Don Giovanni Musical Examples Flashcards
DG no.1
‘notte e giorno facitar’ - big ensemble a bit like finale - multisectional with lots of action.
- First section comic patter from Leporello except one line where he says he wants to act the gentleman – he gets long sustained notes and variable rhythms of higher class characters
- Donna Anna entry introduces more ornamental music, emphasised against patter
- Shift to minor and tremolo with Commendatore
- Final F minor section with three bass lyrical ideas and indistinguishable styles – all caught in communal reaction to tragic events
DG No.3 Elvira aria
No.3 ‘Ah! Chi mi dice mai’ (aria with interjections) - Elvira
- Eb major, 4/4, seria, decisive (parodistic?)
- Lots of apreggiaic phrases (Elvira generally)
- Angry, over the top, but sings with dignity and spirit – about vengeance.
- DG and Lep in background but she doesn’t hear them.
- Sonata form without development
- Heroic and noble in form and time and vocal manner
- Woodwind becomes associated with her especially clarinet
DG No.4 Catalogue aria
- Typical buffo aria, no long intro, no melisma, wide leaps etc
- In 2 sections:
o 4/4 fast, lots of patter, 2-bar phrases
o 3/4, andante - Patter in first section separated by four beat rests, for effect of gradual acceleration when rests taken away.
- Lists all women DG has slept with
DG No.7 La ci darem duet
- F major, in 2 sections
- Chromatic wavering when Zerlina thinks about Masetto
- But then she shares his melody
- 6/8 section – he only moves to her lower style when he knows she will say yes
- They end up singing in uncomplicated parallel thirds
- James Webster labels it an ‘indecision’ aria, typically in different sections – allowing for multiple interpretations (see sexual assault notes)
DG No.8 Elvira aria
Ah! fuggi il traditor
- She interrupts Don G and Zerlina and tells Zerlina to flee
- Archaic dotted rhythms (Handelian style) and very short!
- Elvira does not see Zerlina as social equal so she admonishes her
- Compared to tone in following quartet no.9 ‘non ti fidar’, where she sees Anna as a social equal. Much more of a persuasion, lyrical etc. Also her typical arpeggiations of distress.
- Rushton says ‘one could hardly find a better demonstration of the truism that in opera the composer is the dramatist’.
- but it is undeniably effective - silent Zerlina goes with her
DG no.11 ‘fin ch’han dal vino’
- Drinking song
- Bb major, fast, buffo style
- centres around arpeggio phrases of tonic triad with D as the high point. Therefore reinforces home key but also has heroic connotations of interval at the third (Cooke)
DG No.10 Or sai chi l’onore
- Seria style, switches between D major and D minor.
- Accompanied recit before where she describes the events of the night she was assaulted by DG – intense strings, angry diminished etc. Final cadence is start of aria, propelled immediately into the action.
- High sustained notes to show resolve, wish for vengeance above turbulent semiquavers
- ‘che il padre mi tolse’ – series of string suspensions below lyrical melody, languishing – wavering at death of father
- Middle section she is remembering her father’s death – separated three quaver phrases and disjointed melodic leaps, breathless.
- Return of these words in repeat of A section to show pain suddenly remembering (or at least pretending this!)
- Mozart emphasises pain
- Liar or no? Rushton says music cannot lie (then use my analysis – rammenta la piaga)
- Provides dramatic and musical resolution: she knows who killed her father and D minor home key returns
General Act I finale notes
- Long, 20 minutes. Lots of changes of energy:
o Location (garden to hall)
o Characters
o Tempo (adagio to allegro)
o Metre
o Key
- Masetto jealous; DG enters and announces ball
- DG tries to have his way with Zerlina - Masetto interrupts
- Trio for entry of serious characters
- Lep and DG setting up ballroom; different dances; Zerlina assaulted
- Accusations - they unmask and DG tries to use Leporello as a shield; he refuses to acknowledge his crimes
DG Act I Finale sections 1-3
‘presto presto’
- DG entrance has festive music with trumpets etc. He announces big ball for everyone to come to and does so in buffo style (simple repeated dotted rhythms outlining harmony notes, interspersed with patter).
‘tra quest’arbori’
-DG tries to have his way with Zerlina - 3/4 F major pastoral
‘bisogna aver corragio’
– Trio, move to D minor for entry of serious characters. Lots of parlante and separated notes - anxiety.
- Adagio: move to Bb major. ‘terzetto of the three masks’: Self-contained static section expressing anxiety. ‘protegga il giusto ciel’
o Elvira has long beautiful lines and extensive arpeggios – wanting to avenge her love. Sublime lyrical
o Anna sings in parallel with Ottavio but also has the most virtuosic lines
o Similar affect to ‘Soave il vento’ from Così with undulating clarinet moment – topos of purity.
- Magic of winds-only accompaniment
DG Act I Finale sections 4-5
‘Riposate, vezzose ragazze’
- patter song duet between DG and Leporello
- Minuet: onstage orchestra, three dances simulatenously at same time. Each dance has a separate orchestra.
o 3/4 minuet for aristocratic trio (DE, DA, DO)
o 2/4 contredanse for DG and Zerlina as he tries to assault her
o 3/8 clumsy teitsch for Masetto and Leporello - DG drags Zerlina away and she screams – very different moment to first seduction duet lyricism
Accusations (sextet):
- accusations canonic entries
- angry, rage music for everyone except DG and Lep
- DG and Lep have patter
DG No.15 trio ‘ah, taci, ingiusto core’
- Elvira on balcony being upset; L/DG swap clothes to seduce Elvira/her maid
- Close to sonata form with Elvira scorning her feelings for DG in ‘exposition’ then hating him in development and falling again in recap.
- Violin and viola two quaver offbeat motif represents her heartbeat which he tries to keep under control.
No.16 canzonetta ‘deh viene alla finestra’
- Don Giovanni serenades maid with mandolin (unusual instrumentation, pared back)
- Long, romantic verses ending poetically with weak emphasis to give gentle, undulating feeling
- 2 verses, D major, simple
- Enacts archetype of the troubadour
no.18 Zerlina
‘vedrai carino’
- 3/8, C major
- Zerlina talks about ‘healing’ Masetto with sex. Simple, no large leaps.
- Comforting tender trills, also cheeky.
- 2 sections:
o Lyrical, slow
o Semiquaver accompaniment representing pulsing heartbeat
DG no.21 ‘il mio tesoro’
- Don Ottavio asks Masetto and Zerlina to look after Anna while he goes to sort DG.
- Expressive love theme, lots of virtuosic lines, Eb, 4/4
- Seems incongruous in shadowy darkness of the opera
No.21b ‘mi tradi’
- added for 1788 Vienna revision
- Can be seen as gratuitious as it does not advance the plot
- But it brings more depth to her character’s psychological progression and therefore makes it important
- Makes her more of a seria character
- only time in the opera when Elvira is able to express herself fully without the distracting commentary of other characters
- brief coloratura embellishment on ‘palpitando’ where it goes to all sorts of places including Neapolitan Ab major - illustrates her terror more than anything else
- Clarinets, bassoon, wind
