Suite from the ballet Don Juan
Sinfonia
Andante grazioso
Andante
Gavotte
Moderato
Allegretto
Allegro
Allegretto
Larghetto - Allegro non troppo
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
Gluck completed his ballet-pantomime Don Juan in 1761, just one year before his opera Orfeo ed Euridice. Contemporary accounts tell us that not only was it a stunning success but it truly astonished many listeners, for this work is revolutionary for ballet in much the same way that Orfeo is for opera. In place of the traditional virtuoso display or galant entertainment, with more or less interchangeable dance numbers, this ballet presents a dramatic story with developed characters and genuine emotional content. The costumes and scenery too went beyond the stereotypes that were traditional in ballet of the time. Although avant-garde ideas such as these were already in the air, having them realized on such a high artistic level was a new experience for the Viennese. "If we can stir up every passion by a mute play, why should we be forbidden to attempt this?" asked the choreographer, Gaspero Angiolini. The scenario was written by Raniero de Calzabigi, who later joined Gluck and Angiolini, as well as the famous set designer Quaglio for the opera Orfeo ed Euridice. They are in some ways reminiscent of some of the teams that Diaghalev put together early in the twentieth century, with each man being remembered today as an important reformer in his field.
Gluck's music to Don Juan influenced and was even "borrowed" by a number of composers, and Gluck himself adapted and reused various pieces from it in his later works. The damnation music at the end turns up as the "Dance of the Furies" in the French version of Orfeo. Not surprisingly, there are subtle parallels with Mozart's Don Giovanni. But Mozart's greatest debt to Gluck's ballet is in the fandango in his Marriage of Figaro, which is based on the fifth piece (Moderato) in this suite.
This suite represents about a third of the music in the entire ballet. Following the opening Sinfonia, the first two numbers take place in the street between the houses of Don Juan and the Commendatore. From the Gavotte through the second Allegretto, we are at a party in the Don's house, at which the statue of the slain Commendatore appears and invites Don Juan to return his visit. The final Larghetto and Allegro non troppo end the ballet with the damnation scene at the cemetery, in which Don Juan is cast into hell.
Boston Baroque Performances
Suite from Don Juan
March 16, 1996
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor