Mozart in Kierkegaard’s Either/Or

In Part I of Either/Or, “A” sings the praises of Mozart’s genius in an essay on “The Immediate Erotic Stages.” It is likely the most brilliantly written of all the sections of Part I, and is not to be missed by any fan of Mozart or of music in general. However, A’s account is as good a reminder as any that we are dealing not with Kierkegaard directly, with a text he signed his own name to, but rather with a pseudonymous text, written by a fictional consciousness whose “life-view” (Livsanskuelse), while not without a certain validity unto itself, is clearly limited — after all, Part II will follow with the very different life-view of “B” (whose identity is known: Judge William).

Whenever Kierkegaard is writing under a pseudonym, he is writing in the mode of irony, although certainly this may serve as a kind of frame for earnestness. One must regard everything critically; often, what is left unsaid is just as revealing as what it said. In this case, as witty and moving as A’s writings may be, their limitations and blind spots are exposed by the writings of Judge William, who has moved beyond the so-called aesthetic sphere and into the ethical, largely through the commitment of marriage — although, here too, readers who know Kierkegaard well will easily realize that William himself is similarly limited, insofar as he has not grasped the religious. For that, we have to wait until Fear and Trembling.

When William reproaches “A” for confining himself to the aesthetic, he is much concerned with demonstrating, based on his actual experience of marriage, that the beauty of the “first love” (the only kind of love that “A” can praise) can be preserved within the commitment of marriage — that is, the aesthetic is not abolished by the ethical, but taken up “into a higher concentricity.” When “A” denigrates marriage as boring, etc., there is the rather obvious problem that marriage is something of which he has no direct experience. The same applies to those passages from Mozart — depicting committed love — that he dismissed as "unmusical.” Perhaps there is a musicality in the ethical that he is simply deaf to.

In all of this, it is well worth keeping in mind that Mozart was, by all accounts, quite happily married.

In short, much can be learned by looking at those selections from Mozart that “A” chooses to focus on, and those that he skims over, disapproves of, or ignores altogether. Unsurprisingly, all of these deal with themes of committed love and marriage, or with judgment and answerability — that is, with the ethical. Straying beyond the realm of opera, one is of course also reminded of Mozart’s religious music.

Selections from Mozart that are included in A’s discussion:

I. The Marriage of Figaro: Cherubino, the page, is a young man struggling to understand the meaning of his first feelings of love (infatuation).

“The sensuous awakens, yet not to motion but to a still quiescence, not to delight and joy but to deep melancholy. As yet desire is not awake; it is intimated in the melancholy.” p. 75

Voi che sapete che cosa e amor,
Donne, vedete, s'io l'ho nel cor,
Donne, vedete, s'io l'ho nel cor.
Quello ch'io provo, vi ridiro,
E per me nuovo capir nol so.
Sento un affetto pien di desir,
Ch'ora e diletto, ch'ora e martir.
Gelo e poi sento l'alma avvampar,
E in un momento torno a gelar.
Ricerco un bene fuori di me,
Non so chi il tiene, non so cos' e.
Sospiro e gemo senza voler,
Palpito e tremo senza saper,
Non trovo pace notte ne di,
Ma pur mi piace languir cosi.
Voi, che sapete che cosa e amor
Donne, vedete, s'io l'ho nel cor,
Donne, vedete, s'io l'ho nel cor,
Donne, vedete, s'io l'ho nel cor.

You who know what love is,
Ladies, look to see if it is in my heart,
Ladies, look to see if it is in my heart.
Let me tell you what I feel,
It’s new for me; I don’t understand it.
I feel so full of desire
That one moment it is a pleasure, the next agony.
I’m freezing cold, then on fire;
then in a moment freeze again.
I seek something beautiful outside myself,
I don't know who has it, I don't know what it is.
I sigh and I groan without control,
I quiver and tremble without control.
I cannot find any peace night or day,
And yet, I like this strange new pain!
You, ladies, who know what love is,
Look to see if it is in my heart,
Look to see if it is in my heart,
Look to see if it is in my heart.

