Comparing two performances
Paper details:
For this discussion project you will be watching YouTube videos of excerpts from two very different performances of the same piece of music from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni”. Don Giovanni is an Italian “Don Juan” character … a cad who collects the names of his romantic conquests. The opera itself is a Drama Giocoso, a production that combines both extremely funny sections and very serious ones. Mozart wrote operas in both German and Italian … Don Giovanni is one of his Italian operas. The scene you will be watching is a seduction scene where Don Giovanni is trying to convince the innocent Zerlina that he is in love and wants to marry her. The duet is titled “La ci darem la mano” which can be translated as “There you will give me your hand” or “There we will go hand in hand”. Zerlina is not sure if she can trust him or not. Immediately after they have sung the duet, Don Giovanni’s attempts at seduction are thwarted by the appearance of one of his former conquests who warns Zerlina about Don Giovanni. Please watch the two different performances of the same piece in the order below. (The first version has an on-screen translation in English so you can tell what is going on … the second one is only presented with the sung Italian but the translation would be identical to the first one.) The first video is of a traditional presentation of the opera, the second one is set in more contemporary times. After watching these two videos please write a critique of the two performances, indicating which one you prefer … and WHY. Consider the singing, the staging, the acting, the pacing of the action, the costumes and anything else that catches your eye, or ear. Think about the different aspects of music we have coveragned in this class so far.
