On Tuesday I got on amazing opportunity over here in Wales. I got to go see the Welsh National Opera’s performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Llandudno. It was absolutely amazing, for only £19 my seat was in the first balcony off to the far stage left side in the second row on the end. I could literally see the spit coming from the mouths of the actors. I could see every facial expression, every emotion, every move, (well except when the were up stage left, that was a little blocked from my view). I don’t even have words for how happy I was for those 3 ½ hours. I have sung a few of the arias/duets from Don Giovanni but I never really fully understood the plot line so it was so incredibly interesting to see the opera in it’s entirety. For example one of Zerlina’s aria’s I sang back in freshman year and I really wasn’t sure what it was about. I mean I had looked up the translation and the story line but I just never really understood the words. Actually seeing that aria be performed within the context of the opera gave me a very different light on the aria. It turns out that she is consoling her husband Masetto who has just been beat up by Don Giovanni who is disguised as his servant/side kick, Leporello. As Zerlina is singing this aria she is essentially telling Masetto that she, and she alone has the key to making him feel better. She had the medicine that he needs but you cannot see it, it is within her. Basically she’s very unsubtly telling him that if come home with her she will make him forget about all of his problems * wink, wink, nudge, nudge * if you catch my drift. Needless to say I found that particularly funny. The whole opera is based around how raunchy Don Giovanni is and how he just goes from town to town sleeping with women. In fact Leporello at one time sings his Catalogue Aria in which he informs Donna Elvira (a woman who Don Giovanni has once “courted”) of the number of women Don Giovanni has slept with in the different countries 640 in Italy, 231 in Germany, 100 in France, 91 in Turkey but in Spain …. 1,003. Basically Don Giovanni is a huge man whore. The opera itself is pretty hysterical in some parts. I mean then in the end Don Giovanni gets dragged into the pits of hell for his sins and for killing Donna Ottavia’s father.
It was just such a wonderful experience. The actors were wonderful. Leporello made me laugh on so many occasions and the actor who played him, David Soar, had such a wonderful bass voice I was in heaven. The costumes and the set were also so intricate and fitting for the opera. I really thought that it was an extremely well done performance. One of my goals while I was here in Wales was to see a performance done by the Welsh National Opera and although it wasn’t in the Millennium Centre in Cardiff I at least got to see them. If I could I would love so much to be a part of a company such as the WNO. Seeing the performance just ignited that desire even more. I guess I’m just afraid of failing or of not having the voice to do it, which right now I don’t at all. It’s just hard to envision the possibilities of the future when your dreams are as big as national opera, it’s quite scary especially when you keep getting pushed down as I have in the past 3 years. I suppose only time will tell. For the meantime I will hold on to the amazing-ness that was Don Giovanni by the Welsh National Opera.
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