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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 4 page research paper that analyzes Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. The writer establishes a criteria for the "greatness" of a work and then argues that Don Giovanni fulfills this criteria, focusing specifically on the introduction scene. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khmozdon.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
Prague.i The following year, Mozart followed up his success with a new opera, Don Giovanni. However, this new opera baffled the Viennese. The public viewed Don Giovanni as difficult to
grasp.ii Today, Don Giovanni is an honored as one of the great works of opera and Mozart, who died in poverty, is regarded with admiration that approaches adoration. As Joseph
Machlis comments, "Something of the miraculous hovers about the music of Mozart" and asserts that Mozarts music represents a "luminous moment" in music history.iii Don Giovanni was formulated in the
tradition of the opera buffa; however, this work goes beyond the boundaries of this genre and goes into the realm that, today, is referred to as "tragicomedy."iv As with Figaro,
Lorenzo da Ponte provided the libretto, but it is Mozarts music that humanize this take on the Don Juan legend. There is a passage in Platos Symposium, in which Socrates
argues that the essence of a truly great poet is to possess the ability to write both tragedy and comedy.v Mozarts greatness was such that his work, as exemplified in
Don Giovanni, possesses this ability to run the gamut of human emotions.vi There are scenes in Don Giovanni, in which the audience feels that the Don is a truly
tragic figure, yet the buffoonery of Leporello keeps the work as a whole within the tradition of the opera buffa. As the following analysis of the opening scene from Act
I demonstrates, there is a depth and breadth to the emotion of Don Giovanni that can be viewed as the hallmark of a work of greatness. Mozart achieves this effect
through his expert use of the elements of music. Harmony, rhythm, tonal color, etc. all combine to present, as Machlis asserts, a luminous whole. The Overture begins with an
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