PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — DON GIOVANNI (T. Murray, Z. Nelson, M. Dunleavy, S. D’Eramo, A. McKissick, H. Huang, C. Blackburn, O. Gradus; North Carolina Opera, 29 January 2023)

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756 – 1791): Don Giovanni; ossia Il dissoluto punito, K. 527– Timothy Murray (Don Giovanni), Zachary Nelson (Leporello), Mary Dunleavy (Donna Anna), Sylvia D’Eramo (Donna Elvira), Alex McKissick (Don Ottavio), Helen Zhibing Huang (Zerlina), Christian J. Blackburn (Masetto), Oren Gradus (Il Commendatore); North Carolina Opera Chorus and Orchestra; Joseph Mechavich, conductor [Brenna Corner, Director; Erhard Rom, Scenic Designer; Howard Tsvi Kaplan, Costume Designer; Ross Kolman, Lighting Designer; Brittany Rapise and Martha Ruskai, Wig and Makeup Designers; North Carolina Opera, Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Sunday, 29 January 2023]

Politically and artistically, Prague was often overshadowed in the latter half of the Eighteenth Century by the imperial capital, Vienna, but, perhaps unknowingly, the sophisticated seat of Habsburg rule in Bohemia was indisputably the center of the operatic universe on 29 October 1787. On that auspicious day, the city’s Stavovské divadlo resounded with the sounds of the first performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s and Lorenzo da Ponte’s Don Giovanni. The success of the Prague première of their previous opera, Le nozze di Figaro, having outshone that of its inaugural Vienna production, an invitation to write a new opera for Prague doubtlessly appealed strongly to composer and librettist, offering a rare opportunity to create a work specifically for a sympathetic audience, without the intrigues and meddling to which producing opera in Vienna was subject. Capitalizing on the popularity with Pražané of artistic incarnations of the libidinous Don Juan, Mozart and da Ponte crafted a work in which the opera seria model refined by Händel and Hasse was ingeniously propelled into the Nineteenth Century, forging a path for the operas of Beethoven, Weber, and Marschner.

When composition of Don Giovanni commenced, Mozart was the father of a young son. The all’s-well-that-ends-well ebullience that permeates Mozart’s early operas remains present, but, as in Le nozze di Figaro, the joviality that sparkles in Don Giovanni is tempered by pervasive senses of personal responsibility and retribution. These qualities were often obscured in director Brenna Corner’s staging for North Carolina Opera, which differed markedly from the company’s April 2015 production of Don Giovanni. Whereas the earlier production was housed in the intimate A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater, Corner’s concept was realized in the grander space of Raleigh Memorial Auditorium. Emphasizing the opera’s giacosa elements at the expense of its life-altering drama, the production’s broad comedy was greatly enjoyed by the audience but marginalized too much of Mozart’s music and too many of da Ponte’s words, crucial exchanges among characters undermined by audience laughter. Donna Elvira and Leporello often seemed foolish rather than reactive to difficult situations, their actions at odds with the music that they were singing. Humor is a vital aspect of Don Giovanni, but, the prevalence of sight gags and exploitation of dated gender stereotypes distorting the balance of mirth and seriousness, this production too often strayed into farce. It was unquestionably an enjoyable show that delighted patrons, but it sometimes felt as though a Rossini opera buffa had been adapted to Mozart’s score.

Gli amanti ingannati: (from left to right) soprano Helen Zhibing Huang as Zerlina, baritone Christian J. Blackburn as Masetto, and baritone Timothy Murray as Don Giovanni in North Carolina Opera’s January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni
[Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]

Visually, the staging was appealing despite lighting designs by Ross Kolman that were unrelentingly dark except in the banquet scene at the end of Act One. So dimly illuminated, Erhard Rom’s scenic designs, originally created for Virginia Opera, were foreboding, further conflicting with the abiding jocundity of the direction. [Memorial statuary etiquette may be unfamiliar to many Twenty-First-Century audiences, but Eighteenth-Century Spaniards would have known that riders depicted on rearing steeds typically died in battle. Why do so many productions of Don Giovanni place the Commendatore’s effigy astride a rearing horse when his vengeful epitaph is specifically referenced in the libretto?] Giovanni’s final descent into hell was unintentionally amusing, his disappearance into the base of the Commendatore’s monument too closely resembling the Knusperhexe’s demise in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel. The wigs and makeup designs of Brittany Rapise and Martha Ruskai ideally complemented Howard Tsvi Kaplan’s attractive and functional costumes, on loan from Sarasota Opera. A notable success of the production was the ease of identifying each of the principals, even in ensembles and in the scene in which Giovanni and Leporello impersonated one another.

