Thursday, August 03, 2006

My "Don" Favorite

Hope you can handle this...

This is a 6 minute video of my favorite aria in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. I don't always know what the words mean but I like to sing along anyway.

Don Giovanni is a 'ladies man'. Here, Leporello (Don Giovanni's servant) is telling Donna Elvira that the Don has a catalogue of all the women he's been with. She can't believe it to be true. Even though she is engaged to be married, she still adores the Don. But since Don Giovanni happend to kill Donna Elvira's father a while ago, she is seeking vengance for it. (And also the fact that she probably has her name on that catalog list too!)

And you thought opera was boring!

Give it 15 second for the aria to start because he's getting to it.
The quality isn't the best. But I thought you were here for the music?

(Music: W.A. Mozart, Libretto: L. da Ponte)

Here is the libretto, since Mozart wrote some of his operas in Italian.

Leporello:
My dear lady, this is a list
Of the beauties my master has loved,
A list which I have compiled.
Observe, read along with me.
In Italy, six hundred and forty;
In Germany, two hundred and thirty-one;
A hundred in France; in Turkey, ninety-one;
In Spain already one thousand and three.
Among these are peasant girls,
Maidservants, city girls,
Countesses, baronesses,
Marchionesses, princesses,
Women of every rank,
Every shape, every age.
With blondes it is his habit
To praise their kindness;
In brunettes, their faithfulness;
In the very blond, their sweetness.
In winter he likes fat ones.
In summer he likes thin ones.
He calls the tall ones majestic.
The little ones are always charming.
He seduces the old ones
For the pleasure of adding to the list.
His greatest favourite
Is the young beginner.
It doesn't matter if she's rich,
Ugly or beautiful;
If she wears a petticoat,
You know what he does.

4 comments:

Keith (Qoheleth) said...

And they say "La donna e mobile" (Women are fickle)! Don Giovanni was clearly going for the record. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if he wound up in Hell.

trazomfreak said...

Alex: Ha ha... that just seems to stick with you. That resonates in my head too! :]

Qo: Yeah, I agree. Hell? Yup!

trazomfreak said...

I'd love it if it were my beloved Mozart. Die Zauberflote?

Keith (Qoheleth) said...

Alex and Amanda: thank you both for the invitation - we'll have to check out what is playing, and when and where. I'd be fine with Mozart; I'm also partial to Wagner (I once saw all three parts of Niebelundlied, and was rivited).

Heck, I'd watch "What's Opera, Doc" and "The Rabbit of Seville" again.

For something out of the ordinary, there's a 1987 movie called "Aria" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092580/) that I consider a treat. Have you seen it?

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