II. The Magic Flute: Papageno, the bird-catcher, makes his entrance. By the end of the play, after despairing and even planning to kill himself, he is finally united with his true love, Papagena, with whom he joins in a ludicrous duet about all the children they’ll have.

“Desire awakens, and just as we always realize that we have dreamed only in the moment we awaken, so also here — the dream is over. This awakening in which desire awakens, this jolt, separates desire and its object, gives desire an object… The object… splits up into a multiplicity. In Papageno, desire aims at discoveries… It is exuberant, merrily twittering, bubbling over with love.” p. 78, etc.

Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja,
Stets lustig, heisa! hopsasa!
Ich Vogelfänger bin bekannt
Bey Alt und Jung im ganzen Land.
Weiß mit dem Locken umzugeh'n,                            
Und mich aufs Pfeifen zu versteh'n.
Drum kann ich froh und lustig sein;
Denn alle Vögel sind ja mein.

(pfeift)

Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja,
Stets lustig, heisa! hopsasa!                            
Der Vogelfänger ist bekannt
Bey Alt und Jung im ganzen Land.
Ein Netz für Mädchen möchte ich;
Ich fing' sie dutzendweis für mich.
Dann sperrte ich sie bey mir ein,                        
Und alle Mädchen wären mein.

Wenn alle Mädchen wären mein              
So tauschte ich brav Zukker ein,              
Die welche mir am liebsten wär,              
Der geb ich gleich den Zukker her,           
Und küsste sie mich zärtlich dann,           
Wär sie mein Weib und ich ihr Mann.       
Sie schlief an meiner Seite ein, 
Ich wiegte wie ein Kind sie ein.

The bird-catcher, that’s me,
Always cheerful, hip hooray!
I, the bird-catcher, am known
To young and old throughout the land.
I know how to set about luring,
And I’m a master at playing the pipe.
That’s why I can be merry and cheerful,
For all the birds are surely mine.

(he plays his pipe)

The bird-catcher, that’s me,
Always cheerful, hip hooray!
I, the bird-catcher, am known
To young and old throughout the land.
I’d like a net to catch girls with;
I’d catch them for myself by the dozen!
Then I’ll lock them up with me,
And all the girls would be mine.

If all the girls were mine,
I’d barter for plenty of sugar;
The girl I liked the most,
To her I’d give the sugar.
And if she then kissed me tenderly,
She’d be my wife, and I her husband.
She’d fall asleep at my side,
And I’d rock her to sleep like a child.

 III. Don Giovanni: Giovanni’s servant, Leporello, reads the “list” of his conquests to the jilted Donna Elvira.

“In Don Giovanni… desire is absolutely qualified as desire: intensively and extensively it is the immediate unity of the two previous stages… In the particular, desire has its absolute object; it desires the particular absolutely… The issue here is not desire in a particular individual but desire as a principle, qualified by spirit as that which the spirit excludes. This is the idea of the elemental originality of the sensuous… The expression for this idea is Don Juan, and the expression for Don Juan, in turn, is simply and solely music.” p. 84, etc.

Madamina, il catalogo è questo
delle belle, che amò il padron mio;
un catalogo egli è, che ho fatt'io.
Osservate, leggete con me.
In Italia seicento e quaranta,
in Almagna duecento e trentuna,
cento in Francia, in Turchia novantuna,
ma in Ispagna son già mille e tre!
V'han fra queste contadine,
cameriere, cittadine,
v'han contesse, baronesse,
marchesine, principesse,
e v'han donne d'ogni grado,
d'ogni forma, d'ogni età.
In Italia seicento e quaranta, ecc.
Nella bionda egli ha l'usanza
di lodar la gentilezza;
nella bruna, la costanza;
nella bianca la dolcezza;
vuol d'inverno la grassotta,
vuol d'estate la magrotta;
è la grande maestosa,
la piccina è ognor vezzosa;
delle vecchie fa conquista
pel piacer di porle in lista.
Sua passion predominante
è la giovin principiante.
Non si picca se sia ricca,
se sia brutta, se sia bella,
se sia brutta, ricca, se sia bella;
purché porti la gonnella,
voi sapete quel che fa!
Purché porti la gonnella, ecc.

