{"id":325,"date":"2018-06-04T10:45:36","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T09:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/?p=325"},"modified":"2018-06-04T23:44:37","modified_gmt":"2018-06-04T22:44:37","slug":"free-interview-george-jackson-on-mozarts-cosi-fan-tutte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/?p=325","title":{"rendered":"*FREE INTERVIEW* George Jackson on Mozart’s Cos\u00ec fan tutte"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interviewed 29th<\/sup> April 2018 on the production currently running at Opera Holland Park until 22nd June.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Winner of the 2015 Aspen Conducting Prize, London-born conductor George Jackson came to international attention after stepping in at short notice for Daniel Harding at the Philharmonie de Paris. Highlights in 2018 include his company debut as Associate Conductor of Opera Holland Park (Cos\u00ec Fan Tutte<\/em>), a new production for Kammeroper Frankfurt (Pagliacci<\/em>), and concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Op\u00e9ra Orchestre National Montpellier. In 2017 he made his Hamburg State Opera debut, and has conducted the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, the Haydn Orchestra di Bolzano e Trento, the RT\u00c9 Concert and Symphony Orchestras, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, and Les Arts Florissants. In 2010, George founded the Vienna-based Speculum Musicae Opera Company, conducting new productions of Pergolesi\u2019s La serva padrona<\/em> and Charpentier\u2019s David et Jonathas<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, how long have you been learning Cos\u00ec fan tutte<\/em>? <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, with repertoire pieces you just start learning them when you know they exist. The first time I remember specifically because I was quite new to opera, when I was a student in Dublin. I studied musicology and composition first of all, and the university had a massive DVD collection of operas. I remember watching the famous Glyndebourne production from the 90\u2019s on DVD in my student accommodation, I must have been twenty or twenty-one – that was the first I knew of Cos\u00ec fan tutte<\/em>. So from then on I\u2019ve come across it again and again. Having spent a lot of time living in Austria and then Germany after that, it\u2019s an opera that\u2019s definitely on somewhere very close by at least once a year, if not more. So I\u2019ve seen a lot of it over the last five years or so.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When did you find out you were working on the project?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I was invited in November. There are things coming up in the next year or eighteen months that I\u2019ve known about for longer, but this particular position at Opera Holland Park is quite a new position that they\u2019ve created, so that\u2019s why it was quite a late process.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ah, right I see! So how do you go about preparing an opera score? What\u2019s your process?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, the first thing is to know what\u2019s being said in the text. At first, I don\u2019t really touch any of the music or even look at the score. I usually just take just the libretto and translate that or read it through (depending on what language it\u2019s in). I always feel I\u2019m working more as a director or a dramaturg at the very beginning – the school of conducting (in Vienna) I trained in was one that was very much based on the idea of simply asking lots of questions as part of the studying process. I basically take the vocal score, and just go it through asking \u2018what does this mean? Why is the music like that?\u2019 but on a smaller scale without thinking about the orchestration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then I consider how I would coach this with a singer on the basis of purely what they\u2019re singing, before bringing any of the orchestra in. There is so much little detail in the way that the text unfolds, especially in a piece like this where there is a lot of recitative as well. So it\u2019s a layered process \u2013 beginning with the text and the drama and then working up to the full score. I make little notes as well. Generally, I\u2019ll go through and translate everything word for word, but sometimes I look at how other people have translated it as well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, do you speak Italian yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do speak Italian. I work in Italy quite a lot but I think speaking Italian (and ordering a few beers) is so different to reading what da Ponte has come up with!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019ll also go through the score and put in a lot of the IPA (the phonetics of the language). That\u2019s important, especially in recitative \u2013 just making sure the vowels are in the right places etc. We have an all-native-English cast so the language is quite important in terms of coaching. Then I\u2019ll make little notes (more as a director actually, than as a conductor) specifically about how I read a particular line or what that tells you about the character. As much as it\u2019s nice to read around a piece like Cos\u00ec<\/em>, what I think is most important is what the characters are saying and what it tells us about them. And then what does the music<\/em> tell us about those characters? By the time you\u2019ve really got to know the piece, you have a strong idea of what those characters are, which prepares you for the questions that the singers are going to be asking.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And is there any difference in that process for you when it\u2019s a Mozart opera?