HINSON, DANIEL ROSS, DMA Are You Serious? - The University of ...

Ed io frattanto j And I meanwhile
dall' altro canto j In another corner
Con questa e quella e With this girl or that girl
vo' amoreggiar. c I want to make love.
Ah la mia lista k Ah, my list
doman mattina l Tomorrow morning
D' una decina l By ten entries
devi aumentar. c You must increase.
The striking musical and textual differences between these two arias demonstrate
Giovanni’s ability to shift seamlessly between social strata as the situation dictates,
further solidifying his place as a mezzo carattere.
The seria characters in Don Giovanni are Don Ottavio, Donna Anna and the
Comendatore. The Comendatore has an unflappable sense of duty and honor, even to the
point of death, and his low, stentorian voice is terrifyingly ominous when he returns as
the stone guest. It is likely that this role was given to a bass voice primarily to achieve
the necessary gravitas and demonic undertones of the finale of the opera. It is difficult to
imagine a high-voiced character dragging Giovanni into the depths of Hell.
The two remaining parti serie, Donna Anna and Don Ottavio, bear resemblance to
two lesser characters of the commedia dell’arte; they are “Isabella,” the beautiful and
disdainful upper-class woman, and “Octavio,” the foppish, but dull, rich snob. The
names of these commedia dell’arte characters are particularly amusing, because
“Octavio” and “Isabela” were the original names of the betrothed couple in Tirso de
Molina’s original play, El Burlador de Sevilla. One might surmise that Tirso lifted these
characters and their names from the commedia dell’arte tradition; however, the
playwright was Spanish, not Italian, and the commedia dell’arte performers would not
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