Don Giovanni: A review
I was impressed at how well the orchestra and opera singers were keeping up with each other. They were able to match each other down to each individual word and note. It showed how much effort and time was spent trying to perfect the performance and it made me gain newfound respect for them. I was also surprised at the last scene of the opera where Don Giovanni was dragged down to hell. Throughout the entire opera, I kept wondering how that scene would play out. While debating about it in my head, I finally convinced myself that they would probably skip that scene since it would be difficult to have real fire on the stage. It was at the same moment that stage cracked and fire appeared while Giovanni was being dragged down to “hell”. However, I wasn’t the only one that was surprised. I found that once that scene came on, everyone around me became wide-awake. Out of the whole performance, it was the most exciting and unexpected scene.
I also found that watching the opera, as opposed to just reading it, gave a better glimpse at the characteristics of each character. For example, Don Giovanni represents pleasure and greed. Giovanni’s only goals in life are women and wine. He refuses to back down or change his ways as evident when he chooses hell. He ultimately doesn’t care about the feelings of the people, such as Leporello and the women he played, that surrounded him. Leporello is essentially Giovanni’s shadow as he represents the polar opposite of Giovanni. The idea of Leporello being Giovanni’s shadow is further supported by the resemblance between the actors of Leporello and Giovanni during the opera and the twins that were casted to play them in the clip we saw at the library. Leporello represents restraint, poverty, cowardice and failure with women. The women in the opera portray fickleness. For example, Donna Elvira moves between hating and loving Giovanni. In the beginning of the opera, Donna Elvira wants revenge on Giovanni but after some coaxing she goes back to loving him. Zerlina, on the other hand, alternates between Maestro and Giovanni. Donna Anna doesn’t stay true to her word and keeps giving excuses. In the beginning of the opera, she refuses to marry until she gets revenge for her father but at the end she still refuses to marry because she needs a year of mourning. Don Ottavio represents loyalty. He is devoted to Donna Anna and swears to get revenge for her, even if it means killing a friend.
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Watching the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique provided a different experience than the Tokyo String Quartet. While The String Quartet only had four players (two violinists, a violist and a cellist), the orchestra had about twenty players just for the violin alone. Having a balcony seat during the orchestra allowed us to get a clear view of each player’s techniques and styles. As a result, I found it mesmerizing to see so many violinists moving their bows together in unison. This is in contrast to the Quartet where each individual plays a separate role in the music piece without guidance. In contrast to that, the orchestra had a conductor present. Since we had a balcony seat, the conductor’s back was always facing us but we were able to get a clear view of his movements. I found it interesting to watch him move his body along with the music. Unlike the quartet, his movement was no longer limited to just his head movements. Here the conductor was able to move his head, hand and body fast, slow, left, right, up and down to the music. Another difference between the two performances is that the orchestra had woodwind, brass and percussion instruments in addition to the strings. Since the orchestra had a larger variety of instruments, they were also able to produce more sounds. I thought that it was a nice edition to the music. Perhaps I’m biased because I used to play in a band or it could be due my need for variety because I get bored easily.
Personally, because of these differences I enjoyed the orchestra more than the string quartet. I felt that the style of music in the orchestra was closer to the type of music that I listen to. I think that the addition of the band instruments gave the music a more modern feel, deviating from the traditional classical music with just the strings. Compared to the quartet, I found that the music played by the orchestra was more upbeat and dramatic. After all, they were easily able to go from quiet creeping sounds to loud and lively music. A random thought that came to me during the orchestra performance when the quiet creeping music was playing was Tom and Jerry. It’s a cartoon that I watched as a kid about a cat and mouse that are constantly at each other’s throats.
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