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I think what\u2019s specific to Mozart, especially in this context, is that you\u2019re stopping and starting quite a lot. You also have the drama moving forward in ensembles, rather than recitative, particularly in the larger ensembles in Cos\u00ec<\/em>. In the two finales and the sextet, you have important tempo changes that reflect what\u2019s happening on stage, and important plot developments. So I think a lot of what I\u2019m studying, particularly with Mozart, is pacing, and how the different tempo changes are paced out over the whole act. Many composers have done that for you – if you take a Wagner act, for example, the sense of pacing is there in the way it\u2019s written out. But with Mozart the conductor seems to be responsible for how that actually unfolds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Right, so how do you work with the transitions between recitatives and arias? <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I think, particularly in Mozart, there are times when you can take out the chords that end certain recitatives (i.e. so that you go straight into the next number). Stuart Wild is a very talented repititeur who works with us at Opera Holland Park and he\u2019s playing fortepiano for the production. With Mozart, Rossini or any opera where there is accompanied continuo, the creative aspect of that doesn\u2019t just lie with the conductor. The repetiteur draws on their own experience, it\u2019s very collaborative. Sometimes, for example, when Despina enters it\u2019s nice to play the little theme from her first aria, almost like a leitmotif. Whoever is responsible for playing the continuo can use their creative license in collaboration with everyone else. Many of the creative conversations in our rehearsal room were between director and repetiteur, which totally reflects Olly Platt\u2019s incredibly musical approach to directing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As the conductor, you\u2019re the one that has to make sure that the orchestra play together at the start of each new number. It shouldn\u2019t feel like everyone\u2019s just going straight through the words and then act like \u2018ok now we\u2019re going to sing an aria, let\u2019s go\u2019! There should be a sense of involvement with everything that\u2019s going on as well, which is quite a hard balance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But it is also a chance to have a very small rest as well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yeah, just lean back a bit\u2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yeah, exactly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But there is some accompanied recitative (with the orchestra) as well isn\u2019t there? <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes that\u2019s right. Accompanied recit for a lot of conductors is like the equivalent to weight lifting for people who go to the gym. In a way it\u2019s the biggest technical test for a conductor because anything can go wrong. It\u2019s all about exact, perfect timing with what\u2019s being sung or what\u2019s happening on the stage. We have to gauge how the orchestra are reacting as well as the characters. But accompanied recits are amazing because I think they give such an importance to something that someone\u2019s saying, which kind of wakes people up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, it suddenly opens the drama out in a different way doesn\u2019t it? But he only does it a few times.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes. The big one\u2019s in the first act, you have both Fiordiligi and Dorabella\u2019s aria, there are the big accompanied recits before going into their arias. There\u2019s another big one in Act II before Ferrando\u2019s aria as well. Then there\u2019s a little one with Don Alfonso: there\u2019s a few with Don Alfonso but there\u2019s one where the strings join suddenly once he realises that he recognizes the two Albanian guys that turn up (and he pretends that they\u2019re his best friends). It\u2019s great because it\u2019s like the strings wake up, and you get the feeling that the orchestra are in on the joke as well. The orchestra is like another character, I think. It is in most operas, but there\u2019s definitely that feeling in Cos\u00ec<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s all modern instruments at Opera Holland Park isn\u2019t it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, that\u2019s right. The orchestra is the City of London Sinfonia.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And what are the numbers, how big is the orchestra?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The string numbers are 6-5-4-3-2.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Right, so it is quite an intimate set-up. Have you conducted there before, do you know the acoustic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well I\u2019ve been to see shows there and I know the difficulties, but I\u2019ve never conducted there so that\u2019s quite exciting!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a very wide stage and a very wide pit, which is wooden but has a carpeted floor. From what I hear the singers can all hear it quite well from the stage, which is always a good thing. One of the difficulties is that when singing into the sides, you lose everything in the front of the house. So we\u2019ve got to be quite careful with placing people and who\u2019s singing at certain times, to make sure that things are always heard at the front. Once we get the set in, you start to get the feeling of resonance, and whether or not a set is helping things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What can you tell me about the staging\/costumes etc.?