(Parte.)

My dear lady, this is a list
of the beauties my master has loved,
a list which I have compiled.
Observe, read along with me.
In Italy, six hundred and forty;
in Germany, two hundred and thirty-one;
a hundred in France; in Turkey ninety-one.
In Spain already one thousand and three.
Among these are peasant girls,
maidservants, city girls,
countesses, baronesses,
marchionesses, princesses,
women of every rank,
every shape, every age.
In Italy six hundred and forty, etc.
With blondes it is his habit
to praise their kindness;
in brunettes, their faithfulness;
in the very blonde, their sweetness.
In winter he likes fat ones,
in summer he likes thin ones.
He calls the tall ones majestic.
The little ones are always charming.
He seduces the old ones
for the pleasure of adding to the list.
His greatest favorite
is the young beginner.
It doesn't matter if she's rich,
ugly or beautiful;
if she is rich, ugly or beautiful.
If she wears a petticoat,
you know what he does.
If she wears a petticoat, etc.

(He leaves.)

Leporello sings the “list…”

Here, in addition, is Donna Elvira’s aria…

Selections from Mozart that are not included in A’s discussion…

I. The Marriage of Figaro: The Countess Forgives the Count: As the opera concludes, the comedic lunacy of the opera, with its disguises, mistaken identities, attempts at seduction, etc., suddenly resolves in a stunning and revelatory depiction of the power of love and forgiveness — specifically, within a marriage. “A” never mentions it — though, to be fair, he spends very little time on this opera. In the film Amadeus (inspired by Alexander Pushkin’s short drama in verse “Mozart and Salieri”), Mozart’s rival Salieri gives a beautiful description of this scene as he recalls attending the opera’s debut: “The restored third act was bold, brilliant. The fourth… was astounding. I saw a woman, disguised in her maid’s clothes, hear her husband speak the first tender words he has offered her in years, simply because he thinks she is someone else. I heard the music of true forgiveness filling the theater, conferring on all who sat there perfect absolution; God was singing though this little man (Mozart, who is conducting), to all the world, unstoppable, making my defeat more bitter with every passing bar…”

Note: when the Countess says “I am more clement,” she has in mind the moment before when the Count had refused to forgive Susanna (disguised as the Countess!) when he “catches” her with Figaro.

CONTE (inginocchiandosi)
Contessa perdono! Perdono, perdono!

CONTESSA
Più docile sono,
e dico di sì.

TUTTI
Ah! Tutti contenti
saremo così.

COUNT (kneeling)
Countess, your pardon! Pardon!

COUNTESS
I am more clement,
and answer, yes.

ALL
Ah! All shall be
made happy thereby.

II. The Magic Flute: Tamino sees Pamina’s Portrait: Tamino, the opera’s hero, falls in love with Pamina (daughter of the Queen of the Night) the moment he is shown her picture, and embarks on a quest to save her. Though he too is young and inexperienced, his aria speaks to a kind of maturity and resolve, not to mention commitment to a single person, that are missing from the arias that “A” discusses. It seems that this is a true love, not mere infatuation; and this is proven later when Tamino and Pamina endure trials together.

Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön,
wie noch kein Auge je gesehn!
Ich fühl' es, wie dies Götterbild,
mein Herz mit neuer Regung füllt.

Dies Etwas kann ich zwar nicht nennen,
doch fühl' ich's hier wie Feuer brennen,
soll die Empfindung Liebe sein?
Ja, ja, die Liebe ist's allein.

O wenn ich sie nur finden könnte,
O wenn sie doch schon vor mir stände,
ich würde, würde, warm und rein!
Was würde ich?

Ich würde sie voll Entzücken
an diesen heißen Busen drücken,
und ewig wäre sie dann mein.

This image is enchantingly lovely,
Like no eye has ever beheld!
I feel it as this divine picture,
Fills my heart with new emotion.

I cannot name my feeling,
Though I feel it burn like fire within me,
Could this feeling be love?
Yes! Yes! It is love alone.

Oh, if only I could find her,
Oh, if only she were already standing in front of me,
I'd become, become, warm and pure.
What would I do?

