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Apr. 22nd, 2006 05:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
polutropeI saw my opera, I saw my opera! (Fangirl mode off.)
In all honesty, it wasn't a great performance.
I thought the production was, overall, decent - there was clever business during the Catolog Aria (I wasn't really imagining a physical list, but it worked), but I thought that their decision to have a completely decrepit Commendatore weakens him (Well, obviously. For the purposes of the drama, I think it's better for him to be a robust sixty-year-old. In the recording I have, he and Don Giovanni go at it for a few passes before he dies.) But you've got to be doing something wrong when I think "Ottavio/Elvira!" during Il mio tesoro. (Although I think they would be a better couple and that bitch Anna doesn't deserve him.)
The singing was... mediocre to not-great. Zerlina had a very thin voice. When you cast a Zerlina you have to think about the fact that she's a peasant and probably isn't supposed to have a good voice, but she has two arias and Là ci darem la mano, so I'd probably use my best soprano for her. Elvira was fine in the first act, and good in the second, especially Mi tradi quell'alma ingrata. Anna was... not good. Very thin voice, and her ornamentation made me wince. I also thought she was flat some of the time. (For the record, I strongly dislike her character, but she has a pretty aria.)
The men were better, most of the time. Masetto was somewhat wooden, but fine. I liked Ottavio, although he wasn't always stellar - he improved for the second act too, which was a Good Thing, because I thought his Dalla sua pace was weak. The Commendatore didn't have the big, threatening voice the part needs, in my opinion. Don Giovanni was pretty good, I thought - he conveyed the "slick bastard" role well. Leporello, on the other hand, carried the performance. He acted well and sang well, and was very funny.
The acting was alright. Zerlina overacted; Masetto underacted. Anna and Elvira were both good, although Anna overacted some. Ottavio was very sweet and nice (No, I am not an Ottavio fangirl. I don't know what you're talking about.)
The end was, well, lame. Maybe it was just because we were high up and could see where the trapdoor was; maybe it was because Don Giovanni crawled to his fate. It simply didn't strike fear into my heart the way my reccording did.
Also, the translation was awful. It was really pathetic how much I didn't need it, but it was still Not Good. They tended to use phrasing with less impact. One example, which isn't really good, because I don't know what the real translation is, is Pare un libro stampato, which my libretto translates as "She talks like a novel" and theirs as "She knows him like a book." Regardless of which one is more correct, mine is funnier.
But all of that didn't matter, because it was still Don Giovanni and it was still Mozart, and I loved it, even though it wasn't perfect. There was no way it could meet my standards, after all.
P.S. The eighteenth century had better clothes.
In all honesty, it wasn't a great performance.
I thought the production was, overall, decent - there was clever business during the Catolog Aria (I wasn't really imagining a physical list, but it worked), but I thought that their decision to have a completely decrepit Commendatore weakens him (Well, obviously. For the purposes of the drama, I think it's better for him to be a robust sixty-year-old. In the recording I have, he and Don Giovanni go at it for a few passes before he dies.) But you've got to be doing something wrong when I think "Ottavio/Elvira!" during Il mio tesoro. (Although I think they would be a better couple and that bitch Anna doesn't deserve him.)
The singing was... mediocre to not-great. Zerlina had a very thin voice. When you cast a Zerlina you have to think about the fact that she's a peasant and probably isn't supposed to have a good voice, but she has two arias and Là ci darem la mano, so I'd probably use my best soprano for her. Elvira was fine in the first act, and good in the second, especially Mi tradi quell'alma ingrata. Anna was... not good. Very thin voice, and her ornamentation made me wince. I also thought she was flat some of the time. (For the record, I strongly dislike her character, but she has a pretty aria.)
The men were better, most of the time. Masetto was somewhat wooden, but fine. I liked Ottavio, although he wasn't always stellar - he improved for the second act too, which was a Good Thing, because I thought his Dalla sua pace was weak. The Commendatore didn't have the big, threatening voice the part needs, in my opinion. Don Giovanni was pretty good, I thought - he conveyed the "slick bastard" role well. Leporello, on the other hand, carried the performance. He acted well and sang well, and was very funny.
The acting was alright. Zerlina overacted; Masetto underacted. Anna and Elvira were both good, although Anna overacted some. Ottavio was very sweet and nice (No, I am not an Ottavio fangirl. I don't know what you're talking about.)
The end was, well, lame. Maybe it was just because we were high up and could see where the trapdoor was; maybe it was because Don Giovanni crawled to his fate. It simply didn't strike fear into my heart the way my reccording did.
Also, the translation was awful. It was really pathetic how much I didn't need it, but it was still Not Good. They tended to use phrasing with less impact. One example, which isn't really good, because I don't know what the real translation is, is Pare un libro stampato, which my libretto translates as "She talks like a novel" and theirs as "She knows him like a book." Regardless of which one is more correct, mine is funnier.
But all of that didn't matter, because it was still Don Giovanni and it was still Mozart, and I loved it, even though it wasn't perfect. There was no way it could meet my standards, after all.
P.S. The eighteenth century had better clothes.