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Olly, the director, has set it in 1790 in Naples (where it was originally set). So he\u2019s not doing anything over the top to it, which is great. I haven\u2019t seen the costumes yet, but he draws on two English characters that lived in the late Eighteenth Century, and did these big European tours. They were very flamboyant and wore all of these mad costumes. The idea for Ferrando and Guglielmo is that they have also have these crazy costumes that they try on, like those English guys. So that\u2019s sort of the basis of the deception of the piece – there are all of these quite over the top costumes!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ah I see. Because a lot of people don\u2019t buy into the story do they? They find it a bit far fetched.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2026 and it\u2019s seen as sexist as well.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yeah, that\u2019s interesting. Many Mozart operas can be read in a sexist way. In Magic Flute<\/em> there\u2019s that line \u2018Ein Weib tut wenig, plaudert viel\u2019 (\u2018a wife doesn\u2019t do very much and talks a lot\u2019) which is the approximate translation. It\u2019s terrible! But the thing with Cos\u00ec<\/em> is that when you look at it on paper, of course it\u2019s completely sexist, but I think you have to consider the context and the way that the story is told. It\u2019s similar to how a lot of comedians talk about how you get newspapers printing a joke they told, but you can\u2019t write down how it\u2019s coming across. In Mozart\u2019s operas, particularly in Figaro<\/em> but also here in Cos\u00ec<\/em>, his female characters are usually the strongest. If you think about Fiordiligi\u2019s aria \u2018come scoglio\u2019, and Despina is also very strong in the same way that Susanna is in Figaro<\/em>. Actually I think the guys have the potential to look more stupid. As I said, maybe it\u2019s sexist on paper but ultimately they\u2019re the idiots!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mozart and Da Ponte knew each other very well. They just knew exactly what defined each character. What\u2019s great is that right down to the last note or to the last rhythm, they have a strong idea of who these characters are. So it\u2019s very easy to think of it in black and white terms, but it\u2019s a complicated plot with complicated characters. They\u2019re ordinary people like everybody else.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yeah, and very young as well, they\u2019re teenagers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Certainly the sisters are very young – teenagers. It\u2019s not specified exactly how old the guys are, we presume they\u2019re not that much older than the girls. Don Alfonso, we also presume, is an older, cynical character. It\u2019s about life experience in contrast with people who are young and living off their feelings a little bit. It\u2019s a theme of so many operas – La Traviata<\/em> contrasts generations, with Papa Germont who thinks he knows what\u2019s best and the young Alfredo and Violetta who are just in love and don\u2019t really care about anything else. There\u2019s that generational divide built into Cos\u00ec<\/em> as well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Apparently Constanze, his widow, didn\u2019t think that Cos\u00ec<\/em> would last because it was a weak story. Some writers speculate on the reasons why Mozart was attracted to the plot, mentioning that he initially fell in love with Aloysia, the sister of his wife.<\/strong>[1]<\/a> So perhaps Cos\u00ec<\/em> isn\u2019t so far-fetched after all\u2026! I\u2019m sure I\u2019ve seen similar storylines in Eastenders<\/em> and Neighbours<\/em>. <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(laughs) well it\u2019s definitely a theme isn\u2019t it?!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, it can get very interesting once you think about it in that way.<\/strong> Does the consideration of all this deception and disguise alter the way you interpret the music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, the audience are the only people in the room that know everything that\u2019s going on. First of all, you have to decide who\u2019s singing to whom and who can hear it and who can\u2019t. That\u2019s very, very important. For example, in the Act I quintet (\u2018Sento, oh Dio, che questo piede\u2019) there are many lines where the guys are delighted as they\u2019re talking to Don Alfonso, but of course they don\u2019t want the girls to hear what they\u2019re talking about. I think it\u2019s really important to agree with the stage director about whether we\u2019re seeing somebody acting or seeing someone that is being honest about themselves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ferrando\u2019s aria \u2018Un\u2019aura amorosa\u2019 is another particularly good example. Is he taking time out of the plot and singing a beautiful song about Dorabella (his actual lover), or is everybody listening and this is part of his trickery? And is Despina doing all of this just because she wants a bit of money, or does she have a moral lesson that she wants to teach? That is something that director is more responsible for, but it is layered and that can change the way that it\u2019s going to be sung. Part of that process is working out why are they saying this and what\u2019s in it for them. What\u2019s great about the singers in this new production at Opera Holland Park is that they all want to get into that level of detail. They want to understand every word they\u2019re saying, how it\u2019s coming across and how it fits into the staging. Every time I see Cos\u00ec<\/em> I always feel that I want to get a remote control and press pause, to remind myself who wants what from what\u2019s going on right now. It changes all the time!