Reprising associations with North Carolina Opera and Mozart repertoire that yielded an exhilarating production of Die Zauberflöte in April 2022, conductor Joseph Mechavich paced this performance of Don Giovanni with eloquence befitting the score’s Classicism and propulsive energy that supplied the dramatic thrust that the physical staging lacked. Under Mechavich’s baton, North Carolina Opera’s orchestra played superbly, their performance disrupted by commendably few mistakes, and the company’s choristers, marvelously trained by Scott MacLeod, sang brilliantly. Unfortunately, the demonic chorus accompanying Giovanni’s infernal journey was spoiled by amplification. The electronic keyboard used for the harpsichord continuo was not consistently audible, but the conductor’s accompaniment of the secco recitatives was imaginative and unfailingly musical. Mechavich guided the performance with gripping momentum whilst also being supportive of the singers, reliably choosing logical tempi that facilitated proper breath control and clear articulation of text. Though the orchestra of course utilized modern instruments, there were numerous passages in the performance in which the conductor’s approach exhibited acquaintance with historically-informed aesthetics, accentuating the inventiveness of Mozart’s music.

In the opera’s opening scene, in which the Commendatore interrupts Giovanni’s assault on Donna Anna, bass Oren Gradus declaimed the indignant father’s lines with paternal ferocity, the voice powerful throughout the range. Regrettably, the dreadful amplification employed to add ethereal resonance to the Commendatore’s utterances in the graveyard scene in Act Two robbed Gradus’s tones of impact. His singing in the fateful final encounter with Giovanni possessed ample aural presence but was occasionally covered by the trombones. His efforts at projecting over the orchestra caused his intonation and steadiness to falter. His Commendatore was nonetheless a chilling messenger of righteous condemnation.

I fidanzati testati: baritone Christian J. Blackburn as Masetto (left) and baritone Timothy Murray as Don Giovanni (right) in North Carolina Opera’s January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni
[Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]

Baritone Christian J. Blackburn was an exceptionally engaging and sympathetic Masetto, his vocalism burnished and his acting, though faithful to the production’s manic ethos, evincing the character’s innate good nature. His entrance with Zerlina in Act One was delightful, and Blackburn’s account of the aria ‘Ho capito, Signor, sì!’ was particularly distinguished. He launched the Act One finale excitingly, voicing ‘Presto, presto, pria ch’ei venga’ incisively. In the Act Two scene in which Masetto is beaten by the disguised Giovanni, Blackburn achieved the equilibrium between comedy and sobriety that eluded much of the staging. Credible as both a tender lover for Zerlina and a potent threat to Giovanni, Blackburn’s Masetto was a winningly intelligent, well-sung characterization.

The Zerlina of soprano Helen Zhibing Huang was endearingly waifish but wielded inescapable emotional influence on her volatile but doting Masetto. Like Blackburn, Huang exuded charm in her first scene in Act One. Wooed by Giovanni in their beloved duettino, this Zerlina sang ‘Vorrei e non vorrei’ unaffectedly, persuasively imparting the flattered young girl’s conflicting emotions. Overcoming the production’s silliness, she made ‘Batti, batti, o bel Masetto’ genuinely touching by singing without coy artifice. Similarly, Zerlina’s aria in Act Two, ‘Vedrai, carino, se sei buonino,’ sung to comfort Masetto after his altercation with Giovanni, was delivered with beguiling affection. [To the noisy amusement of the audience, the projected translation of the aria exaggerated the text’s innuendo.] Her diminutive physique notwithstanding, Huang shone in ensembles, her vibrant stagecraft equaling the beauty of her singing.

