illustration depicting the composer and the climax of the opera. I found it so cool I knew I had to share it here. I was actually waiting for the countdown to share it. Of course, as it is Manara, there is nudity. But he's no mere pornographer, this is a great depiction of the protagonist's last moment, giving it a taste of hellfire, setting the Commendator as this powerful otherwordly figure and reminding us of the reason of his punishment. And look at Mozart's expression. Just gripping. I love a good Eros and Thanatos cocktail. Anyway, here is the full scene in music:

"Meeting Mozart" for his birthday

Today is the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. My favourite composer and in my opinion the very best opera composer of all time. Which is why he is my favourite composer (and why I think he will always be the most accomplished classical musician of all time, sorry for the controversial opinion, but not sorry and take that Ludwig). Anyway, since today it is his birthday, I celebrate by listening to his music, but also reading about him. So this is the book I have been reading these last few days in preparation for the anniversary of his birth: Meeting Mozart: A Novel Drawn From the Secret Diaries of Lorenzo Da Ponte, by Howard Jay Smith. Grosso modo, it is a fictionalize account of his relationship and collaboration with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. It's pretty nice so far. Both Mozart and Da Ponte's lives are the stuff of legend, so they work well as prime matter for fiction (even if it is often fanfiction). In any case, I encourage you to Mozart up your life today. And to celebrate on this blog, I am sharing a duet from Le Nozze di Figaro. Sung by legendary Diana Damrau and Golda Schultz (who is playing the role of the Countess at the Met at the moment). So anyway, happy birthday Maestro and happy Mozarting everyone!

"All women do it"

No, no, this is not the title of a work of pornographic nature (although let's face it: it could be), it is the title in English of Cosi fan tutte, which premiered 230 years ago today. I have grown quite fond of and fascinated with this opera over the years and thought it needed to be celebrated on Vraie Fiction. So "All women do it" is its title and also the moral of the story. As in "all women are unfaithful, if given the opportunity". Sexist, cynical? Absolutely, yet it is difficult to find flaws in Lorenzo da Ponte's libretto, or Mozart's music. As an external observer, one can easily see how love is fleeting, capricous and fickle. In the end, Cosi is cruel like comedies often are, but in all honesty you cannot fault the argument or the demonstration. Anyway, I have two videos for you, one which gives you a rundown of the plot with commentary, made by the people at Opera Cheats, and one duet from the opera itself, sung beautifully by Anke Vondung and Miah Persson, as Dorabella and Fiordiligi respectively.

"Love is a thief, a serpent..."

It is Valentine's Day, a day I never liked much: when you are single it is depressing, when you are in a relationship it is stressful. That said, as it is the day of love, let us look at one aspect of it, rather than celebrate it. I usually share one song on Valentine's Day, this year it will be from Cosi fan tutte of Mozart. I developed a fascination for this opera, which is about the fleeting aspect of love, its capricious nature and the duplicity of lovers. Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte had no fear of stepping on uneasy territory and no wonder the opera was taboo for so long. But anyway, here is È amore un landrocello (Love is a thief) sung by Anke Vondung as Dorabella.

A duet from Cosi fan tutte

Since I watched Cosi fan tutte in the local park two months ago, I have been rediscovering this opera and decided to find some free time to watch again all three collaborative works between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte, back to back. Not sure if I will have time until my own little Wolfie arrives, but at least that gives him the occasion to hear Mozart while he is in the womb, and apparently it's good for him and his intellectual development. Anyway, so I thought I would share a duet from Cosi fan tutte, the duet Il core vi dono, sung between Guglielmo (Luca Pisaroni) and Dorabella (Anke Vondung). As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject, if I had studied opera enough to become a professional opera singer, Guglielmo would have been my role, as I am a baritone. Fittingly enough, Guglielmo is also Guillaume in Italian. It's is absolutely sublime as a duet and like the whole opera a complete deconstruction of what a love duet should be. In fact, it is far more about infatuation than love and as you can read in the subtitles, the lyrics are surprisingly raunchy. But it is beautiful all the same and the rendition here is amazing.

