Following the great success of The Marriage of Figaro at the National Theater in Prague, Mozart received a commission for another opera buffa for that house. The resulting work, Don Giovanni, develops the legend of the rakish nobleman Don Juan, his sidekick Leporello, the Don’s various conquests, and other characters that weave in and out of the plot. In the end the work is neither opera buffa nor opera seria, and so received the designation dramma giocoso. The work was completed and premiered in Prague on October 29, 1787. The National Theater where Don Giovanni was first preformed still holds a place of honor in that city and numerous performances of the work are given there each year. Although the opera itself was completed before the premiere, the overture remained incomplete until the last moment. Legend has it that the night before the performance (or perhaps the dress rehearsal) Mozart attended a party. Upon returning home, his wife kept him awake throughout the night with stories as he wrote down the notes to the overture, finally providing the score to copyists at 7 o’clock the next morning. As Mozart’s compositional method most often comprised of completing a work in his head and then writing it down, and as he was a known procrastinator, the veracity of this story is quite believable. The somber opening of the overture gives a premonition of Don Giovanni’s final fate with the ominous treading of the stone statue from the last scene of the opera. What follows is nothing less than a magnificent mini-symphonic movement. The various musical motives create an ambivalent atmosphere directly related to the opera’s conflicted characters and themes. The original version of the overture leads directly into the action of Act I, but the piece with its concert ending raises the curtain on tonight’s pastiche of opera favorites.

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Jules Massenet (1842-1912)
En Fermant les Yeux je Vois from Manon

Jules Massenet was the most prolific French opera composer at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries. Of his more than 25 pieces in various dramatic genres that have actually been performed, he is primarily known today for three: Werther, Thaïs, and Manon. When Manon, the story of the pleasure loving young woman and her various suitors, was first performed at the Opéra Comique in Paris in 1884, it was an immediate success and has continued in be popular today. En fermant les yeux is sung to Manon by her lover, Des Grieux, relating his dream that someday he will own a country house surrounded by beautiful flowers and singing birds where he and Manon will be happy together.

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Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Chi il bel Sogno di Doretta Potè Indovinar from La Rondine

By far the most prolific and popular Italian opera composer after Verdi, Giacomo Puccini can be credited with at least ten of his works securing a permanent place in the repertoire. La Rondine, however, is not one of his better-known works, having started out as a commission for an operetta from the Carl theater in Vienna which Puccini at first refused. He eventually agreed to take the commission, but only if he could write an opera for them (without spoken dialog). Magda is holding a soireé in her elegant Parisian house and the poet Prunier is declaiming the latest fad for sentimental love. He illustrates his theory by relating the story of his latest heroine, Doretta, who has spurned money for love. As Prunier doesn’t provide the ending for the story, Magda sits down at the piano and improvises one, Chi il bel sogno di Doretta (Who can explain Doretta’s beautiful dream?), where the heroine finds true love with a poor student.

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Non Piu Andrai Farfallone from Nozze di Figaro

Undoubtably Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (Marriage of Figaro) remains one of the greatest pieces of comedy and music of all time, filled as it is with charm, wit, spontaneity and satire. Count Almaviva has just caught the youth, Cherubino, hanging around the ladies–again. As punishment he is to be dispatched to the army, at once, but with a commission. Figaro, who has appeared in the room, sends Cherubino off with a mocking-militaristic aria, Non più andrai where he’s told that his flirting with the ladies will now be replaced by the rigors of military life, marching through mud, over mountains, in the snow and scorching sun, etc.

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Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Aber der Richtige from Arabella

Completed more than twenty years after their early highly successful collaborations, Arabella was the last between Richard Strauss and Austrian poet and playwright, Hugo von Hofmannsthal. In fact, Hofmannsthal didn’t live to complete the libretto, leaving Strauss to piece it together as best he could. While Arabella never achieved the popularity of Der Rosenkavlier, it does contain glorious music and a charming story. The narrative opens in the drawing room of the Waldner suite in one of the most fashionable hotels in Vienna. The Count and his family are living well beyond their means and it’s becoming evident that the beautiful eldest daughter Arabella must make a rich marriage - fast - while poor Zdenka, victim of the family's inability to bring out two daughters, must dress as a boy and yearn in vain for her sister's most ardent admirer, Matteo. Arabella has just come in from a walk and in the lovely duet Aber der Richtige she tells her sister Zdenka that she will know the right man when he comes along, and Zdenka sings of the fineness of her sister’s character. At the end of the duet sleighbells are heard as of one Arabella’s suitors approaches.