Il giuramento: soprano Mary Dunleavy as Donna Anna (left) and tenor Alex McKissick as Don Ottavio (right) in North Carolina Opera’s January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni
[Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]

In some productions of Don Giovanni, Donna Anna’s fiancé Don Ottavio lacks dramatic purpose, a flaw for which da Ponte’s libretto bears some culpability. Mozart allotted fine music to the part, however, and North Carolina Opera engaged a singer for the rôle who proved to be capable of dauntlessly meeting every challenge of Mozart’s writing. Possessing a voice with a more robust timbre than is sometimes heard in Ottavio’s music, tenor Alex McKissick animated each of the part’s lines with appealing tone and unerring theatrical instincts. Comforting Donna Anna after her discovery of her slain father’s corpse, he delivered ‘Senti, cor mio, deh senti’ with a musical caress. The vocal power at his disposal engendered an unusually rousing ‘Che giuramento, o Dei!’ and cogent singing in the quartet.

The company electing to perform Don Giovanni in the form in which it was first heard in Prague, Ottavio’s aria ‘Dalla sua pace la mia dipende,’ composed for the opera’s 1788 Vienna première and often included regardless of the edition being performed, was not sung. A firebrand in the Act One finale, McKissick voiced Ottavio’s words in the sublime masquers’ trio enthrallingly. No less engaging in Act Two, he sang vividly in the sestetto. Shaped by assured handling of the fiorature, his traversal of ‘Il mio tesoro intanto’ recalled the singing of Anton Dermota. Unlike some depictions, McKissick’s Ottavio conveyed not annoyance but loving acceptance of Anna’s postponement of their marriage, ending the opera with handsomely-voiced gentleness and gentility.

La signora tradita: soprano Sylvia D’Eramo as Donna Elvira in North Carolina Opera’s January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni
[Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]

Recently acclaimed as Kitty in the Metropolitan Opera’s triumphant world-première production of Kevin Puts’s The Hours, soprano Sylvia D’Eramo transitioned from Puts’s modern musical language to Mozart’s writing for Donna Elvira, which often harkens back to Baroque heroines. Though subjected to distracting stage business with Elvira’s maid at her entrance in Act One, D’Eramo sang ‘Ah, chi mi dice mai’ captivatingly, intimating the lady’s erratic but profound feelings. The aria ‘Ah! fuggi il traditor!’ would not sound out of place in Händel’s Rodelinda or Tamerlano, and this Elvira articulated it with bracing intensity, the divisions imparting the direness of her warning to the hapless Zerlina. In both the quartet and the masquers’ trio in the Act One finale, D’Eramo sang forcefully, projecting Elvira’s frustration and despair into the auditorium.

Elvira’s emotions surging in Act Two, D’Eramo voiced ‘Ah taci, ingiusto core!’ in the terzetto fervently and began the sestetto with a febrile ‘Sola, sola in buio loco.’ Added to the score for the 1788 Vienna production, ‘Mi tradì quell’alma ingrata’ was not performed in this staging, but the aria’s ardent spirit permeated the soprano’s enunciation of ‘L’ultima prova dell’amor mio’ in the opera’s finale. Intermittent shrillness at the top of the range heightened the dramatic impetus of this Elvira’s singing, which efficaciously communicated the desperation of a woman in love with a man unworthy of her devotion.

La voce della giustizia: soprano Mary Dunleavy as Donna Anna in North Carolina Opera’s January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni
[Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]

Casting the rôle of the proud but vulnerable Donna Anna is one of the foremost challenges of producing Don Giovanni. Aside from her uncommon longevity and participation in the first performances of an array of operas by lesser-known composers, history documents little of the life and career of the first Donna Anna, Teresa Saporiti. It is conjectured that, nearly a half-century after the première of Don Giovanni, Verdi solicited her opinion of his writing for Abigaille in Nabucco, suggesting that she remained a respected authority on bravura singing. Bringing to North Carolina Opera’s Don Giovanni extensive experience in Mozart repertoire that encompasses lauded portrayals of both Mutter and Tochter, Die Königin der Nacht and Pamina, in Die Zauberflöte at the Metropolitan Opera, soprano Mary Dunleavy honored Saporiti’s legacy with a performance that fused technical prowess with theatrical savvy. In the opera’s opening scene, Dunleavy’s Anna was distraught but no passive victim, exclaiming ‘Fuggi, crudel, fuggi!’ with vehemence. Her confidence shattered by the discovery of her father’s murder, she pledged to avenge him in a galvanizing ‘Che giuramento, o Dei!’ that rang with sincerity, a trait that also resounded in the quartet.

