Mozart and da Ponte

Paper Summary:

This paper provides a brief biography of the lives of the composer composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. It examines how da Ponte composed for Mozart the librettos of the operas "The Marriage of Figaro", "Don Giovanni" and "Cosi Fan Tutte" and analyzes how most of their work has the reoccurring theme of class conflict. It looks at how in "Don Giovanni," there is clearly a delineation of social classes whereas "The Marriage of Figaro" portrays aristocracy as a decadent, lustful, useless class.

From the Paper:

"Their next collaboration was "Don Giovanni," which appeared in 1787, and followed by Cosi fan tutte, in 1790. It premiered at the National Theater in Prague. Based on the legends of Don Juan, it is set in mid-17th century Seville and uses the folklore surrounding Don Juan to create a story full of social conflict. According to Critic Ernest Newman, Don Giovanni, "crystallized into a working formula for opera purposes -- the hero-villain and his rascally buffoon of a servant; a dignified victim of Don Juan's sensuality, her aristocratic lover; a lady of somewhat lower social rank, who had been previously seduced and deserted by Juan; a group of peasants with a bride and bridegroom; and, of course, a murdered father , who reappears as the avenging instrument of heaven in the form of a statue in the final scene" (Quoted in Ardoin)."

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