Episode 80 Richard Will

Richard Will’s treatise, “Don Giovanni Captured”, subtitled “Performance, Media, Myth” (The University of Chicago Press) reviews the history of recording Mozart’s Don Giovanni - wax cylinders, 78 RPMs, 33⅓ RPMs (long-playing records), CDs, VHSs, DVDs, and streaming. He supplies us with examples of his analyses with plenty of recorded excerpts in the book’s companion website.

Listen, as he compares Giovanni’s “Serenade” (to Elvira’s maid) of Victor Maurel (1904) with Ezio Pinza (1930), and then Joseph Krips’s 1955 London mono (later stereo) recording with Cesare Siepi as Giovanni, with Bernard Haitink’s 1990 EMI Classics recording, with Thomas Allen playing the libertine, in the Second Act “statue” scene.

The book, 12 years in the writing, alludes to the women’s movement of the ‘70s and the more recent “Me Too” movement, and how this character (and Richard reminds us that he is a character — a myth), who boasts over 1,600 conquests (with 10 more before curtain) is perceived in both eras.

We talk about the extraordinary contribution of librettist Lorenzo DaPonte, the magnificent three stage bands at the conclusion of Act I, and Act II’s epilogue following Giovanni’s descent to Hell.

In short, Don Giovanni for the ages.

And Richard Will, professor of music at the University of Virginia, was such a pleasure to speak with.