The accompagnato ‘Don Ottavio, son morta!’ was delivered with tragic grandeur, leading to a momentous performance of ‘Or sai chi l’onore’ in which the voice pulsed with anger and determination. Dunleavy matched her colleagues’ poised singing in the masquers’ trio, and she excelled in the complex ensembles of Act Two. Her statement of ‘Crudele? Ah no, mio bene!’ expressed the sting of Ottavio’s bitter recrimination. Dunleavy’s formidable technique allowed her to concentrate on the psychological nuances of ‘Non mi dir, bell’idol mio,’ begetting a ruminative atmosphere. The foreshortened version of the final ensemble was preferred, eliminating the extended duet for Anna and Ottavio, but this Anna manifested an aura of resolution, bolstered by the confidence of Dunleavy’s vocalism.

Il servo ed il padrone: baritones Zachary Nelson as Leporello (left) and Timothy Murray as Don Giovanni (right) in North Carolina Opera’s January 2023 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni
[Photograph by Eric Waters Photography, © by North Carolina Opera]

Giovanni’s cunning servant Leporello was perhaps most adversely affected by the production’s focus on jocundity, what dignity Mozart and da Ponte gave the character sacrificed to slapstick, but baritone Zachary Nelson placed his trust in the music and fashioned an insightful characterization rather than a caricature. Beginning Act One with an effervescent voicing of ‘Notte e giorno faticar,’ Nelson exercised vocal restraint even in the production’s most madcap moments. The frenetic stage action sometimes reduced the clarity of his diction, yet he sang the celebrated ‘Madamina, il catalogo è questo’ and Leporello’s quips and asides in the act’s final scenes with commendable textual precision.

There were passages in both acts in which Nelson’s lowest notes did not have ideal amplitude and the staging instigated over-emphatic singing. His intonation was reliably sure, however, and his timbre lent requisite gravitas to the character’s flashes of panic and remorse. This clever Leporello joined his master in a rollicking performance of their duetto at the start of Act Two, intoning ‘No, no, padrone, non vo’ restar!’ engrossingly. His singing in the terzetto and sestetto was fantastic, but there was no portion of his performance that was more successful than his ‘Ah, pietà, signori miei,’ in which legitimate contrition was discernible. Both the duetto ‘O statua gentilissima’ and the final scenes inspired Nelson’s finest singing of the afternoon, Leporello’s terror and eventual relief upon being spared palpable. Throughout the performance, Nelson’s singing heightened the charisma that the production’s portrait of Leporello muted.

Making his rôle début as the eponymous cad in this production, baritone Timothy Murray reinvigorated the part with vocal allure and youthful élan. Portrayals of complex characters like Don Giovanni typically deepen with repetition, but Murray’s mastery of the rôle’s demands was already comprehensive. In the opening scene of Act One, he revealed Giovanni’s insouciance, and the unexpected encounter with Donna Elvira prompted him to regret the effectiveness of his own wiles. Murray depicted the sly duplicity of the nobleman’s perilous charm as he simultaneously seduced Zerlina and scorned Masetto. Zerlina’s surrender was understandable, the baritone’s singing of ‘Là ci darem la mano’ having bewitched the audience. The quartet found Giovanni hectoring in defense of his schemes, the voice glinting with arrogance. ‘Fin ch’han dal vino calda la testa’ has rarely been sung so marvelously in recent years, every note in place and the trill dutifully executed on par with a singer like Sir Thomas Allen, and each of Giovanni’s words in the Act One finale was emitted with bravado.

Murray’s fleet singing of ‘Eh via, buffone, non mi seccar!’ in the duetto with Leporello catapulted Act Two onto its inexorable course towards punishment for Giovanni’s misdeeds. Each phrase in the terzetto was pronounced with unmistakable cognizance of its significance. Tossing a purse to the mandolinist in the orchestra pit was a wise investment, Murray’s honeyed voicing of the canzonetta ‘Deh vieni alla finestra, o mio tesoro’ benefiting from the lovely accompaniment, and Murray voiced ‘Metà di voi qua vadano’ compellingly. Both the duetto ‘O statua gentilissima’ and ‘Già la mensa è preparata’ in his final scene were sung intrepidly, this Giovanni as defiant and unrepentant in the clutches of hell as on the streets of Spain. North Carolina Opera’s casting for this Don Giovanni assembled an ensemble that few of the world’s most renowned opera houses could rival and hosted a first interpretation of the title rôle that would surely have awed as unforgettably in Prague in 1787 as in Raleigh in 2023.