Mozart the master surveyor of man; part two

This writing will be in five parts; this is part two where we will cover Donna Elvira, Zerlina, and Masetto in the opera Don Giovanni.

I have great fondness for the character of Donna Elvira. She is a scorned woman, she is a deceived woman, she is a very hurt woman. She seems to be a special woman. 

It is a rather funny moment in the opera, Donna Elvira is coming, and Don Giovanni scents her, but he does not remember her scent, and she is out for revenge, to find Don Giovanni, she sings, “Oh, would I might discover the whereabouts of the wretch whom, to my shame, I loved, and who proved false to me! Ah, if I find the villain, and should he not return to me, I’ll torture him most horribly, I’ll tear his heart from his breast.” Don Giovanni hears this and says to Leporello, “Hear that? Some pretty lady abandoned by her sweetheart. Poor thing! We must try to comfort her.” And when Don Giovanni calls on Donna Elvira she turns, and they see each other. Don Giovanni says, “Heavens above! Disaster!” Donna Anna on the other hand, “Don Giovanni! You here, monster, villain, lying scoundrel!” To which Leporello says, “What well-chosen epithets! She knows what she’s talking about.” So it did not go as Don Giovanni had hoped, and we are getting to know a few things about their relationship.

We believe that Don Giovanni usually meets a woman, takes his price and disappears, here it seems like has been more work done from the side of Don Giovanni. We know not why, but he worms his way into her house, and then with cunning, promises and flattery wins Donna Elvira’s heart, and makes her love him, calls her his wife, and then shamelessly leave her unto remorse and grief, “to punish me, no doubt, for loving you so much.” Don Giovanni says that Leporello shall explain everything, and he starts first, “Madam… truly… in this world seeing as how maybe a square is not round… Scoundrel! Am I to understand you mock my grief?” Donna Elvira asks, while Don Giovanni has fled, and then starts Leporello’s famous aria that explains whom Don Giovanni is, and what his goals are. He does not care for anything but to add women to his list, as long as they wear a skirt. 

The mission for Donna Elvira is in a way hard to determine. But she destroys every attempt of Don Giovanni to seduce any new woman. Does she do it because she loves him and that if he does not love her back no one else shall have him? Or, as I believe, she is on a mission to save all the other women to fall into the same trap she fell into. She knows the hurt she has, and she does not want anyone else to experience it. She loved and still loves Don Giovanni, and when Don Giovanni tries his luck with Zerlina Donna Elvira comes and breaks it up, and he calls her for an “unhappy woman” which “is besotted with me, and out of pity I have to feign affection; for I, to my cost, am a man of compassion.” Don Giovanni has nor problems with lying, and Donna Elvira says to Zerlina, “Ah! flee from the deceiver! Don’t listen to what he says: deceit sits on his lips and falsehood in his eyes! From my suffering learn the cost of trusting him, and let my sorry plight put you on your guard!” She leaves with Zerlina. We will come back to Zerlina. 

And when Donna Anna unknowingly seeks the help of her assailer, Donna Elvira is there again to break it up, he calls her mad, and in this instance does Donna Anna remember the voice of her attacker and understands that it was in fact Don Giovanni (see part one). But later, when Don Giovanni wants to try his luck with Donna Elvira’s maid he changes clothes with Leporello and serenades Donna Elvira that comes out believing Leporello to be Don Giovanni which promises her that he from now on will be as a faithful husband to her. Let us listen to this dialogue to understand how despicable Don Giovanni truly is, standing behind Leporello he sings, “Elvira, my adored on… Is that not my deceiver? Yes, my dear, it is I, and I beg your forgiveness.” Donna Elvira is asking herself what strange emotions are rewakens in her breast. Don Giovanni continues, “Come down, my precious jewel: I shall prove you are the one my soul adores. I have already repented,” Elvira answers, “I do not believe you, you monster,” Giovanni again, “believe me, or I’ll kill myself!” And Leporello plays Don Giovanni and runs away with Donna Elvira; he plays the roll perfectly, listen to the dialogue between Leporello (playing the part of Don Giovanni) and Donna Elvira, “(Elvira): So can I really believe my tears have melted your hard heart? That my beloved Don Giovanni has repented his lapse and returned to my arms? (Leporello): Yes, sweetheart. (Elvira): You brute! If you only knew the tears and sighs you have cost me! (Leporello): Me, dear heart? (Elvira): You. (Leporello): Poor darling! I am desolated! (Elvira): You will never leave me again? (Leprello): No, angel face. (Elvira): You will be mine for ever? (Leporello): For ever.” Leporello has heard Don Giovanni lie to countless women, and has learned all his tricks. While Leporello plays his part does Don Giovanni serenades Donna Elvira’s maid, that is so beautiful sung. Let us listen (Deh, vieni alla finestra). We do not even have to put the text in, it is so delightful.

Maybe this says something about Don Giovanni, “Oh, come and still my grief;” is his conquering a way to still his grief? I do not know. But we cannot use other people in any way to still our own grief, or pain, or sorrow, or unhappiness. It cannot happen. 