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So how do you to reflect or compliment those dramatic decisions in the orchestra\u2019s performance?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s sort of a continuous work in progress really. A brilliant example is No. 8a \u2018Di scrivermi ogni giorno\u2019 – it\u2019s a very small quintet, where the girls are telling the guys to \u2018write to me every day, don\u2019t forget me\u2019 etc. The guys sing \u2018don\u2019t doubt it, of course we\u2019re going to write to you\u2019. Don Alfonso\u2019s on his own saying something a bit different, how he wants to laugh and thinks it\u2019s all going to be hilarious. The guys have created this cruel situation, and the girls have piangendo<\/em> written in their parts (they\u2019re crying). But it\u2019s the orchestra that creates the atmosphere that allows the girls to cry, particularly in this quintet. Maybe they don\u2019t have to be aware of it, but they have to play them in a way that is oversentimental, because this is all fake, these emotions, at least for three of the characters.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Oh, it\u2019s really clever isn\u2019t it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s incredible how it works.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a lot of the books about Mozart\u2019s operas there is attention placed on Fiordiligi and the way she caves in with Ferrando in the duet \u2018Fra gli amplessi\u2019.[2]<\/a> That relationship seems to be more complex than the one between Dorabella and Guglielmo. Is that quite a difficult scene, that seduction?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, it is a difficult scene, but it\u2019s also kind of a love duet as well (again, that\u2019s this layered effect). It\u2019s weird because even if you\u2019re involved with the piece you start to become a bit convinced by the Albanian guys, and that\u2019s what\u2019s really hard. You\u2019re a little bit seduced by this new relationship and think \u2018wow, they\u2019re so nice to each other, what a great relationship they\u2019re going to have!\u2019 But it\u2019s not like that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, you read that and hear that a lot – that\u2019s the couple that people actually think is the good match.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, the end of the opera is ambiguous with regard to who ends up with which partner. That\u2019s not specified, and it\u2019s done in different ways in every single piece. But when you look at that duet, for example, you do think they\u2019d probably have quite a good relationship.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So for you, as the conductor, what are the particularly challenging scenes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I think one of the biggest challenges is that it\u2019s an opera that\u2019s so much more about ensembles than arias. Most of the big numbers have two people singing together, or you have textures of different groups together. You have to make quite a lot of decisions about what you\u2019re going to do in order to make that work. For example, Mozart often writes sotto voce<\/em> (\u2018lower the voice\u2019) under the voice parts, so a lot of the time you\u2019re trying to play with the dynamics of the voices and how emphasised the consonants are. And I think there\u2019s the challenge to make sure that it\u2019s not just recitative, aria, recitative, aria in the way that Handel\u2019s music was earlier on in that century. We need to make sure that the drama and how it\u2019s unfolding are being understood, and that\u2019s quite a challenge. It\u2019s very easy to just sing everything and make it all very grand and over the top. I keep finding myself saying to the singers that it\u2019s much more like singing chorally. So finding that different, slightly subtle way of doing things is really important.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So are there any areas where that issue of balance with the voices is particularly pertinent? <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, in the sextet in Act I, No. 13.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got all these musical layers going on at once. It\u2019s almost like you can see the cinematography of the film from the way the music is written. You\u2019ve got Don Alfonso singing something, then the two men follow. Then Despina shows up and gradually they all come together. A good example is around bar 38\u20139. You have Despina at the top (singing ‘lo non so se son Valacchi o se Turchi son costor’) making fun of the Albanian characters and how they\u2019ve dressed up. But she\u2019s supposed to be laughing, so the best thing is to get a very short articulation so it has that laughing quality, but also that her words and text come through the texture well. I\u2019ve found shortening notes have been very useful, so that the emphasis comes on the speaking\/parlando rather than the sound of six people singing over each other (which it can become quite easily). The guys are singing very sotto voce<\/em>, Ferrando is singing quite high in his register but actually still part of the backing singer group, so it takes a lot of refined work on making sure that all of those tiny details are there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What about comic timing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, of course it\u2019s really, really important \u2013 as a conductor it\u2019s usually a question of how long something should take. In the sextet there\u2019s a very small fermata before the molto allegro (bar 127) – there are moments like that you have to work with. I think comic timing is a difficult one, because once you notice that something\u2019s happening you can lose the comic effect. In that number it needs to feel natural, but in that particular place there\u2019s things going on on stage (the girls are responding to the guys) so I think it\u2019s just about being flexible with how things naturally start to look on stage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ah, so it\u2019s something you just have to develop a feel for.