Upon this heart, Full of rapture,
I would press her to this glowing bosom,
And then she would be mine forever!

III. The Magic Flute: Tamino and Pamina Endure the Trials: At the end of the opera, Tamino and Pamina, now united, must pass a series of trials together. Their duet touches on the power of love, commitment, and music. “A” notes that the flutes of Papageno and Tamino harmonize with each other… “And yet what a difference! Tamino’s flute, which nevertheless is the one the play is named after, miscarries completely, and why? Because Tamino simply is not a musical character. This is due to the misbegotten structure of the whole opera. Tamino with his flute becomes very boring and sentimental… Tamino has simply come so far that the musical ceases, and therefore his flute playing is only a waste of time to drive away thoughts… The defect in The Magic Flute is that the whole piece tends toward consciousness, and in consequence the actual tendency of the piece is to annul the music, and yet it is supposed to be an opera… Ethically qualified love or marital love is set as the goal of the action, and therein lies the play’s basic defect, for whatever that is, ecclesiastically or secularly speaking, one thing it is not, it is not musical — indeed, it is absolutely unmusical.” Though his point is understandable, A’s bias is on full display here — and is particularly odd when we recall that the music he’s calling unmusical was also composed by a musical genius whom he’s praising to the heavens.

PAMINA
Tamino mein! O welch ein Glück!

TAMINO
Pamina mein! O welch ein Glück!

Hier sind die Schreckenspforten,
die Not und Tod mir dräu’n.

PAMINA
Ich werde aller Orten
an deiner Seite sein. –
Ich selbsten führe dich –
die Liebe leitet mich! –
(nimmt ihn bei der Hand)
Sie mag den Weg mit Rosen streu’n,
weil Rosen stets bei Dornen sein.
Spiel du die Zauberflöte an,
sie schütze uns auf grauser Bahn.
Es schnitt in einer Zauberstunde
mein Vater sie aus tiefstem Grunde
der tausendjähr’gen Eiche aus
bei Blitz und Donner – Sturm und Braus. –
Nun komm und spiel die Flöte an!
Sie leite uns auf grauser Bahn.

PAMINA und TAMINO
Wir wandeln durch des Tones Macht
froh durch des Todes düst’re Nacht.

DIE ZWEI GEHARNISCHTEN
Ihr wandelt durch des Tones Macht
froh durch des Todes düst’re Nacht.

(Die Türen werden nach ihnen zugeschlagen; man sieht
Tamino und Pamina wandern. Tamino bläst
seine Flöte. Sobald sie vom Feuer herauskommen,
umarmen sie sich und bleiben
in der Mitte.)

PAMINA und TAMINO
Wir wandelten durch Feuergluten,
bekämpften mutig die Gefahr,
dein Ton sei Schutz in Wasserfluten,
so wie er es im Feuer war.

(Tamino bläst; man sieht sie hinuntersteigen und
nach einiger Zeit wieder heraufkommen; sogleich
öffnet sich eine Türe; man sieht einen Eingang in
einen Tempel, welcher hell beleuchtet ist.)

PAMINA und TAMINO
Ihr Götter, welch ein Augenblick!
Gewähret ist uns Isis’ Glück! –

GEFOLGE und PRIESTER (von innen)
Triumph, Triumph, Triumph, du edles Paar,
besieget hast du die Gefahr!
Der Isis Weihe ist nun dein!
Kommt, kommt, tretet in den Tempel ein.
(Das Theater verwandelt sich wieder
in den vorigen Garten.)

PAMINA
My Tamino! Oh, what happiness!

TAMINO
My Pamina! Oh, what happiness!

Here are the gates of fear,
that threaten me with danger and with death.

PAMINA
Wherever you go,
I shall be at your side. –
I myself shall lead you –
Love is my guide –
(takes him by the hand)
May it strew our way with roses,
for roses are always found with thorns.
Play on your magic flute;
may it protect us on our grim path.
In a magic hour, my father
cut it from the deepest roots
of the thousand-year-old oak
amid thunder, lightning – storm and rain. –
Come, now, and play the flute!
May it guide us on our dread path.