Here comes Masetto believing Don Giovanni to be Leporello with some men. When Don Giovanni is alone with Masetto he beats him up severely and leaves him to be found by Zerlina.

Don Giovanni meets Zerlina and Masetto on their wedding day. How awful. He is a noble, so he takes control of the party direct since they are lowly peasants. Under protest makes Don Giovanni Masetto to leave him and Zerlina alone. And he says to Zerlina that Masetto is not worthy of her love and beauty. And when Zerlina says that she has promised to marry Masetto, he says that such a promise is worthless, she is intended for another life, another destiny. Zerlina is in my eyes very contemporary or modern; slave to other peoples opinions, to be like, and to be liked by everybody, she is without any depth in personality, no inner substance, she is shallow, and easily seduced by words, money, and opinion. At the same time she is afraid to be tricked. Does she have previous experience or was it common knowledge? I do not know. But that she has this thought, "I might be tricked," says that she has already fallen, she has lost the battle. Because she wants something else. And to want another life, a better life, can hardly be sinful, but if that want destroys other people, or if one loses sight of God’s will, then it will become sinful. And Don Giovanni, the seasoned seducer, he senses it, he knows it, he knows that she is lost, that she is she is an easy prey, and he says, “Come, let’s not waste time: I intend to marry you at once.” His seduction goes like this, “There we shall take hands, there you will say, ‘I will’. See, it is not too distant, come, my sweet, let’s go.” And Zerlina sings, “I want to and yet I don’t: my heart has slight misgivings. I should, indeed, be happy, but he might be bluffing me.” Let us listen:

In this way it continues until the saviour, Donna Elvira, which we saw in the text above, comes; many operas put them in bed here before Donna Elvira arrives. The libretto does not say so, and why is he later trying to ravish her if he already have had her? That is not his thing. Then she would have been spent, and a name in his book, and he would have gone on to the next victim. 

Masetto is naturally very hurt by all this, and in her heart has Zerlina already betrayed Masetto, even if she has not done it physically. This is nearly as bad. So we can understand that Masetto is furious with Don Giovanni, and he wants to kill him, and instead is he being beat up by Don Giovanni. Zerlina sings her famous aria how Masetto can beat her, and tear her hair out, and she will just take it, and then they will make peace. I am not sure what to think about it. Is it recognition of guilt? Or has she some kind of masochistic trait? Because when she finds Masetto beaten by Don Giovanni, she sings, “How cruel! Did I not warn you that your stupid jealousy would land you in trouble?” And she promises that she will giving him a special remedy that will take care of his hurt. It is like everything to Zerlina is something to be gained, whether it be a marriage to a noble man, or by letting her be beaten by Masetto, or by giving, which is inferred, sexual favours to Masetto. She is not a whole person, she is like a wave thrown to and fro, and at the same time, she is deceitful, and calculating, cold and hard hearted. Masetto seems to know that this is what Zerlina is, and still he wants to marry her. And he says something that I believe many know to be true, “Just see how the little witch has twisted me round her finger! We men must be weak in the head!” I am not sure if they have a future together. And when Don Giovanni has been brought down to hell Zerlina and Masetto say that they will go home and have their dinner. 

To summary: Donna Elvira loves Don Giovanni, even after he has abandoned her, and after Leporello told her about all his other women, and that she certainly is neither his first nor last woman, still she loves him. I hear sometimes people scorn her for it. But I am fond of Donna Elvira, she has love, and she has forgiveness; the sad thing is that she loves a reprobate, someone that God has passed by, he will never be able to love her, he will never be able to be faithful, he will always be a disappointment in her life, and she says that at the end that she is planning to be a nun after this. It was Don Giovanni or no one. I like Donna Elvira, and I like that she continues to save both Donna Anna och Zerlina from Don Giovanni. She has both love and hate for him. In the beginning she is ready to torture him, for her revenge, to tear his heart from his breast, but no matter how much fury she has, her love for him is stronger. Zerlina, on the other hand is like a shadow, she has no structure, she is substanceless, she has no real self, she is empty within, she is someone you cannot ever trust. No true love, no faithfulness, all she knows is her own gain and goals, for which she is ready walk over corpses to win. No, I have no love for, or trust in, Zerlina. Masetto is unfortunately, painted with coarse brush strokes, it is hard to know him. We know his anger, which is very understandable. But he is not good at judging characters, and we know too little about what has happened between Zerlina and Masetto previous to this, but he seems to know her character well enough, and still he has not run far away from her. I am not going to put any word about differences of class between all these people. What I care about is the person; money, or influence, is nothing to me. 

In the last part we will look at Don Giovanni once again. I love this opera. I cannot stop listening to it, but I am so often disappointed in these modern sets, which we maybe will discuss in the last part of Don Giovanni. It is the same with Mozart’s operas Le nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte, they put things that are not in the libretto. I cannot stand it. Sometimes they are able to put this opera in modern time and make it work, but to often they completely destroy it.