Mozart: Don Giovanni

WHEN THE LOEB decided to change its policy and offer musicals, there were no half measures about it. Last fall's Most Happy Fella was an ambitious start which met with great success. The current Leverett Opera Society's production of Don Giovanni has done as well, but in different ways. In the meantime, the Harvard Arts Festival has overloaded the Loeb's front-office capacities to the point that even getting tickets has become an ordeal.

Marriage of Figaro was well received at Prague in 1786. The impresario Bondini hoped to profit again and commissioned Mozart and Daponte for the next season; the fruit of the collaboration was Don Giovanni. As can be said of almost any piece, the opera does contain some of Mozart's finest music. The ensembles are particularly subtle for their delicate musical characterizations.

The action revolves around the licentious exploits of a Don Juan figure, Don Giovanni in the Italian: Raymond Hickman makes a strong, swaggering, insolent libertine whose singing suggests an appropriate mocking tone whether in love or rage. The Don's servant, Leporello, is usually caricatured as an inoffensive jester. As played by Daniel Windham, easily the finest actor of the cast, he became a figure of great sensitivity and dignity. Windham's basso was round and distinct, his stage movements expressive and natural.

The fine English translation of the libretto did not help Elisabeth Phinney as Donna Elvira. Her diction in arias was mediocre. She was perfectly clear through the recitative so the problem is obviously not insoluble. She was at her best in Ah, Fuggi il Traditor, a Handelian rage aria complete with dotted rhythms, large interval leaps, and distinct bass line. In the peasant-girl Zerlina's role, Lisbeth Brittain was properly ingenuous and sang with a bright, light soprano voice.

ALL THE singers were superbly backed by John Miner's orchestra. The overture was done with a speed and precision that puts to shame the student orchestras in the vicinity, which this definitely was not. The violin section was outstanding, playing presto sixteenth-note runs with a remarkable unity. The strings never covered wind solos, among them the beautiful clarinet and bassoon accompaniment to Don Ottavio's Il Mio Tesoro Intanto. An important detail was the size of the harpsichord: mercifully, it was large enough to cut through the heavier scoring, avoiding the distracting jangle that is the fate of a small instrument pushed to extremes.

The chorus did well in their too-brief appearances. It is a wonder that so many fine voices would be willing to devote so many fine voices would be willing to devote so much time to such tiny parts. The greatest disappointment of the opera was the sets. Most ranged from dull to ugly. Surely something more can be done than simply using two screens for a backdrop. The best staging was of the Commendatore's return and the Don's descent into hell. Costuming was colorful and functional, but could not offset the drab backgrounds.

Directing opera is difficult at best and David Bartholomew did not do a great deal that was original or exciting. Most ensemble movement consisted of describing circles in the middle of the stage; and intense drama was more from Daponte's libretto--such as the Commendatore's duel--than from directed motion.

The enthusiastic reception of Don Giovanni was appropriate to the excellent over-all production. Mozart, sung and played well, is a pleasure for virtually every music lover. The Arts Festival has brought together a large group of Boston's finest musicians. To give Harvard students all the credit would undervalue the majority contribution from the non-Harvard people of professional and amateur status alike. In the end, the result only is important: more opera of this caliber can and should be produced with the excellent resources available.