PAMINA and TAMINO
We walk, by the power of music,
in joy through death’s dark night.

MEN IN ARMOR
You walk, by the power of music,
in joy through death’s dark night.

(The doors are closed behind them; Tamino and
Pamina are seen making their way. Tamino plays on
his flute. As soon as they have emerged from the
fire they embrace one another and remain at the
center of the stage.)

PAMINA and TAMINO
We passed through the glowing fire
and bravely faced the danger.
May your music protect us in the flood
as it did in the fire.

(Tamino plays; they are seen making their way
down and after a time coming up again;
immediately a door opens; the entrance to a
brightly lit temple is revealed.)

PAMINA and TAMINO
Ye Gods, what a joyful moment!
The joy of Isis is accorded to us! –

ATTENDANTS and PRIESTS (from within)
Victory, victory, victory, o noble pair,
You have overcome the danger!
Isis’s rites are now yours!
Come, come, enter the Temple.
(The scene changes back
to the previous garden.)

IV. The Magic Flute: Papageno Finds his Papagena: “A” is also uninterested in the fact that the long-suffering, long-searching Papageno — on the verge of despair, and ready to hang himself — finally finds his perfect match: Papagena! Instantly in love, the two sing of their marriage and their children to come.

PAPAGENO.
Pa - Pa - Pa - Pa - Pa - Pa - Papagena!

PAPAGENA
Pa - Pa - Pa - Pa - Pa - Pa - Papageno.

PAPAGENO
Bist du mir nun ganz gegeben?

PAPAGENA
Nun bin ich dir ganz gegeben.

PAPAGENO
Nun so sey mein liebes Weibchen!

PAPAGENA
Nun so sey mein Herzenstäubchen!

BEYDE
Welche Freude wird das sein,
Wenn die Götter uns bedenken,
Unsrer Liebe Kinder schenken,
So liebe kleine Kinderlein.

PAPAGENO
Erst einen kleinen Papageno.

PAPAGENA
Dann eine kleine Papagena.

PAPAGENO
Dann wieder einen Papageno.

PAPAGENA
Dann wieder eine Papagena.

BEYDE
Es ist das höchste der Gefühle,
Wenn viele, viele, viele, viele,
Pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, geno
Pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, gena
Der Eltern Segen werden sein.

PAPAGENO
Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Papagena!

PAPAGENA
Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Papageno!

PAPAGENO
Are you really all mine now?

PAPAGENA
Now I really am all yours.

PAPAGENO
So now be my darling little wife!

PAPAGENA
So now be the little dove of my heart!

BOTH
What a pleasure that will be,
when the gods remember us,
crown our love with children,
such dear little children!

PAPAGENO
First a little Papageno!

PAPAGENA
Then a little Papagena!

PAPAGENO
Then another Papageno!

PAPAGENA
Then another Papagena!

BOTH
It is the greatest feeling
when many, many
Pa-Pa-Papagenos,
Pa-Pa-Papagenas
Will be the blessing of their parents.

V. Don Giovanni: Don Ottavio’s Aria: “A” describes at great length how Don Giovanni is the perfect opera, although with certain qualifications. First: ideally, the opera would have no words, thus remaining entirely within the sphere of the immediate and of pure musicality, rather than inevitably intruding upon the ethical through language. He’d also prefer that two arias be removed, which he calls “concert numbers” that disrupt the otherwise perfect “dramatic-musical pace of the opera.” As chance would have it, the arias belong to the lovers Don Ottavio and Donna Anna (the Commendatore’s daughter), who are engaged to be married. Don Ottavio’s aria, below, expresses a love that no longer distinguishes between the self and the other.

DON OTTAVIO
Dalla sua pace la mia dipende;
Quel che a lei piace vita mi rende,
Quel che le incresce morte mi dà.
S'ella sospira, sospiro anch'io;
È mia quell'ira, quel pianto è mio;
E non ho bene, s'ella non l'ha.

Parte

DON OTTAVIO
On her peace, my own depends;
That which pleases her gives me life;
That which grieves her kills me.
If she sighs, I sigh as well;
Her anger is mine, her tears are mine;
And I possess no good if she does not have it.

