Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Ιστορική και Συστηματική ΜουσικολογίαLibrary of the School of Philosophy
Author:
Nastos Athanasios
Supervisors info:
Νίκος Μαλιάρας - Καθηγητής - Τμήμα Μουσικών Σπουδών - ΕΚΠΑ (Φιλοσοφική Σχολή)
Μάρκος Τσέτσος - Καθηγητής - Τμήμα Μουσικών Σπουδών - ΕΚΠΑ (Φιλοσοφική Σχολή)
Ιωάννης Φούλιας - Επίκουρος Καθηγητής - Τμήμα Μουσικών Σπουδών - ΕΚΠΑ (Φιλοσοφική Σχολή)
Original Title:
Το ερωτικό πολύπτυχο στην όπερα Don Giovanni του Μότσαρτ και οι προεκτάσεις του.
Translated title:
The multifarius eroticism in the opera Don Giovanni of Mozart and its connotations
Summary:
Comic and realistic elements in this drama giocoso (term indicated in the composer’s autograph score) are combined with their tragic and metaphysical correlations. The vague, enigmatic and ambiguous personality of Don Giovanni relates to the remaining characters of the opera, thus creating a complex of relationships and interweaving the plot using eroticism as a cohesive element. The hero attempts to seduce the female figures of the play: Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, Zerlina, as well as her chambermaid Donna Elvira. Through the medium of music (texture, timbre, harmony, melody, rhythm and dynamics) he adjusts to the mode of life, behaviour and social status of the women who desires to seduce. Don Giovanni is unable to express the passion he suffers from in words. For him only Music, which is the ultimate means of expressing the intensity of sensuality, renders the total vastness of his passion. His servant Leporello- the alter ego of DG- also plays an important role in the play, since the two characters are interwoven into one.
Don Giovanni’s figure constitutes a determinant in the opera, as he is the main character in the play, while all the others acquire status and evolve through the protagonist's actions and feelings. Life itself is reflected in his persona. The other persons simply represent mere passions and feelings, emerging through his action.
In the protagonist's stance we can detect elements of old beliefs, through which the special relationship between Christian ethics along with sensuality and sexuality is formed. Moreover, the dual personality of Don Giovanni is compatible with the political meaning of the opera. According to the predominant ideology of the Enlightenment which interprets History as “progress and evolution”, the hero is considered reactionary and anachronistic. However, there is also another side of the Enlightenment, which perceives History as “regression” of sensuality. As a result, the hero becomes a tragic figure, a defender of joy of life and tolerance who renders himself a victim of the supporters of oppression and a new social class which is nothing more than disappointing.
Main subject category:
Fine arts - Entertainment
Keywords:
Sensuousness, eroticism, passion, demonic element, spiritual sensuality, Enlightenment, urban class, revenge, comic element, tragic element, adumbration, disguise, seduction, orhestration, musical intervals, motif, tonality, chord, rythm, aria, retsitative
