Stage sets of W. A. Mozarťs operas

It is over a hundred and eighty years ago that one of Mozarťs greatest operas, Don Giovanni had its premiere in Prague. This event is of great importance to the relationship of Czech reproduction artists to Mozarťs work and was already at the time the result of mutually beneficial relations. Today the reproduction style of Mozart productions is a matter of course even though the nature and value of this style does not prompt an authorative conclusion, accompanied by a variety of classifications.

The reproduction process can never be a dosed system even if essentially it must respect certain given aspects. The music element is a most instructive lesson in this respect. Every period and generation got acquainted with Mozarťs music its own way, but always from the historically conditioned standpoint, experiences and technical facilities. On the other through Mozarťs music became aware of its own self. The consequences of this fact can be seen in the scores of Mozarťs operas, in the conductors' notes on agogics, dynamics, tempo, in annotations in the music, in stressing one or the other voice in the network of orchestral sounds. The contemporary Mozart style of reproduction has already overcome the stage of descriptive posters and sweet music. In its peak creations it finds in Mozarťs scores the essence for the understanding of stage situations. The organization of music material also indicates the psychological characteristics and the general concept of direction. And on the other hand in the stage activities it searches for an enlightened interpretation of the music. The ease and gracefulness impress the music structure without overshadowing the dramatical point, or the ideas of the composition. The soft canto models the symmetry of harmony and form and is in turn modelled by this symetry.

The modern stage design for Mozart productions is based on the inner qualities of Mozarťs music and its content, and philosophical problems. These point the way to the eternal actuality of his operas since the structure of Mozarťs music, which respects primarily the reality of a concrete movement, affects the very essence of human philosophy. The methods of scenographical processes are thus inspired by the score, the symetry of the music organism, the frequency of recitatives and arias, the transparent contours of melodiousness, the dynamico-agogical structure, ornamental detail, abstractly pure Mozart-type orchestra. If on this basis the stage designer has then penetrated the counterpoint of the story or significance he can no longer change this world of ideas which he has helped bring onto the stage into a mere topographical inventory. He eliminates the dispersal of objects and creates thus conditions for the singers (actor's) action freeing him of his dependence on descriptive props. Thus he unites the dramatic effect into a specific, relieved and illuminated space and time, even if this abstraction is essentially merely a pars pro toto. The degree of abstractness of the thus conceived scenes of Mozarťs operas is not a criterion in itself. It is merely a value which in turn is only a certain part and stage of the process of cognition and expression.

The development of scenography for Mozart productions has thus only shown the possibilities as well as certain limitations. The exhibition is in this sense primarily a confrontation of views and opinions. It cannot be anything else — but this in turn is not something to be overlooked either.

Oldřich Pukl