Exit.

VI. Don Giovanni: Opening Scene: In his delight at Don Juan’s pure musicality, romantic conquests, etc., “A” almost entirely neglects to consider the trail of victims he leaves in his wake. As the opera opens, he slays the Commendatore when he is caught trying to seduce his daughter, Donna Anna. The scene is below.

Leporello
Notte e giorno faticar
per chi nulla sa gradir;
piova e vento sopportar,
mangiar male e mal dormir…
Voglio far il gentiluomo,
e non voglio più servir.
no, no, no, no, no, no,
non voglio più servir!
Oh, che caro galantuomo!
vuol star dentro colla bella,
ed io far la sentinella!
Ma mi par… che venga gente;
non mi voglio far sentir.

Donna Anna
Non sperar, se non m’uccidi,
Ch’io ti lasci fuggir mai!

Don Giovanni
Donna folle! indarno gridi!
Chi son io tu non saprai.

Leporello
(Che tumulto! o ciel, che gridi!
Il padron in nuovi guai!)

Donna Anna
Gente! servi! al traditore! Scellerato!

Don Giovanni
Taci, e trema al mio furore! Sconsigliata!

Leporello
(Sta a veder che il libertino
mi farà precipitar.)

Donna Anna
Come furia disperata,
ti saprò perseguitar.

Don Giovanni
(Questa furia disperata
mi vuol far precipitar.)

Leporello
Che tumulto! ecc.

Commendatore
Lasciala, indegno! Battiti meco.

Don Giovanni
Va, non mi degno di pugnar teco.

Commendatore
Cosi pretendi da me fuggir?

Leporello
(Potessi almeno di qua partir!)

Commendatore
Battiti!

Don Giovanni
Misero! attendi, se vuoi morir!

Commendatore
Ah, soccorso! son tradito!
L’assassino m’ha ferito,
e dal seno palpitante
sento l’anima partir, ecc.

Don Giovanni
Ah! già cade il sciagurato…
affannosa e agonizzante
già dal seno palpitante
veggo l’anima partir, ecc.

Leporello
Night and day I slave
for one who does not appreciate it.
I put up with wind and rain,
eat and sleep badly.
I want to be a gentleman
and to give up my servitude.
No, no, no, no, no, no,
I want to give up my servitude.
Oh, what a fine gentleman!
You stay inside with your lady
and I must play the sentinel!
But I think someone is coming!
I don’t want them to hear me.

Donna Anna
There’s no hope, unless you kill me,
that I’ll ever let you go!

Don Giovanni
Idiot! You scream in vain.
Who I am you’ll never know!

Leporello
What a racket! Heaven, what screams!
My master in another scrape.

Donna Anna
Help! Everyone! The betrayer!

Don Giovanni
Keep quiet! Beware my wrath!

Leporello
We will see if this rascal
will be the ruin of me!

Donna Anna
Like a desperate fury
I’ll know how to pursue you!

Don Giovanni
This desperate fury
is aimed at destroying me! etc.

Leporello
What a racket! etc.

Commendatore
Leave her alone, wretch, and defend yourself.

Don Giovanni
Go away! I disdain to fight with you.

Commendatore
Thus you think to escape me?

Leporello
If I could only get out of here!

Commendatore
Fight!

Don Giovanni
So be it, if you want to die!

Commendatore
Help! I’ve been betrayed!
The assassin has wounded me!
And from my heaving breast
I see my soul escaping, etc.

Don Giovanni
Ah, already the wretch has fallen,
and he gasps for air.
From his heaving breast I already
see his soul escaping, etc.

VII. Don Giovanni: Finale: Most tellingly, “A” gives little thought to the fact that Don Juan faces consequences for his choices; these consequences are embodied by the Commendatore, whose statue he mockingly invites to dinner. When, shockingly, the statue does indeed come to dine, it demands that Don Juan repent, then drags him to hell when he refuses. Though not nearly as dramatic as these operatic personages, in Either/Or, one can read “A” as a kind of Don Juan, and “B” (Judge William) as his Commendatore.

(Entra la statua. Leporello s’asconde sotto la tavola.)

