Table Of ContentThe Original Portrayal of Mozart’s Don
Giovanni
The Original Portrayal of Mozart’s Don Giovanni offers an original reading of
Mozart’s and Da Ponte’s opera Don Giovanni, using as a lens the portrayal of the
title role by its creator, the baritone Luigi Bassi (1766–1825).
Although Bassi was coached in the role by the composer himself, his portrayal
has never been studied in depth before, and this book presents a large number of
new sources (first- and second-hand accounts), which allows us to reconstruct his
performance scene by scene. The book confronts Bassi’s portrayal with a study of
the opera’s early German reception and performance history, demonstrating how
Don Giovanni as we know it today was not only created by Mozart, Da Ponte
and Luigi Bassi but also by the early German adapters, translators, critics and
performers who turned the title character into the arrogant and violent villain we
still encounter in most of today’s stage productions.
Incorporating a discussion of the dramaturgical thinking of the late Enlightenment
and the difficult moral problems that the opera raises, this is an important study
for scholars and researchers from opera studies, theatre and performance studies,
music history as well as conductors, directors and singers.
Magnus Tessing Schneider (Stockholm University) is a Danish theatre scholar
specialising in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Italian opera. He has edited
Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito: A Reappraisal (2018), together with Ruth Tatlow,
and Felicity Baker’s essay collection Don Giovanni’s Reasons: Thoughts on a
Masterpiece (2021).
Ashgate Interdisciplinary Studies in Opera
Series Editor: Roberta Montemorra Marvin,
University of Massachusetts, USA
The Ashgate Interdisciplinary Studies in Opera series provides a centralized
and prominent forum for the presentation of cutting-edge scholarship that draws
on numerous disciplinary approaches to a wide range of subjects associated
with the creation, performance, and reception of opera (and related genres) in
various historical and social contexts. There is great need for a broader approach
to scholarship about opera. In recent years, the course of study has developed
significantly, going beyond traditional musicological approaches to reflect new
perspectives from literary criticism and comparative literature, cultural history,
philosophy, art history, theatre history, gender studies, film studies, political
science, philology, psychoanalysis, and medicine. The new brands of scholarship
have allowed a more comprehensive interrogation of the complex nexus of means
of artistic expression operative in opera, one that has meaningfully challenged
prevalent historicist and formalist musical approaches. This series continues to
move this important trend forward by including essay collections and monographs
that reflect the ever-increasing interest in opera in non-musical contexts. Books in
the series are linked by their emphasis on the study of a single genre - opera - yet
are distinguished by their individualized and novel approaches by scholars from
various disciplines/fields of inquiry. The remit of the series welcomes studies
of seventeenth-century to contemporary opera from all geographical locations,
including non-Western topics.
Digital Scenography in Opera in the Twenty-First Century
Caitlin Vincent
The Operas of Rameau
Genesis, Staging, Reception
Edited by Graham Sadler, Shirley Thompson and Jonathan Williams
The Original Portrayal of Mozart’s Don Giovanni
Magnus Tessing Schneider
For more information about this series, please visit: www .routledge. com /music /
series /AISO
The Original Portrayal of
Mozart’s Don Giovanni
Magnus Tessing Schneider
Cover image: Wilhelm Marstrand: Donna Anna summons her servants
(Act I scene 1). Paper and ink. Mid-nineteenth century. Photo ©: The
Henrik Engelbrecht Collection, Copenhagen.
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Magnus Tessing Schneider
The right of Magnus Tessing Schneider to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The Open Access version of this book, available at www .taylorfrancis
.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non
Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-24320-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-15833-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-28170-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9780429281709
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
To my research group Performing Premodernity, my academic
family:
Petra Dotlačilová
Maria Gullstam
Willmar Sauter
Mark Tatlow
Meike Wagner
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface x
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
Rewriting the myth of Don Juan 1
The demonising of Don Giovanni: a historical overview 5
Notes 12
1 Luigi Bassi as Don Giovanni 15
The singer and his role 15
Intention and experience: prescriptive and descriptive sources 18
The performer as a phenomenon 27
Grace and gallantry: Bassi’s portrayal 33
Performance traditions: Italians and Germans 36
Notes 44
2 The opening scene 54
Notes 65
3 Don Giovanni and the three women 68
Donna Elvira’s entrance aria 68
The duettino 75
The quartet and Donna Anna’s narration 83
Notes 92
4 The party episode 98
The champagne aria 98
The garden scene 104
The ballroom scene 109
Notes 126
viii Contents
5 The disguise episode 131
The first duet with Leporello 131
The trio 134
The canzonetta 144
The disguise aria 146
Notes 152
6 The graveyard scene 155
Notes 165
7 The second finale 168
The supper 168
The last encounter with Donna Elvira 175
Don Giovanni and the stone guest 181
The final scene 203
Notes 206
Postscript: In defence of the operatic work 213
Notes 224
Bibliography 227
Index 240
Illustrations
1.1 Medard Thönert: ‘Don Giovanni performed by Signor Bassi’ (Act
II scene 3). Engraving. 1797 20
2.1 Wilhelm Marstrand: Donna Anna tries to restrain Don Giovanni
(Act I scene 1). Paper and ink. Mid-nineteenth century 58
2.2 Wilhelm Marstrand: Donna Anna summons her servants (Act I
scene 1). Paper and ink. Mid-nineteenth century 58
2.3 Reinhold Hoberg after a drawing by Max Slevogt: Donna Anna
tries to restrain Don Giovanni (Act I scene 1). Woodcut. 1921 59
2.4 Johann Friedrich Bolt after a drawing by Vinzenz Georg
Kinninger: Don Giovanni and the stone guest (Act II scene 15).
Engraving. 1801 65
4.1 Max Slevogt: ‘Scene from Don Giovanni (Francisco d’Andrade
on the Forestage)’ (Act I scene 15). Oil painting. 1902 100
4.2 Johann Peter Lyser: ‘Arabesque on the Champagne Aria’ (Act I
scene 15). Drawing. 1837 105
4.3 Wilhelm Marstrand: ‘Don Giovanni’ (Act I scene 18). Paper and
ink. No date (1860s) 108
4.4 Reinhold Hoberg after a drawing by Max Slevogt: Don Giovanni
dances with Zerlina (Act I scene 20). Woodcut. 1921 119
4.5 Reinhold Hoberg after a drawing by Max Slevogt: Don Giovanni
pulls Zerlina into the closet (Act I scene 20). Woodcut. 1921 120
4.6 Reinhold Hoberg after a drawing by Max Slevogt: Don Giovanni
tries to rape Zerlina (Act I scene 20). Woodcut. 1921 121
4.7 Reinhold Hoberg after a drawing by Max Slevogt: Don Giovanni
fencing with the peasants (Act I scene 20). Woodcut. 1921 125
5.1 Johann Peter Lyser: the trio (Act II scene 2). Drawing. 1833 139
5.2 Reinhold Hoberg after a drawing by Max Slevogt: Don Giovanni
in Leporello’s clothes (Act II scene 2). Woodcut. 1921 141
5.3 Reinhold Hoberg after a drawing by Max Slevogt: Don Giovanni
pummels Masetto (Act II scene 5). Woodcut. 1921 151
7.1 Hagesandros, Athenedoros and Polydoros: ‘Laocoön and His
Sons’. Marble. Ca. 200 BC 200
