What is the connection between Mozart’s Don Giovanni and market farming?
None really, except that it is one of my favourite operas and it is currently playing at the Opéra de Montréal. Were it not for the still-too-busy schedule of these market gardeners, you would have found us in that cavernous lair that is Wilfrid Pelletier Hall – a musical space we love to hate for its highly questionable acoustics.
The music is sublime, the arias diabolical, the libretto captivating, not to mention the themes explored…
In short, Don Giovanni would be rotting in a Canadian federal prison today, considering his behaviour towards women, Leporellian catalogue in hand…
O tempora, O mores!
* Photo by Vivien Gaumond / Opéra de Montréal
But the most moving moment of the opera comes when the seducer faces the Commendatore – whom he has just killed in an earlier scene – who invites him to repent.
Of course, the seducer refuses, and consequently, earns himself a warm seat in Hell or perhaps Purgatory – Da Ponte says nothing on the matter. I do not have time to dwell on this, but Mozart could not possibly have let Don Giovanni get off so easily. As with every Hollywood ending, Good must triumph over Evil…
* Photo by Vivien Gaumond / Opéra de Montréal
In this week’s baskets:
peppers, cabbage or napa cabbage, daikon, beets or carrots, winter squash, red onion, leek, fresh herbs, and other yet-to-be-identified vegetables.
We look forward to seeing you all again!