MOZART AS DRAMATIST
37
the musical reaction of the court at the end of
Figaro,
when the
Countess throws off her disguise. Yet we cannot help noting, at the
same time, the triviality to which the device is turned, as compared
to the situation in
Figaro.
Dramaturgical perfection is not the same
thing as fine drama.
Can Da Ponte's libretto as a whole support Mozart's sense of
drama, his graphic realism, his profundity of insight and expression?
The question will not arise for those who regard opera like Dr.
Johnson as "an irrational and exotic entertainment." But it certainly
will for those who look at other Mozart operas and find that they
are rational and essentially not exotic in the least. Certainly the libretto
to
Don Giovanni
"works" on the large level; Da Ponte was an excel–
lent theatrical craftsman, and his knowledge of dramatic rhythm
did not desert him here. But on many levels the piece shows defi–
ciencies more severe than any in Mozart's other great operas. The
libretto is full of improbabilities; to cite only one of the first-furious
Elvira stands patiently listening to a servant sing a long, insolent,
suggestive aria about her betrayal. Whereas the improbabilities of
COS!
fan
tulle
are carefully chosen and witty, those of
Don Giovanni
are fortuitous and clumsy; while
Figaro,
of course, does not show any
improbabilities.
It
always takes a modicum of care to arrange arias
in a libretto, and in
COS!
fan
tulle
this is always elegantly done. In
Figaro,
four arias are inserted into Act IV stiffly enough, but though
they strain our patience, they do not strain our credulity. The way
in
which the last act of
Don Giovanni
is distorted to provide arias for
Anna and Elvira, however, can only be called dramatically cynical,
whether they enhance characterization or not. And these faults in
Don Giovanni
are especially glaring in its context of passionate
naturalism.
As far as characterization is concerned, Mozart's wonderful pic–
ture of the three women has always been rightly admired-if often
wrongly interpreted: steely Donna Anna, innocent (yes, innocent)
Zerlina, and especially Donna Elvira, the first of Mozart's developing
heroines, a type more systematically worked out with Fiordiligi and
Pamina. But rich personalities do not automatically make for true
drama; the study of characterization was the primrose path of older
dramatic criticism. What is one to say of the mysterious Don himself?
