For sure it was a fantastic musical and dramatic night full of surprises and unexpected gimmicks, really unexpected ? Not quite!
All I have to recall is the
Haneke Don Giovanni I saw at Bastille , then the 2008 one in Salzburg where Leporello-Erwin Schrott had a tramp look and charmed Elvira -Dorothea Roschmann in a bus stop... and part of the action took place in a city -garden where some seringes could be seen in rubbish stacks. I was a bit shocked then very amused and in the end under the charm of this very sick Don Giovanni-Christopher Maltman.
The rule, somehow, is following this pattern:
Directors have a decisive role these days and I suppose get a fair amount of the budget given for the opera. Their duty is to reshape the libretto to a new modern concept which will give the characters a modernised mental attitude while words and music do not change (most of the time).
So it is the great laundry and dusting of the libretto to actualize the dramatic action and the mental state of the characters to the tastes of the 21st century. And the predominant tastes these days are violence and sex so, bingo ! Don Giovanni XVIIIth century character is already a modern pervert violent with women and already a sex addict, ready to rape Donna Anna and become a killer when discovered. This is already in the libretto but not explicit so now is the explicit side of it in this new staging.
Don Giovanni is a rapist ready to shoot his opponent in cold blood. Guns ( three on stage quite often) are always at hand in this version. Leporello is also a criminal and the driver of the yellow cab (like a New York taxi) which is Don Giovanni 's car opposed to a black Limousine where Donna Anna's father arrives on stage, gun in hand, aimed at Don Giovanni and shoots him dead as he is shot dead by the hero at the same time in a real mafioso style! Don Giovanni's body will remain on stage but will also be reborn of his ashes!( the hardest part of the staging really)
What is rather hilarious in this opening scene is the lift which is projected on the Roman Wall almost like a street art design, where Don Giovanni is seen, going up to Donna Anna's bedroom window ... then the skreiching of the cab tyres arriving and departing ... and the mafia looks on both sides...So right at the beginning we know we are in a violent environment which is to be emphasized at the Fête ... the drinks and food being replaced by sex in rather lascivious positions... necessary to the drama all that or just to be sure the audience, perhaps a younger audience would be coming The "bouffon" style of it all saved the show !
It did not hurt me much: I found it so extreme that it had a comic effect on me and Erwin Schrott on his first appearance, in dark grey shirt and trousers had such an easy natural way to play 'truant' a rather vulgar one too with funny attitudes and Spanish footsteps, wincing at us (I was sitting at the second row on the very end of the row and could see all the gestures and intentions, it was amazing, . He made the show that night, in all positions and circumstances ! He was brilliantly vulgar and annoying with smashing singing and presence. His singing was fine considering he acted every bit of his role with so much brio! I remember as I was thinking about his Leporello I witnessed in Salzburg, asking myself" was he really singing ?" This time sitting so near the stage I know he is a real singing actor!!!
The Roman Wall was a kind of reference almost in each scene and I quite liked watching the projections, like the transformation of the top into an 18th century mansion when necessary, then during the Catalogue Aria there were messages of killed and abused women stuck on the Wall with red blood stains, then, written on the wall, Mozart 's and Don Giovanni 's dates of birth and death appeared almost like tags !
The drawback of being so near the stage was a lack of perspective of the entire Wall with colours changing and also lines moving according to what was played by the musicians as the orchestra was also so fine and the real Mozart's voice. I must have missed many details that night! (I had the feeling that when the orchestra goes into the famous B minor the Wall was sort of trembling with lines like waves because the music takes us in another world... the Requiem world, the underworld of the icy stone handshake awaiting Don Giovanni,)
There was a juxtaposition of I8th centary details in costumes and settings and modern ones.
I do not try to understand it as I have no chance to see this opera twice, no public broadcast on French Television this year which is rather surprising as Orange has been the popular Summer event of the operatic French world (perhaps international world ?) for years on NATIONAL CHANNELS. There must be a severe lack of money in Culture and National TV channels. But we all know all is going private in France these days so Les Choregies will be under a complete private board I suppose very soon.. I could be wrong because I am not interested in what is going on these days, it is beyond my understanding).