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yeah, and actually it\u2019s about responding to how the singers get a feeling for it as well. The most important thing is that the natural comedy that is clearly on the page is able to translate itself. I think it\u2019s also a question of the way the recitatives are working as well \u2013 especially Don Alfonso who\u2019s in charge of the whole thing. You have to watch how long he leaves it to say a line. A good example is the recitative shortly after Don Alfonso\u2019s aria (no. 5) where Don Alfonso informs the girls quite early on in Act I (bar 8 of that recitative)] that their men have gone off to be called to the war. They ask \u2018are they dead?\u2019 they want to know what\u2019s going on, what\u2019s up with them. Don Alfonso says \u2018morti non son\u2019 (\u2018they\u2019re not dead\u2019) but it\u2019s a very funny, quite traditional joke. He can say \u2018morti\u2019, and then wait a bit before saying \u2018non son\u2019. So the girls think they are dead, and panic. It shows that he has the power over them a little bit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That, of course, isn\u2019t written in the score at all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So there are no extra comic timing issues that the production is giving you? Nothing like \u2018the door has to open at this point\u2019 etc.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No not yet, we\u2019re just experimenting with those kinds of things at the moment. And they will evolve as the singers respond to the audience throughout the course of the run too!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is there much improvisation by the musicians? <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, the culture of improvising is still very much in the tradition of playing continuo for these recitatives – improvising around the ground of what\u2019s actually there, the accompanying chords. In a way I think it needs to be improvised in the rehearsal room, especially as we have a young team (including a young director). With this well-timed comedic ensemble piece, the singing actors need to find a way to portray those characters in the right way. They are improvising these lines until they work. When Stuart is accompanying at the continuo, he\u2019s definitely improvising, he\u2019s highlighting aspects of what the words might be. There might be a particular word that\u2019s important or has a percussive effect so he\u2019ll play something more percussive. I think you get to that point by improvising and by developing a sense of what that is – and it would be boring to think that what we do on night one is the same as every night.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes. Any cuts?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yeah, we\u2019re doing most of the normal cuts e.g. the Ferrando aria which is very high and traditionally cut. Quite a lot of recitatives are cut as well.[3]<\/a> We\u2019re doing the original Guglielmo aria. Mozart decided to put in a shorter aria because he felt the one he\u2019d originally written was too big and took away from the natural energy of how the piece was developing into the Finale of Act I. But we\u2019re doing the original aria. After the first showing of Cos\u00ec<\/em> in Vienna, he still played around with it – I don\u2019t think it\u2019s ever in its complete state. Cutting things and taking things out is all part of the service of putting on a good show.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, it\u2019s not about being totally faithful to what\u2019s in the score?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No, I think that\u2019s probably why opera\u2019s so exciting. At the end of the day it\u2019s a form of entertainment, people buy a gin and tonic, they watch the show and then they go home. It\u2019s not a history lesson.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I think cuts are fine; I have no problem with them. What I don\u2019t like is when people of our time question the genius Mozart and Da Ponte in this case. A lot of people like to second guess or say \u2018well they didn\u2019t mean this\u2019. They knew exactly what they were doing, and I think our job is to find the balance between bringing out their amazing dramatic instincts and making sure that it comes through in the right way for our time. Otherwise what\u2019s the point? We\u2019re not performing this opera for Eighteenth Century musicologists, we\u2019re performing it for regular people who are interested in going to the theatre. They could have stayed at home and watched Netflix, but they\u2019ve chosen to come to the opera, so it has to be good! So it\u2019s not necessarily about imposing something completely new, but just to make sure it\u2019s communicated effectively. I\u2019ve seen a lot of productions where it\u2019s almost as if they use the score as a starting point for their own thing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What\u2019s really interesting with this opera is that we look at it very much from now (or the Nineteenth Century) back towards 1790. But at the time it was very much looking forward to how opera was going to develop (particularly with the bel canto composers). I don\u2019t think Cos\u00ec<\/em> gets as much credit as it should \u2013 it\u2019s very mocking of the Eighteenth Century. There\u2019s a sense of parody of Handel occasionally. For example, in \u2018come scoglio\u2019, Fiordiligi\u2019s first aria, I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s making fun of the idea of opera, or what Handel did, or what was going on at that time, but there\u2019s definitely a sense that he\u2019s trying to break the mould of how things were (which is of course what Mozart did all the time).