Pimm's and Mozart in the park

One cannot seldom evenings as ideal as the one I've had last Sunday. There was a representation of Cosi fan tutte by Mozart in the town's most important park. Not a live one, it was on a big screen and from recorded stage performance dating back from last year, but all the same. It was Mozart, for free, on a gorgeous evening of June, in a beautiful park. And to top it off, they were serving Pimm's. Not for free, it was two pounds a glass, there was a good deal left near the end of the evening, two pounds a pint and one pound a half. But it was for charity, so there was no reason to feel guilty about a few drinks. I missed the beginning of the opera, otherwise I watched the whole thing. It was a pleasure to rediscover Cosi fan tutte, another great subversive collaborative work between Mozart and librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. It is the anti love story. And it was a rediscovery in more than one way for me: one of the characters has the same name as me, but in Italian: Guglielmo. And he is played by a baritone, which is my voice. If I ever go back on stage and sing Mozart, I want to sing Cosi fan tutte. And to end this post, here is one of Guglielmo's arias, Donne mie la fate a tanti, sung by Luca Pisaroni. Okay, so I don't have his voice, especially not after all these years of not working on it, but I think with enough work I could pull a decent performance.

Mozart's #hashtags

I found this meme a while ago on Facebook and was wondering of the right moment to use it. And now is the right moment. it is funny and it is of course absolutely true. Mozart used hashtags and to great effect way before hashtags were cool. He was ahead of his time. Now, he is as modern and relevant as he was then. I decided to share it tonight as my wife, who is in the local orchestra, gave a concert yesterday where she played, among other things, the overture of Le Nozze di Figaro. So it is time to share some hashtags in music. See if you can identify them in the overture.

La chute du Dom Juan de Molière

Ah! mes gages! mes gages! Voilà par sa mort un chacun satisfait, Ciel offensé, lois violées, filles séduites, familles déshonorées, parents outragés, femmes mises à mal, maris poussés à bout, tout le monde est content ; il n’y a que moi seul de malheureux, qui après tant d’années de service, n’ai point d’autre récompense que de voir à mes yeux l’impiété de mon maître, punie par le plus épouvantable châtiment du monde. Mes gages! mes gages! mes gages!

Je sais que je sui un peu monomaniaque, après avoir blogué sur Don Giovanni, je blogue encore sur Don Juan, mais celui de Molière. Qui s'écrit Dom Juan. Avec un m. Je l'ai lu plusieurs années après avoir découvert l'opéra, simplement pour connaître ce que je croyais être la source de l'oeuvre. Il faudra bien un jour que je lise l'original de Tirso de Molina. Vous devinez que j'ai développé une certaine obsession sur le personnage de Don Juan. Mais pour moi et jusqu'ici, le libretto de Lorenzo da Ponte demeure l'interprétation définitive du personnage. À la lecture de la pièce, j'étais par ailleurs assez déçu. Il manquait quelque chose, je ne sais encore pas quoi. Cela dit, le dernier acte et la chute, avec les derniers mots de Sganarelle, j'avais trouvé ça très fort. Et ce soir ces mots me hantent, comme ils le font parfois. Il va me falloir revisiter la pièce aussi.

Time for Don Giovanni

As those of you who read my posts in French know, my brother PJ is in Prague these days and tonight he is watching/listening to Don Giovanni by Mozart on the stage that first produced the opera. The performance might actually be over as I am typing this. To say that I envy him is an understatement. I am bleeding jealous. Don Giovanni is my favourite opera and I also consider it the greatest ever written, bare none. So these last few days, I have been dreaming about future time in Prague to do exactly that and been listening to the music a lot. I also read through the libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte (yes, I have it, see the image on the left). But I mainly listen to the arias on YouTube. I wanted to upload one here, I was not sure which one to upload as I have already uploaded many. So I decided to upload the duet La ci darem la mano, which I already did years ago, but followed by Ah! Fuggi il traditor!. So it's a double bill. Anecdote: I did sing the duet when I was learning opera, it was the one and only duet I ever sang actually. Sadly, I never did in front of an audience. On the plus side, I was never chastised by a Donna Elvira looking like Cecilia Bartoli.

Reading a libretto in Italian

I do something these that gets me quite proud: I read the libretto of Don Giovanni by Lorenzo Da Ponte. I found it in a used bookstore in Montreal, in a bilingual edition, French and original Italian. Nothing outstanding here, I used to read the libretti of operas sometimes just before I listened to the whole thing. But here is the thing: I discovered that I barely need the translation. Maybe it is because I have listened and watched the opera a million time, but I do think it is also because I am finally getting into the language itself.

All linguistic pride aside, it is an interesting way to experience an opera without the help of the music. Even without Mozart, I am amazed about how much poetry there is in the lyrics and how brilliantly defined are the characters. Oh, and just for kicks, here is a bit of Don Giovanni, without the subtitles. Finch ha d'al vino sung by Rod Gilfry. I tried singing it a few times. This aria is pure torture for a singer. It is also the first I heard of this opera and it got me hooked.