Don Giovanni "La ci darem la mano"

Mozart Don Giovanni "La ci darem la mano" in English translation with Peter Halverson as Don Giovanni and Karen Burlingame as Zerlina. Benton Hess, conductor. David Bartholomew, director. For those concerned that it's in English, it's not a concert performance. It's an excerpt from a performance of the entire opera, from a company that performed in the local vernacular.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Mozart
• Don
• Giovanni
• Karen
• Burlingame

[madgeson]

All of the opera composers wanted people to hear the opera in the local vernacular. Puccini was particularly keen on the idea. People should not be snobbish about it. English is my language but I can listen in any language. The important thing is that people are able to understand the story and if the opera is performed in a language they can understand so much the better!

[deafussy]

It's not the same, though. Italian language is light and musical, german is passionate and dramatic, russian is sonorous and rustic, and english... well, along with latin, is quite boring. At least american english. The true english language is elegant.

The idea is that poetry is not the same in a language than in other

[ikrase]

It's good, but the recitatives are a bit messed up with regards to the emphasis on the words.

[TeodorMolochov]

Surprisingly listenable even though in english :)



[PhantomSongbird]

I prefer this in Italian, but it's really interesting to hear in English! I still love this music, no matter what language is sung. I never knew the translation before, so I'm hearing it in a whole new way. I think it's great that people have the opportunity to hear this in Italian or English, depending on their preference.

[tenordramaticitm2]

I like more the italian version. But the singers are good.

[jongenzanger]

As a singer, i agree with Madgeson's comment about operas being performed in the vernacular, as I recently performed the role of Escamillo (the Toreador) in Carmen this Spring in English and it was a lot of fun!

Yet, have you ever heard the Rigolleto Quarttet in English? it sounds a little wierd. i would love more operas to be performed in The States in our vernacular, but I'm ok with Rigoletto staying in Italian.

[666Proibito]

Italian rulexz!

[neostargurl126]

oh masetto!

[iAsian92]

I like the Italian version, but I don't see any difference between the two. As long as the singers are hitting the right pitch and the timing is still proper everything's good.

[wotan20]

This is at least an honorable performance, yet I can't see the English version unseating the phenomenally popular Italian version.

[madgeson]

Whats your point?