CHAN 3057 Book Cover.qxd - Chandos

CHAN 3057 BOOK.qxd 13/7/07 3:50 pm Page 24invite the statue to supper20). Leporello is Elvira rushes in26to beg, as a last proof ofhorrified, and Giovanni amazed, when thestatue indicates acceptance by nodding its head.her love, that Giovanni repent. He offers hermock courtesy, real food and a toast to womenand wine – the ‘ultimate glories of life’. ElviraFourth tableau. A dark roomOttavio tells Anna that matters are in hand forGiovanni’s arrest21. He broaches the subjectof their marriage, which Anna will notconsider at a time like this. She defends herselfruns off but suddenly, with a scream, choosesanother way out. Sent to see what is going on,Leporello too cries out and comes back toreport the arrival of their stone guest: thestatue has come to supper. He will not answeragainst his charge of being cruel22by its knocks on the door. Giovanni has to goassuring him of her love – but he must becalm and wait for a happier moment23. Leftalone, Ottavio accepts her decision24.himself.The statue comes in27, declines Giovanni’soffer of mortal food but in turn invitesGiovanni to sup with him. IgnoringLeporello’s plea to refuse, Giovanni acceptsthe invitation. He gives the statue his handwhich remains trapped in an icy grip. StillGiovanni refuses to repent. Warning that it isnow too late, the statue departs. Fire breaksout, the earth shakes and opens and unseendemons warn that this is a small punishmentfor so great a crime. As the fire grows,Giovanni disappears; Leporello cries out inagony.Anna, Ottavio, Elvira, Zerlina and MasettoFifth tableau. A room in Giovanni’s house, witha table set for supperGiovanni calls on Leporello to serve25. Whilethe meal proceeds, his ‘house’ wind band playsexcerpts from three recent operas known toPrague audiences of 1787 – from the Act IFinale of Martin y Soler’s Una cosa rara (itslibretto also by Da Ponte), an aria from Act Iof Sarti’s I due litiganti and ‘Non piùandrai’ from The Marriage of Figaro. Leporellointroduces each item in a jokey manner (theFigaro music he finds ‘rather familiar’),watches enviously as his master eats and drinksand is finally caught with his mouth full ofstolen food.arrive with ministers of justice28. Leporelloexplains, at first incoherently, that Giovannihas gone far away. Elvira is the first tounderstand the connection with the ghostshe saw. Normal life can now resume. Ottaviotries again to persuade Anna into marriage, butshe insists on a year’s mourning. Elvira willenter a convent. Zerlina and Masetto will gohome and celebrate their marriage. Leporellowill seek a better master at the inn. All (nowout of their stage characters) repeat a finalmoral about the fate awaiting all real sinners.© 2001 Mike AshmanGarry Magee is rapidly emerging as one of theoutstanding vocal and dramatic talents of hisgeneration. He was the first-prize winner ofthe prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Award in 1995and a Prize-winner in the 1996 InternationalBelvedere Competition in Vienna. He is agraduate of the Guildhall School of Music andDrama and the National Opera Studio, andcurrently studies with Robert Dean.Operatic appearances include The RoyalOpera, Covent Garden (Guglielmo in Così fantutte, Second Nazarene in Salome, and PrinceAfron in Le Coq d’or); Opera North (Guglielmoin Così fan tutte and Schaunard in La bohème);English National Opera (Dancairo in Carmen);the Almeida Festival (Pot Boy Guiscardo inMario and The Magician, Daisy in TheNightingale and the Rose, Stinky in East and Westand Hermes in Ion); and the Teatro Municipalin Santiago (Papageno in Die Zauberflöte andSharpless in Madama Butterfly). He has alsomade a number of acclaimed debuts: withLa Monnaie as Malatesta (Don Pasquale) andDandini (La Cenerentola), with Flanders Operaas Yeletsky (Pique Dame), and with theGlyndebourne Festival Opera as the Steward(Flight), as well as the title roles in DonGiovanni for Opera North and Pelléas andMélisande for English National Opera.An established concert artist, Garry Mageehas appeared in recital at the Wigmore Hall,the Théâtre du Châtelet and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. He has sung Bach’s St JohnPassion with the Irish Chamber Orchestra,Kurt Weill’s Das Berliner Requiem with theBirmingham Contemporary Music Group,Rachmaninov’s Spring Cantata with theOrchestra of the Komische Opera and underMark Elder at the BBC Promenade Concerts,Wozzeck under Christoph von Dohnányi in hisdebut with the Philharmonia, Bernstein’s WestSide Story with the London SymphonyOrchestra under Justin Brown. He has alsoperformed Bach’s Magnificat with theStavanger Symphony Orchestra under HarryChristophers and Brahms’s German Requiem atthe Royal Albert Hall.2425