Mozart's Women Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mozart's Women - Term Paper Example Don Juan changes with generations and the Magic Flute, part of the German folklore, has become a universal tale of striving through the trials and tribulations of life. Comparing the women of two operas has proven to be a false reality as most documentation has used fallacies which would be against the purpose of this paper. One example is shown is Kristi Brown's, Mozart's Women. She compared Donna Anna to a misfortunate Spanish maiden. She never once considered the social context whereas Mozart was writing an Italian opera only using the setting and subject matter of "Don Juan" with an 18th century interpretation as did Moliere use "Don Juan" in France in the precedent century. Social context were taken into account in both cases. During her lecture of Mozart's two operas, Mrs Brown never took mentioned the social context of the 18th century. It is the purpose of this paper to show how Mozart integrated the importance into his opera as a way to integrate his values and judgments as a form of communication as well as dissent. An opera buffa was the style of the period. (Grout 517) It was a light hearted opera which made the audience laugh and also to sell tickets. Mozart's Don Giovanni was opera buffa with much controversy. There was much discussion as the theme was thought to be too serious for a "funny" opera". People usually did not die nor were audiences frightened by stoned statues. Mozart's using three women characters was his own characteristic tool enabling to mix reality with storytelling. Gounoud wrote in the 19th century Don Giovanni was an "apogee of the lyrical drama, a wondrous example of truth, beauty of form, appropriateness of characterization, deep insight into the drama, purity of style, †¦.charm and tenderness in the love passages, and power in pathos." (Krehbiel 69) Don Giovanni "can be viewed as an archetype of every man or woman's alter ego, a man who faces that eternal conflict of the tension, desire and craving for love, and the st ruggle between emotion and reason, the spirit and the flesh, or the sacred and the profane". (Ballantine 19) In the 18th century period of Enlightenment, women were given intellectual and artistic liberties that the Don Juan of Moliere would never have had. These liberties were accepted as long as women adhered to the roles of the domestic life as well as appearing to support one's husband. Sexuality was open but behind the screen. Donna Anna, had she been scorned by Don Giovanni by our standards, she would have been considered as having been raped. Had she been scorned by the standards of the 18th century of Enlightenment, it would be possible to assume that he only shamed her future position as an aristocratic. Her role was to maintain the household and support her husband in appearance? Nowhere in the opera is it said why she is scorned, a 21rst century assumption is being made because of Don Giovanni's past histories with women. Much controversy has been made in literature to th e extent of the role women played in the period of Enlightenment. Needless to say, Mozart was highly touched by the dichotomy of the role of women. His wife would forgive him for his philander with servant girls but not with "educated or artistic"(Stafford 119) (Paumgartner, Mozart, 273). To the extent this showed the sexual freedom of 18th century Italy. It was quite common to have extra marital affairs for both men and women. In prenuptial agreements, women were allowed their cicisbeo or man

Democratic Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Democratic Society - Essay Example Even people, that belong to one family and share the same genes frequently disagree with one another over petty matters and often fight. Thus, if people can have such a hilarious argument on the level of a family, what would happen if everybody stood up and started uttering rubbish without even having complete sense and understanding of the underlying factors that caused the government to move in a certain direction? Besides, the fact that the single most significant driving factor of democracy is majority encapsulates many threats for the society as a whole. This means that any community or group can expand by making its representatives grow in number and can thus, decide for all of the other communities that are in minorities. There is no doubt in the fact that in a democratic setup, the opposition also assumes a lot of power but definitely not as much as the people representing the majority do. Aristotle explains the problems resulting from excessive democracy in these words: For while it is possible for one or a few to be outstandingly virtuous, it is difficult for a larger number to be accomplished in every virtue, but it can be so in military virtue in particular †¦ tyranny is rule by one person for the benefit of the monarch, oligarchy is for the benefit of the rich, and democracy is for the benefit of the poor. But none is for their common profit. (Aristotle cited in Nef 3). Too much democracy is extremely harmful for liberty. Liberty signifies the degree to which an individual can take independent decision without much interference of the society or the government. In such a society, businesses are not quite accountable for their actions to the people or to the state because liberalism provides them with the right to do their job without external influence. When democracy becomes strong beyond limits, it challenges liberalism because every individual in the society has to respect the decision of the majority. Too