The Don Giovanni Book

In 1985 Jonathan Miller achieved notoriety for his bold, radical interpretation of Don Giovanni at the English National Opera. In the course of the preparation for that production new and intriguing ideas about the opera's dramatic substance emerged. The creative project became an academic implementation of ideas of theory and perforamnce, the philosophical and aesthtic tenets that hold sway in artistic endeavors of the like caliber and the frame of reference each creative injunction operates within. Miller invited a group of astute and brilliant intellectual/artists to theorize and discant on various aspect of Don Giovanni, foremost of which were the historical, psychological and philosophical roots that have borne its heritage and legacy. These nine essays ranging from the immensely rich "Libertinism and Promiscuity" by Roy Porter (breifing on the sexual underworld of 18th century England) to Peter Gay's "The Father's Revenge" which offers - of course - a Freudian reading of Don Giovanni. Noted musicologist Joseph Kerman provides a first-rate if off-beat musical analysis. A collection of takes and dramatizations that improvise and engross, digress and impress a startingly winsome and seductive array of dialogical impressions that remind us, in consonance with the editor's intention and credo - that the co-ordinates of dramatic action are useful for they enrich, but not restrictive and of consequence redundant and stale. We must perform Don Giovanni as Mozart would have wanted it staged and orchestrated, creatively, exuberantly, beyond the shy implications and forceful impositions of conservative qualms. Well done and fascinating read of a broader reach in the creative arts than spuriously assumed.