Don Juan on the Deck of a Cruise Ship

This evening on 16 May the premiere of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni" ("Don Giovanni") will take place at the Latvian National Opera. However, I had the opportunity on Thursday the 14th of May to be at the Opera House and see the final dress rehearsal of the opera. The dominant impression - a well-prepared and originally presented production.

Right before visiting the opera I read an interview with its director Andrejs Žagars in the Diena supplement TV Izklaide, which clarified why there is a reproduction of a cruise ship on the opera stage and what its connection is to the image of the irresponsible seducer Don Giovanni. The ship, then, as a model of society with multi-level decks - that is, different social strata. But the main goal, as the director himself admits, was "...to create an effective, vibrant, sensual, emotional performance." And it seems - that has been fully achieved!

Here too there was no excessive preoccupation with modernising a classical work, where the magnificent, visually pleasing details and refinement characteristic of the classics usually disappear. An easily followable plot line, though the production's creators had also taken care of an extensive written synopsis in the programmes, right down to a biographical description of each passenger. :) A modern Don Giovanni who seemed rather not so much a hedonist and scoundrel as a character torn by inner contradictions and restlessness.

Colourfully rendered were the characters of Donna Anna (Inga Kalna), Don Ottavio (Pāvels Černohs), Donna Elvira (Asmika Grigorjana), and Leporello (Krišjānis Norvelis), with full-voiced aria performances. At times it seemed that behind all of this Don Giovanni (Laimons Pautieņus) got lost as the main hero - his singing merged with the orchestral accompaniment and attention was certainly not concentrated on him. Presumably Jānis Apeinis or Javier Franco will be "stronger" Dons.

Speaking of the Don Giovanni character itself, one can, in my opinion, open a discussion lasting several hours, invoking both Molière's work and Lorenzo da Ponte's libretto, as well as several theatrical productions and feature films. And in each of these works the main character is given a slightly different direction, as he has plenty of vices and adventures.

It seems people have always been fascinated by stories about manipulation of other people, their weaknesses, relationships, feelings, and passions. I liked a quote from an article where film director Michael Haneke described the character of Don Giovanni: "A lust for life. An insatiable thirst for the unattainable. High-stakes gambling. Wants everything and at once. Extraordinarily clever and talented, sexually aggressive, yet seeming to others to be trustworthy and fascinating. He wants to subjugate. Everyone. Women, men, God, if He exists. For the sake of his blazing message of love and life - a violator." You could not put it more aptly.

About Don Giovanni - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Giovanni and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Juan
Lorenzo da Ponte's libretto in Latvian translation - http://www.music.lv/opera/dongiovanni/teksts.htm