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The more I look at the piece, the more I realise how forward looking it is. I think that the way he uses the violas all the way through the piece is revolutionary. In the terzettino, \u2018Soave sia il vento\u2019 you have muted first and second violins at the beginning. In this trio they\u2019re wishing the men a good journey on this boat, so this gives it the feeling of the waves. With the thirds going up and down, it\u2019s very much painting the image of the water. But the moment that I love is at the end. The violas (unmuted) suddenly join in for the last four bars, playing what the second violins are playing an octave down. It\u2019s just a very subtle effect, giving it this very dark sound. It looks like something Brahms might do, it\u2019s very \u2018Nineteenth Century\u2019 – Mozart is there already. There are little tiny details like that all over the place, he\u2019s definitely looking ahead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In terms of placing the work in its larger context, do you think of the work as Germanic, as well as Mozartian?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, in my head I definitely separate Italian Mozart and German Mozart, because although Magic Flute<\/em>\u2019s not that far away chronologically, it\u2019s so different. He\u2019s tapping into a different way of doing things, because of the language. But in terms of the style, I suppose it\u2019s more Viennese. At that time Vienna was the centre of everything, it was such a bizarre place. I studied there so I have an affinity with it – you\u2019re at the meeting point of so many different cultures and different worlds. There\u2019s the German, Italian, Hungarian\/folk and even Turkish influences as well (which Mozart used in Die Entf\u00fchrung aus dem Serail<\/em>). They spoke French in the court a lot of the time, so there was a big French influence at the top. Salieri was an Italian composer and he was the Austrian imperial Kapellmeister in Vienna, and Mozart was almost in a minority being from Salzburg. So there are so many different layers, in a way I\u2019d just say it\u2019s European music. I suppose he\u2019s the equivalent of somebody living in New York or London today, there\u2019s certainly that feeling of being very cosmopolitan. But Cos\u00ec<\/em> is also set in Naples, it\u2019s on the sea, I think that influences the way he writes as well. People talk about the way that he writes for woodwind, that it\u2019s supposed to reflect the feeling of wind from the sea in Naples. So there\u2019s definitely a feeling of location as well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Salieri actually did an opera that was rather similar, didn\u2019t he?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yeah I think there was a theory he was going to set this but then abandoned it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Oh right, what I read is he wrote an opera with a similar plot.[4]<\/a> But it was more of a fantasy \u2013 a magician swaps over the personalities of two sisters. I thought that sounded interesting. <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yeah, the text was criticized a lot, there was talk about the libretto not being as perfect as the music. But I think that\u2019s unfair, there\u2019s something very symmetrical about the piece – this idea of \u2018The School of Lovers\u2019 where you have Don Alfonso and Despina at the top and the pairs of the lovers. Despina and Don Alfonso are sometimes saying almost the same words to the two lovers. They\u2019re both saying, \u2018why do you think you can believe in being faithful?\u2019 separately to each of their sets of characters. The word fedelt\u00e0 (faithful) crops up all the time. It\u2019s very economical and satisfying to see how it knits together.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you have a preferred ending? <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What I want is that they end up back with each other and everyone\u2019s forgiven! I have a theory that part of Despina and Don Alfonso\u2019s motivation is that they were together a long time ago, and had a terrible break up. The reason that they\u2019re so bitter, and why they want to prove that fidelity doesn\u2019t work and it\u2019s all so terrible, is because they both experienced this with each other. I\u2019ve found the way that they are with each other on stage together is sometimes quite awkward, so I\u2019m always convinced that there\u2019s some unspoken sexual tension between them. I love the idea that they also end up together at the end. There\u2019s got to be a reason why Don Alfonso does this, so my theory is that there\u2019s this funny back-story with Despina (although that\u2019s nothing to do with the production we\u2019re doing at Opera Holland Park). In Mozart\u2019s comic operas things always go back to normal at the end. It happens in Shakespeare and it certainly happens in those other Mozart operas. It feels natural that things should get reset.