Resolution To Don Giovanni's Dominant

946 Words2 Pages

Zerlina however shows her weakness in bar 21 where she relies on the V/V chord to support her. She requires the resolution to Don Giovanni’s Dominant. It insinuates that she simply is not strong enough to overcome neither her desire nor his seduction.
Chromaticism in the orchestra in bars 55 in the coda section contrast the libretto of the characters words. “d’un innocente amore” is contradicted by the descending chromaticism of the string section, insinuating that what Don Giovanni and Zerlina speak of is not necessarily true. James Johnson suggests that in this instance it is “a warning that Giovanni’s intentions are not at all innocent.” (Johnson, 2007) Furthermore, Daniel Heartz links that chromatic descent to moments in “Fin ch’han dal …show more content…

Mozart incorporates a sliding motif into the oboes which sounds like the turning of page and then he adds the comedy of the chuckling motif in the flutes and the horns, indicative of Leporello’s sheer delight of his account of his master. In this way the winds play a big role in painting the comedic tone in the piece. The constant mild-tempered instrumental winds allow for the culmination of Leporello’s brutal outburst to hold even more tension.
Daniel Barenboim stated that applying the term drama giocoso to Don Giovanni “is at once a contradiction in terms and a definition of the very essence not only of this piece but of music itself”. It is seen that in tempo alone one can see how the playful exists in the tragedy and the seriousness in the comedy. It is this irony in the music that allows Don Giovanni to be an opera buffa. (Barenboim, 2007)
Ironic elements in Là ci darem la mano are numerous. The use of the love key of A major is ironic since the subject matter of the duettino is adultery. Calling it a duettino in itself is diminishing, mocking the status of a duet almost. The chromaticism of “innocente

Open Document