Don Giovanni

by W.A. Mozart
Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera Chorus
Patrick Summers, conductor
Performers listed below

Just why do you think we insist on categorizing our entertainment? Music's many genres include Pop, Rock, Classical, Country, and "R & B," to name a few. Shelves at video stores exist for Comedy, Action, Drama, Westerns, and even "family" movies. What's the problem, you ask? Well, haven't you ever gone to your video store looking for a particular, favorite film and been forced to ask what shelf it's on because it just doesn't seem to fit the already-exisiting categories?

Now, come to think of it, it's often just that sort of entertainment -- the stuff we simply can't categorize -- that causes the most controversy. Take the recent, opera-like, cable-TV sensation, The Sopranos. It's wildly popular with audiences and lavishly praised by critics. But just what sort of show is it? Sometimes, it's hilarious, but does that make it "comedy"? Sometimes it's disturbingly violent, but does that relegate it to "action"? When it's sentimental -- "heartwarming," even -- is that the deciding quality to categorize it as a "family" show? The Sopranos's hero commits or orders just about every violent crime in the book -- while enjoying the act -- yet, we continue to like the guy. We actually pull for him to stay out of jail. So, just what is the proper category for these Sopranos?

Naturally, the realm of opera is heavily categorized as well. There's Opera seria and buffa; Lyric Tragedy, Drama, and Comedy; Grand Opera, Light Opera, and Operetta. But just like great movies or TV shows, the best of the lot often don't lend themselves to any one category either. The prime example is Mozart’s Don Giovanni. It features traditional comic patter that plays alongside rape, murder, betrayal, and even the all-encompassing damnation. And, it has a thoroughly detestable title character. Yet, he's likeable. We root for him. And when all is said and done, most of us probably miss him after the trapdoor finally opens, descending him into the fires of hell.

So what sort of opera is Don Giovanni? Mozart called it "dramma giocoso." In his day, “dramma” meant very serious stuff. But “giocoso” meant comedy: "filled with jokes." The designation seems contradictory, but Mozart knew what he was doing: In Don Giovanni, the action doesn’t just jump back and forth from serious to comic. It does both at the same time -- with an effect that was unprecedented in 1787, and may still be. Some critics suggest Don Giovanni as, "The Greatest Work in the History of Western Art!" Well, that’s an imposing title, but if any opera could live up to it, this might be the one. Hear for youself this week on NPR World of Opera with Steve Curwood, in the latest of our broadcast season from Houston Grand Opera.



Performers:
Bo Skovhus (Don Giovanni); Alessandro Corbelli (Leporello); Pamela Armstrong (Donna Elvira); Alexandrina Pendatchanska (Donna Anna); Greg Fedderly (Don Ottavio); Nicolle Heaston (Zerlina); Derrick Parker (Masetto); Daniel Sumegi (Commendatore)

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