LA STATUA
Don Giovanni a cenar teco
m’invitasti e son venuto!

DON GIOVANNI
Non l’avrei giammai creduto;
ma farò quel che potrò.
Leporello, un altra cena
fa che subito si porti!

LEPORELLO
Ah padron! Siam tutti morti.

DON GIOVANNI
Vanne dico!

LA STATUA
Ferma un po’! Non si pasce di cibo mortale
chi si pasce di cibo celeste!
Altre cure più gravi di queste
altra brama quaggiù mi guidò!

LEPORELLO
La terzana d’avere mi sembra,
e le membra fermar più non so. 

DON GIOVANNI
Parla dunque! Che chiedi? Che vuoi?

LA STATUA
Parlo; ascolta! Più tempo non ho! ecc.

DON GIOVANNI
Parla, parla, ascoltando ti sto, ecc.

LEPORELLO
E le membra fermar più non so, ecc.

LA STATUA
Tu m’invitasti a cena,
il tuo dover or sai,
rispondimi: verrai tu a cenar meco?

LEPORELLO
Oibò; tempo non ha, scusate.

DON GIOVANNI
A tor to di viltate
tacciato mai sarò.

LA STATUA
Risolvi!

DON GIOVANNI
Ho già risolto.

LA STATUA
Verrai?

LEPORELLO
Dite di no!

DON GIOVANNI
Ho fermo il core in petto.
Non ho timor: verrò!

LA STATUA
Dammi la mano in pegno!

DON GIOVANNI
Eccola! (Dà la mano.)
Ohimè!

LA STATUA
Cos’hai?

DON GIOVANNI
Che gelo è questo mai?

LA STATUA
Pentiti, cangia vita,
è l’ultimo momento!

DON GIOVANNI (vuol sciogliersi)
No, no, ch’io non mi pento
vanne lontan da me!

LA STATUA
Pentiti, scellerato!

DON GIOVANNI
No, vecchio infatuato!

LA STATUA
Pentiti! ecc.

DON GIOVANNI
No! ecc.

LA STATUA
Sì!

DON GIOVANNI
No!

LA STATUA
Sì!

DON GIOVANNI
No!

LEPORELLO
Sì! Sì!

DON GIOVANNI
No! No!

LA STATUA
Ah! tempo più non v’è!

(La statua scompare. Da tutte le parti si alzano le
fiamme e la terra comincia a tremare sotto i piedi
di Don Giovanni.)

DON GIOVANNI
Da qual tremore insolito
sento assalir gli spiriti!
Dond’escono quei vortici
di foco pien d’orror?

CORO DI DEMONII
Tutto a tue colpe è poco!
Vieni, c’è un mal peggior!

DON GIOVANNI
Chi l’anima mi lacera?
Chi m’agita le viscere?
Che strazio, ohimè, che smania!
Che inferno, che terror!

 LEPORELLO
Che ceffo disperato!
Che gesti da dannato!
Che gridi, che lamenti!
Come mi fa terror!

CORO
Tutto a tue colpe, ecc.

DON GIOVANNI
Chi l’anima, ecc. 

LEPORELLO
Che ceffo, ecc.

DON GIOVANNI, poi LEPORELLO
Ah!

(Le fiamme avvolgono Don Giovanni. La scena si
calma ed escono gli altri personaggi.)

(The statue enters. Leporello hides under the table.)

THE STATUE
Don Giovanni, you invited me to dinner
and I have come!

DON GIOVANNI
I never would have believed it,
but I will do what I can.
Leporello, see to it
that another dinner is served at once!

LEPORELLO
Ah, master, we are lost.

DON GIOVANNI
Go, I said!

THE STATUE
Wait a moment! He who dines on Heavenly food
has no need for the food of the mortals!
Other more serious considerations
have caused me to come here!

LEPORELLO
I feel as if I have a fever,
for I cannot control my limbs.

DON GIOVANNI
Speak then! What do you ask? What do you wish?

THE STATUE
I will speak. Listen! My time is short! etc.

DON GIOVANNI
Speak then, for I am listening, etc.

LEPORELLO
For I cannot control my limbs, etc.