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One of the ideas I\u2019ve become a bit obsessed with is that there are alternative titles each of the Da Ponte operas. Cos\u00ec<\/em>\u2019s is \u2018School for Lovers\u2019, Figaro<\/em>\u2019s is \u2018The Crazy Day\u2019 and then Don Giovanni<\/em>\u2019s is \u2018Il dissoluto punito\u2019 or \u2018the punished libertine\u2019. What\u2019s great is that any of those titles can apply to all three Da Ponte operas by Mozart. You could apply the \u2018the crazy day\u2019 to Cos\u00ec<\/em>, as this all seems to happen in one day – by the end of the day they all get married. But I think the important one is \u2018the libertine punished\u2019 because there\u2019s a darker aspect to the piece. The guys should be punished \u2013 they\u2019ve done a horrible thing (and I think there\u2019s something about Ferrando in particular). So I definitely support the idea of the ending that leaves them on their own. Maybe they\u2019ll become the next Don Alfonso’s and Despina’s, and that\u2019s the end of it. But there\u2019s also a rom-com\/Hugh Grant part of me that wants it all to end fantastically.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(laughs) What about the instrumentation, what would be your choice with regards to orchestra size\/period instruments etc.?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well I\u2019m not an expert on period instruments, but if we\u2019re having period costumes on stage then why not? I think certainly it needs an orchestra that\u2019s more along the lines of a chamber orchestra, and one that\u2019s very much in contact with the stage. They need to appreciate that when it\u2019s an accompanied recit, the word accompany doesn\u2019t necessarily mean subordinate to what\u2019s going on. A good opera orchestra is as much a part of what\u2019s going on on stage as anybody else.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So the things like the usual leaner sound, lack of vibrato etc.?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, but I actually think rhythm is the most important thing. Having got to know the Viennese culture, I think people who do jazz are much better with rhythm – it\u2019s not written down. Double dotting and changing rhythms etc. is really important. All of these composers were restricted in how they wrote things down \u2013 there\u2019s no question of that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Oh, to be able to hear what he would have wanted!<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, we\u2019d probably all be wrong.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I just think if you told him it was 2018 and we were performing Cos\u00ec<\/em>, he would be completely freaked out. Their theatre culture at the end of the Eighteenth Century was more like how we do musicals now \u2013 it was very much that he wrote a piece, then it went up, then it finished, and that was the end. Cos\u00ec<\/em> wasn\u2019t performed that much. He\u2019d just think \u2018well what the hell happened to all your<\/em> music\u2019?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bibliography\/Recommended Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cairns, D. Mozart and his Operas <\/em>(Penguin Books Ltd, London, 2006)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ford, C. Cos\u00ec? Sexual Politics in Mozart\u2019s Operas <\/em>(Manchester University Press, 1991)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ford, C. Music, Sexuality and Enlightenment in Mozart\u2019s Figaro, Don Giovanni and <\/em>Cos\u00ec<\/em> fan tutte<\/em> (Ashgate, UK 2012)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hunter, M. Mozart\u2019s Operas: A Companion <\/em>(Yale University Press, Cornwall 2008)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Liebner, <\/em>J. Mozart on the Stage<\/em> (Calder and Boyars 1972)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mann, W. The Operas of Mozart <\/em>(Cassell & Company Ltd, London 1977)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u2018The idea of couple-swapping was, it seems, a standard lazzo <\/em>in improvised commedia dell\u2018arte <\/em>plays; and the notion of disguise to test the chastity of a wife goes back to the myth of Cephalus and Procris in Ovid\u2019s Metamorphoses <\/em>(copied by Arisoto). Art and life reproduce one another; truth is what matters. Da Ponte accepted the subject, as did Mozart who had fallen in love with Aloysia Weber and then married her sister Constanze on the rebound\u2019 (Mann 1977:522).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> For example, Charles Ford suggests that \u2018Ferrando presents himself as helpless and miserable in the face of his rejection, but only (perhaps) to stimulate Fiordiligi\u2019s feminine compassion for him. Women, it was assumed, could not exercise sufficient distance between self interest and the interests of others\u2019 (2012:163). He also observes that it is the music, rather than the libretto, that indicate to the audience that the pair are falling in love (164).<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Main cuts include the entire No. 7 duettino, substituting “Non siate ritrosi” for No. 15a “Rivolgete a lui”, bars 25-38 of No.21, entire No. 24 “Ah lo veggio”, entire No. 26 “Donne mie”, and bars b. 66-124 of No. 30. There are also a number of small cuts from the recitatives in both Act I and II.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> The plot of Cos\u00ec <\/em>is similar to Salieri\u2019s La Grotta di Trofonio <\/em>\u2013 in which a magician changes the personality of two sisters and similar dramas ensue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interviewed 29th April 2018 on the production currently running at Opera Holland Park until 22nd June.   Winner of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public","pmpro-has-access","clearfix"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8YX8Q-5f","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=325"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions\/328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}