I believe Don Giovanni was more of a serious opera rather than a comedic one. However, it may just be that the director of this specific production interpreted Mozart’s Don Giovanni as opera seria. Although the main tale of Don Giovanni offers a serious lesson to be learned, upon reading libretto, I felt as if Don Giovanni was comedy. I received a totally different feeling from the libretto than watching the live performance. I believe much of the seriousness of Don Giovanni relies upon the interpretations of the director and actors. In the performance we viewed, there were moments of dark setting, ominous music, and somber singing. In the text of the libretto, it is impossible to indicate these serious elements. Although the Don Giovanni we attended was resoundingly serious, some comedic content did make its way into the opera. To me, these were the keen moments where the opera shined. Much of the comedic relief took the form of Leporello’s peculiar relationship with Don Giovanni.

Social class is undoubtedly a vital motif in Don Giovanni, but class differences were much more noticeable in the live production than the text of the libretto. Much of the class differences can be seen in the differences in attire. Peasants such as Zerlina and Massetto wore clothes that were more homely than aristocrats such as Don Ottavio and Donna Anna. Characters of the upper social class also carried themselves with an air of elitism. This is especially evident in the scenes with master Don Giovanni and servant Leporello. The libretto did not reflect social class in the same ways the productions did, mainly because only so much can be inferred from the text.

Music definitely enhanced the story. I believe that had the opera been without music, it would be far more difficult to follow the plot of Don Giovanni. The music added cues that helped make it clear which scenes were meant to be sad, serious, escalating, or deescalating. For example, the scene where Giovanni is dragged down into hell is set to deep, low music. Many of the relationships between characters were also reflected in the sound of the music. Scenes with Don Giovanni and Leporello were often set to high pitched music to reflect the lighthearted and jocular nature of the scenes. I believe music helped communicate the story better because the singing in the opera was in an unfamiliar language. Whereas Italian may only be understood by certain individuals, the sound of music is universal. You can tell the mood of scenes of the opera by listening to the music alone.

I will admit that I found opera not as engaging as the more contemporary performances we attended throughout the semester. However, this did not surprise me because opera is more traditional and lacks the activity of modern dance and the like. The opera we viewed also had prolonged moments of downtime where the only thing happening on stage was repetitive singing. These moments were uneventful to say the least.