Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-10-02

The first major event Of the
new music season transpired
last night at the Lisner Audi
forum, where the Opera Soci-
ETY. of Washington mounted an
impressive Don Giovanni" be-
fore a capacity audience Of en-
thusiastie opera fans and
socialites.
There may be some in town
who think that the OSW is a
worthy cause" that 1t should
be patronized because 1t is our
opera company, but that it
really isn't very good. One visit
to the Lisner should effectively
dispel any such silly notion.
What is going on in Wash
ington is genuine big-time stuff.
Flatly stated, the local produce
tons are in every way COM
parable to the finest opera
heard In New York and else
where.
Washington's all too brief
opera season follows q remark.
able pattern. Each show is a
freshly thought out recreation
Of one of the truly great works
in the repertoire. Each is cast
with agonizingly meticulous
care, with the emphasis upon
the right voice rather than the
right name. Each is imagina-
lively mounted and intelligently
projected.
Proof at Hand
The end result is an extraor-
binary degree of liveliness and
genuine art-and If you don't
believe this, go to see the OSW
Don Giovanni" for yourself
and be converted.
Into Don Giovanni" Mozart
poured some of the loveliest
music ever written, but I am
afraid I must side with those
who consider the work as a
whole inferior to some Of his
other operas. The fly in the |
ointment is Lorenzo da Ponies
hurried lih~.tto, a piece Of
hack work which only q Mozart
could turn into q masterwork.
The story Just doesn't hang |
together. The disparate ele-
ments fail to jell. The broad
low comedy jostles terrifying
drama, and as the ingenious
Da Ponte was no Shakespeare,
the end result was dramatic
confusion.
Mozart did his best to
straighten things out, to
breathe life into the cardboard
figures, to give the stereotyped
situations urgency and univer-
salty, to unveil the human
intelligence behind the puppet.
It is a measure Of his fantastic
genius that, with such unprom-
Using material, he succeeded to
such an extraordinary degree.
To me, Don Giovanni" is a
constant miracle despite my
feeling that it is a failure as
an opera, because it is the most
astonishing testimony to the
power of music any man has
created. I will take Mozart's
failures in preference to a
lesser mans successes any day
Of the week.
Dramatic Flaw
One of the big dramatic
flaws in the opera is the way
In which the second act, at
least in it's developmental
stages, tends to highlight the
buffo role of Leporello rather
than that Of the amorouS Don,
supposedly the main figure.
Here, the accomplished Donald
Gramm, singing with sureness
and grace, turned a necessity
into a virtue in a standout
histrionic performance. Mr..
Gramm, relaxed and Stagewise,
was a pleasure to watch and his
catalogue aria was an utter
delight.
Ralph Herbert. in the part Of
the unfortunate Don Giovanni,
was in excellent estate despite
an occasional yelled quality in
his singing. perhaps due to a
slight cold. At any rate. it
sounded that way from where
was sitting. Mr.. Herbert did
a stunning virtuoso job in the
champagne aria and held his
own with the ebullient Mr..
Gramm-no mean achievement.
Don Ottavio, with two