Yesterday afternoon provided the opportunity for me to return to the War Memorial House to experience the current San Francisco Opera (SFO) production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 527 opera Don Giovanni from a different point of view. Regular readers probably know by now that, where opera performances are concerned, the “action” in the orchestra pit is often as significant as what is taking place on stage. This seemed to be particularly the case where the current production is concerned.
Conductor Bertrand de Billy (photograph by Marco Borggreve, courtesy of SFO)
The conductor for these performances in Bertrand de Billy; and, unless I am mistaken, his visit (also his SFO debut) marked the first time that I encountered a “conductor’s note” in the program book. The one-page essay explained that the first two productions of K. 527 used different versions of the score. As a result, one has to distinguish between the music that was used for the world premiere in Prague in 1787 from that presented at the first performance in Vienna in 1788. These days, most “complete” performances and recordings are based on the Prague version. However, de Billy discussed key features of the Vienna version that impact the flow of the narrative; and, having made his case, he concluded his essay with the assertion that the Vienna version “will be presented here in San Francisco in its historical entirety for the first time.”
For most of us in the audience, the primary difference involves the addition of a duet for Leporello and Zerlina during the second act. Director Cavanagh used this episode as an opportunity to suggest that there was a kinkier side to Zerlina’s character than we usually encounter. Given how much darkness and brutality pervade this act, one gets the impression that both Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte decided that a bit of comic relief would be in order.
Where the music itself is concerned, one might say that it is “all over the place.” In the current production the orchestra pit accommodates a string ensemble of 32 players (ten first violins, eight second violins, six violas, five cellos, and three basses). However, this is one of Mozart’s richer ensembles where winds and brass are concerned: two flutes, two oboes, two clarinet, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, and three trombones. Percussion consists only of a set of timpani. In addition, a continuo of fortepiano (Bryndan Hassman) and cello (Thalia Moore) is required for the recitative portions. Finally, the mandolin accompaniment for the Don’s serenade early in the second act was provided by Craig Reiss, who spent the rest of the performance in the second violin section.
Then there are the “auxiliary” ensembles. The grand ball scene traditionally includes multiple chamber orchestras on stage, giving performances entirely independent of what is happening in the orchestra (not to mention independent of each other). For this production it is unclear who had the final word; but only one of those ensembles was on stage, consisting of only two violins and two basses. This may well be my favorite part of the opera, since listening to (at least) three different sources, all playing different music, is a real hoot. Sadly, most of the musicians in the current production were offstage, and the simultaneity of all those different sources was pretty much inaudible.
More effective was the on-stage wind band that accompanied Don Giovanni’s solitary feast. Two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, and a cello play excerpts from other popular operas of the time. One of them is a quote from the K. 492 The Marriage of Figaro. (Leporello has an aside in which he declares he has heard it much too often!) Finally, the ghostly voice of the Commendatore during the graveyard scene that precedes the feast is accompanied by three trombones, supplemented with pairs of oboes and clarinets and a “continuo” of cello and bass.
In other words this is an opera in which the composer favored the instrumentalists as much as he favored the vocalists (if not more so). Sadly, in spite of the scholarly background in the essay he provided, de Billy rarely brought much spirit to his conducting style. Perhaps he felt that all the drama should be limited to what was happening on stage. Personally, I am inclined to disagree. I would not be the first to observe that Mozart’s symphonic compositions often engage their own approaches to dramatics; and, where K. 527 is concerned, there is ample evidence that the “instrumental action” should be just as intense as the “vocal action” taking place up on stage.
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