Description
Book SynopsisAspects of Don Giovanni's compositional history are uncovered and the study provides for detailed evidence with which to evaluate Da Ponte's recollections. The essential truth of his account - that the revision of the operain Vienna was an interactive process - seems to be fully borne out. A general theory of transmission is proposed, which clarifies the relationship between the fluid text produced by re-creation and the static text generated by replication.
Trade Review[A] serious, thoughtful, and thought-provoking study. * NOTES *
Woodfields Buch ist eine akribische, fundierte philologische Studie, die jüngste Erkenntnisse der Opernforschung in ihre Betrachtungen einbezieht [...] Eine überaus anregende Lektüre für jeden, der sich mit der Opernpraxis des 18. Jahrhunderts beschäftigt. * DIE MUSIKFORSCHUNG *
Following up his fascinating study of the compositional history of Così Fan Tutte, musicologist Ian Woodfield turns his meticulous investigation skills to Don Giovanni in an effort to unravel the process of revision between the opera's 1787 Prague premiere and performances in Vienna in 1788. * OPERA NEWS *
Woodsfield's admirable analysis equips the musical director to make [a choice of versions] in full possession of such facts as are currently known. * MUSICAL TIMES *
Professor Woodfield's scholarship is immaculate, his conclusions are well supported, and his theories about one of the most famously debated of Mozart's operas make exciting musical reading. * MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW *
Ian Woodfield has carefully examined a variety of manuscripts of Mozart's 'Don Giovanni' opera, and, on a technical level - as a detective that knows how to sort out fingerprints - makes intelligent, reasoned choices as to the probable sequence of events in Mozart's composition of some parts of the opera. And there are delightful details that are strewn throughout such an investigation. * THE SCHILLER INSTITUTE *
Table of ContentsCasts of the First Performances and Introduction The Prague Don Giovanni A possible cut Prague musical fingerprints Errors The Vienna Don Giovanni The Graz score The Court Theatre score (OA361/1) The Court Theatre parts (OA361/Stimmen) Later copies deriving from the Court Theatre score The Lausch and Julliard scores The casting of the Vienna Don Giovanni The full version (Vienna 1) An intermediate version? The final versions Vienna 2a and Vienna 2b Da Ponte's story The late eighteenth-century dissemination of Don Giovanni Guardasoni's performances of Don Giovanni in 1788 and 1789 The reception of the Vienna Music in 1790s Prague The 1798 Vienna revival The autograph of Don Giovanni after Mozart's death The Breitkopf & Härtel full score Later manuscripts based on the published score Conclusion