The Commander arrived again in his black limousine as a remake of the first scene and the horse-drawn carriage also appeared with the rebirth of Don Giovanni (which had been lying on the stage for half the opera length; all that is rather confusing but may be the whole opera is a flash -back, for Davide Livermore) . Shooting on both sides occured again and then the18th century elements disappeared and the tremendous Commander's shout " Don Giovanni...." filled the space with a frightening depth ( the Russian bass Alexeï Tikhomirov is huge so is his voice ) and the end follows Da Ponte with the new staging bits! Leporello re - embarks in his yellow cab with the two couples except for Donna Elvira who walks up the stairs through the main Wall gate in mourning being the only one who cares for monstruous Don Giovanni and going to a "nunnary"after this drama.
Karine Deshayes is the central woman character in this version, she is the symbol of all the women fooled by her libertine husband. She acted with sincere emotions throughout the opera her arias were perfect with musicality and dramatic contrasts.
During the imbroglio scene in act 2 Don Giovanni banded her eyes to show she is fooled by both Don Giovanni and Leporello. She played this part with genuine credibility," whirling like a puppet ! Then in scene 8 when Leporello is arrested by Ottavio Anna Zerlina and Masetto, her repeated 'Pieta' shows her real love which is also expressed in her last aria, with the short "a cappella" :
.."..aperto veggio il baratro mortal.... " very moving, then music again for the very sad " Misera Elvira"
The audience 's clapping at the end of this aria showed how much her acting and singing were appreciated !
If I try to express my admiration for all the singers from compromario roles to the seven main ones that will be my conclusion: Admiration for all of them ! I was expecting the main arias and was not disappointed because under the starry very warm night in such an amazing natural setting with no wind it was a real treat to hear all these fine voices even the new ones I discovered, like the sweet looking Italian soprano, Mariangela Sicilia-Anna, or the beautiful Zerlina-Annalisa Stroppa, and her huge Masetto-Igor Bakan! These young voices were enchanting and got tremendous applause! Of course Mozart knew how to catch the listener's heart: When Stanislas de Barbeyrac -Don Ottavio carried his white chair around the pit wall and sat in front of the pit facing the dark huge audience I was in another world at the first notes ! His " Il mio tesoro" was soft ' legere 'and touching. I saw him in Marseille right at his beginning and now he is starring on international scenes! I could say the same about Adrian Sampetrean-Leporello, sometimes looking and sounding like Erwin Schrott's twin brother !
Frédéric Chasslin did a fine job in the pit with the opera de Lyon Orchestra considering all the extra noises to deal with Mozart rhythm during this opus: shots, tyres making incredible sharp annoying high pitched sounds, and shouts of cruaulty during the ultra violent Masetto's bashing (was it necessary?)... it is not easy to play Mozart in a XXIcentury setting in front of Augustus Statue ....
But all considered it was amazingly funny "giocoso' and tremendously moving 'tragico'
Musicians and singers did a fine job. After all this Da ponte libretto is "bouffone" and tragic, why not sex and violence in a 'bouffon' way acted by such a great actor as Erwin Schrott a mixture of Latin lover and mafioso in this production but also tragic libertine in the very end! Leporello is a coward and can feel the tragic end of his master when hearing the Commander's voice. After Elvira 's great cry in spite of all the new effects of the staging Don Juan has to face hell 'inferno' with a definite shot. We were back to the Requiem and it was grand under the stars after all these contrasted musical moments.
This time being almost 'historical' in such a place and not knowing if there will be aother smashing vocal selection of artists for Mozart like this one, plus me not getting around too much next Summer, may be, I asked my dearest mezzo Karine Dehayes for a selfie! Her generosisty is amazing ! She took me back to the Roman tiers, she chose the spot and took the photo :
Mille baci sweetest Karine!
This could well be the END !!
Applause for Mozart and the entire cast !
Karine Deshayes-Donna Elvira
Erwin Schrott-Don Giovanni
And the whole cast.
( Karine Deshayes § JP Furlan photo from La Marseillaise Christian Dresse)