THE STATUE
You invited me to dinner,
now you know your duty.
Answer me: will you come to dine with me?

LEPORELLO
Oh my! Excuse him, but he doesn’t have time.

DON GIOVANNI
No one will say of me
that I have ever been afraid.

THE STATUE
Make up your mind!

DON GIOVANNI
I have done so already!

THE STATUE
You will come?

LEPORELLO
Tell him no!

DON GIOVANNI
My heart beats firmly.
I’m not afraid: I’ll come!

THE STATUE
Give me your hand upon it!

DON GIOVANNI
Here it is! (He gives the statue his hand.)
Oh me!

THE STATUE
What is wrong?

DON GIOVANNI
What is this deadly chill?

THE STATUE
Repent! Change your ways,
for this is your last hour!

DON GIOVANNI (trying to free himself)
No, no, I will not repent.
Let me be! 

THE STATUE
Repent, scoundrel!

DON GIOVANNI
No, you old fool!

THE STATUE
Repent! etc.

DON GIOVANNI
No! etc.

THE STATUE
Yes!

DON GIOVANNI
No!

THE STATUE
Yes!

DON GIOVANNI
No!

LEPORELLO
Yes! Yes!

DON GIOVANNI
No! No!

THE STATUE
Ah, your time is up!

(The statue disappears. Flames appear on all
sides and the earth begins to tremble under Don
Giovanni’s feet.)

DON GIOVANNI
What strange fear
now assails my soul!
Where do those
flames of horror come from?

CHORUS OF DEMONS
No horror is too dreadful for you!
Come, there is worse in store!

DON GIOVANNI
Who lacerates my soul?
Who torments my body?
What torment, oh me, what agony!
What a Hell! What a terror!

LEPORELLO
What a look of desperation!
The gestures of the damned!
What cries, what laments!
How he makes me afraid!

CHORUS
No horror is too dreadful, etc.

DON GIOVANNI
Who lacerates, etc.

LEPORELLO
What a look, etc.

DON GIOVANNI, then LEPORELLO
Ah!

(The flames engulf Don Giovanni. After his disappearance everything returns to normal and the other characters enter.)

VIII. Requiem: As he is certainly entitled to do, “A” confines his discussion to opera, and to the “musical-erotic.” He writes that “Music is the demonic. In elemental sensuous-erotic originality, music has its absolute theme. This, of course, does not mean that music cannot express anything else, but nevertheless this is its theme proper” (p. 65). Meanwhile, he suggests that music only came into its own when it discovered, as its true theme, a sensuality that was only fully disclosed, negatively, by Christian spirituality. Yet, there is peculiar bias in his fixation on the “sensuous” half of the split introduced by Christianity, and in his having nothing to say about sacred music, which I believe he mentions nowhere. Would he dismiss “religious” music as somehow fundamentally “unmusical,” as he does anything operatic which reaches beyond the sensuous and into the ethical? As examples, consider some highlights from Mozart’s own “Requiem.”

Kyrie, eleison

Κύριε, ἐλέησον. Kyrie, eleison.
Χριστέ, ἐλέησον. Christe, eleison.
Κύριε, ἐλέησον. Kyrie, eleison.

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.

Dies irae

Dies irae, dies illa
Solvet saeclum in favilla,
teste David cum Sibylla.
Quantus tremor est futurus,
quando judex est venturus,
cuncta stricte discussurus!

Day of wrath, day of anger
will dissolve the world in ashes,
as foretold by David and the Sibyl.
Great trembling there will be
when the Judge will come
to examine all things closely.

Rex tremendae majestatis

Rex tremendae majestatis,
qui salvandos salvas gratis,
salve me, fons pietatis.

King of tremendous majesty,
who freely saves those worthy ones,
save me, source of mercy.

Lacrimosa

Lacrimosa dies illa,
qua resurget ex favilla
judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus,
pie Jesu Domine,
dona eis requiem. Amen.

That day of tears and mourning,
when from the ashes shall arise,
all humanity to be judged.
Spare us by your mercy, Lord,
gentle Lord Jesus,
grant them eternal rest. Amen.