The Patco train that runs from New Jersey to Philadelphia is rarely on time. Unless I happen to be running late, then suddenly it is the Deutsch Bahn.
Tonight. I wait.
The train arrives ten minutes late and even though it is only a short 20 minute ride, I may miss the opening of the opera. The ride over offers a despairing tour of class in America.
The mansions of Haddonfield gradually give way to smaller homes, then row homes, then to row homes abandoned and boarded up. Graffiti like dystopic flowers bloom in the dark near the Camden waterfront and there is always a bit of drama at the last stop in Jersey, but rarely other opera goers.
Opera should be for everyone, whether born in a mansion or a row home. It bothers me that it has the stigma of being for some but not for others. The music is so universal and empathetic to the human condition I wish companies did a better job of making it feel more accessible for everyone. With multiple college degrees and a career job I have found opera to be unapproachable most of my life, just the butt of jokes on tv shows.
Rising onto the Benjamin Franklin Bridge the train looks over the Delaware River and Camden prison before entering the subway channels of Philadelphia.
I’m late for trusting the Patco. I have to run. Under the flickering lights of the underground and up to the cool blue lights of Broad Street I sprint, then walk, then crawl till I reach the warm yellow oil lamps outside the Academy. I gasp like I ran all the way from my childhood hometown where no one ever thought about going to an opera to here.
The audience is dressed fancy, and I still wonder if I really belong here. My thoughts aren’t just inspired by my train ride over. In many ways Don Giovanni is very much a tale of privilege, particularly privilege abused.
The overture begins with a minor chord, and what I hear as a stand in for the title character’s lechery, and brings every well-groomed head in the audience to attention.
We quickly learn about Giovanni from his servant Leporello who sings of the Don’s lasciviousness especially in the catalogue song where it lists the number of women the Don has slept with. The librettist must have been hurt by a Spanish woman at one time writing, “a thousand and three in Spain!” With his title and wealth Giovanni is a womanizer and a murderer accustomed to committing crimes without consequence, at least from earthly consequence. He is the worst side of Privilege unchecked, but the music from Mozart is so lively, you can’t help but be caught up in his adventures as The Don gets into and then wiggles out of trouble.
The opera has an interesting ending with pyrotechnic vocals and special effects that close the story, but then there is an added chapter that leaves the audience with a moralistic take away; be good. It feels tacked on probably by the censors of the time with rules I’m sure for you and me more than the Don’s of the world.
I love this opera! Social inequities aside it is one of my favorites. On the Patco home I have a deep bass of an ear worm for a companion:
‘Don GiooooVaaanEeeeeeeeee.’
I go home to bed. I’m not desperate and poor enough or desperate and rich enough to cause any trouble.
So what’s Don Giovanni all about? The title character for this opera, lives a privileged life without consequence and treats women as objects to be collected. He is a murderer as well as a womanizer. He is a terrible figure, but the music is so lively, you can’t help but be caught up in his adventures as he gets into and then wiggles out of trouble. But, can he wiggle out of trouble forever?
*They say Mozart wrote the overture after midnight of the premiere.
Notes on the Production:
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Composer………………………. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Librettist………………………………. Lorenzo Da Ponte
Don Giovanni………..………… Elliot Madore
Donna Anna…………………….. Michelle Johnson
Donna Elvira……………………. Amanda Majeski
Don Ottavio…………………….. David Portillo
Commendatore……………… Nicholas Masters
Zerlina………………………..…… Cecelia Hall
Masetto…………………….……. Wes Mason
Conductor……………………….
Philadelphia Opera
4/23/2014