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Erich Korngold (1897-1957)
Glück, das Mir Verblieb from Tote Stadt

Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s fourth opera Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City) had its premiere when the composer was but 23. The piece instantly became a favorite of singers and audiences alike. The theme of overcoming the loss of a loved one must have resonated with audiences of the 1920s who had just come through the trauma and grief of World War I. The ensuing fortunes of the Jewish composer and the opera were tied up in the rise of National Socialism in Germany. The piece was banned for many years, and the composer fled to Hollywood where he made a name for himself in the film industry as well as well as completing other concert works. The opera is set in Brugges, Belgium where a young man, Paul, is grieving the recent loss of his beloved wife, Marie. He meets a young dancer Marietta who resembles Marie, in fact Paul almost believes that Marietta is really Marie. After Marietta says she must leave for a rehearsal, Paul seems to see Marie emerge from her portrait and she sings of their past life together, but that he must move on.

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Come Scoglio from Cosi fan Tutte

Così fan tutte (All Women do the Same, or The School for Lovers), opera buffa in 2 acts, was one of Mozart’s last operas and was commissioned by the Emperor Franz Josef II. In a coffee house Ferrando and Guglielmo proclaim the virtues of their betrothed, sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi. One Alfonso doesn’t believe in female fidelity and challenges them to a wager that ladies’ faithfulness will not withstand the absence of their lovers. Word is sent to the sisters that their men have been summoned to the army, and in their absence two “Albanians” come calling. In the face of the proclamations of love from the “Albanians” Fiordiligi sings Come scoglio immoto resta (Firm as a rock we stand against the storm). The three sections of this splendid aria grow in brilliance and versatility through tremendous vocal leaps and bounds, steaming on to its show-stopping conclusion.

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Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
O Mio Babbino Caro from Gianni Schicchi

Gianni Schicchi, one of the three one-act operas that make up Puccini’s trilogy Il Trittico, is based on a real life character who lived in Florence at the end of the 13th century. Schicchi’s daughter Lauretta loves Rinuccio whose family is in an uproar because it seems that their recently deceased wealthy relative, Buoso, has left his estate to a monastery rather than to them. In the midst of this commotion Schicchi and Lauretta come to visit the family, in particular, Rinuccio. As Buoso’s death hasn’t as yet been made public and Schicchi has a reputation as being a resourceful soul, the relatives implore him to come up with a solution. Lauretta adds her entreaties to her papa O mio babbino caro (Oh, dear daddy, I like him, he’s so handsome).

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Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945)
Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana

Cavalleria Rusticana was the struggling young music teacher Pietro Mascagni’s first opera, and its immediate success earned him fame and fortune overnight. The one act tale of Sicilian peasant life, illicit love, and revenge takes place on an Easter morning. After a stormy duet outside the church (where the Easter services are taking place) Santuzza and Alfio leave. The square is empty, but the action goes on in the orchestra with the famous Intermezzo recapitulating in its forty-eight bars, what has gone before, and foreshadowing the tragedy that is to come.

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Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Bimba Dagli Occhi Pieni di Malìa from Madama Butterfly

The premiere of Madama Butterfly was one of the darkest moments of Puccini’s career. He had been completely captivated by the story of the trusting young geisha and the cavalier American naval officer that he had seen on the stage in London. Committed to creating an authentic setting, Puccini consulted with the wife of the Japanese Ambassador, collected actual Japanese melodies, and in the end was convinced that this work was his masterpiece. After suffering the catcalls and jeers of the opening night crowd, the composer muttered “You will see who is right! This is the best opera I have ever written!” Four major revisions and looking back from today’s vantage point, it is clear–this work is an enduring masterpiece. The love duet from the end of Act I contains some of the most rapturous music ever written. After the stormy scene with Butterfly’s family, the marriage contract is signed, and the couple retires to their chamber as night falls. They sing of their happiness together.

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