express Don Juan, since music has “the epic quality that can go on as long as it
will, since one can constantly let it begin again... and hear it over and over
again.” It is the same with the Don’s seductions: “he constantly finishes, and
constantly begins again.” For him, a seduced woman is dangerous because she
has moved to a “consciousness which Don Giovanni does not have.” His
power cannot be expressed in words; only music can give us a conception of it.
This nameless force is the exuberant joy of life. If Don Giovanni is portrayed
as trying hard, against serious obstacles, he becomes reflective, a planner, ver-
bal;but the musical Don has no plan and meets no resistance.- Brown, Kristi Ann. “A Critical Study of the Female Characters in Mozart’s
Don GiovanniandDie Zauberflöte.” Ph.D. diss., U. of California, Berkeley, - 262p.
See also #2141.
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
ASO59 (1984), COH (1988), Rororo (1983).
- Bauman, Thomas. “Coming of Age in Vienna: Die Entführung aus dem
Serail.” In Mozart’s Operas(#1276), 65–87.
Considers how Mozart interpreted the Viennese operatic scene in 1781, as
indicated by his letters to his father. (The preferred composers there were
Paisiello, Salieri, and Gluck.) Genesis, traced mostly in the letters, analysis,
and many useful observations follow. “Like all Mozart’s operas, the Abduc-
tionwas a child of circumstance” but also related to the “parallel emotional
coming of age Mozart experienced in his first 16 months in Vienna.” - Osthoff, Wolfgang. “Comicità alla turca, musica classica, opera nazionale:
Osservazioni sulla Entführung aus dem Serail.” In Opera and Libretto II
(#221), 157–174.
Mozart intended to write an opera that could represent Germanic ideals and
also please Viennese audiences. His use of so-called Turkish elements repre-
sented the barbaric strain in humanity, overcome by the gentle, classical aspect
that was to characterize German national opera. With an interesting explica-
tion of how Mozart achieves the Turkish mood.
La finta giardiniera
- Angermüller, Rudolph. “Wer war der Librettist von La finta giardiniera?”
Mozart- Jahrbuch1976–1977: 1–120.
Argues that the supposed librettist, Raniero Calzabigi, did not in fact write the
text. Suggests, on the basis of recently discovered material, that the real author
was Abate Giuseppe Petrosellini. (This conclusion has been generally
accepted.)
Idomeneo
ASO89 (1986), COH (1993), Rororo (1988).
252 Opera