# Mozart's women in opera - take your pick.



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Which of Mozart's delectable women would you choose? Either as a lifetime partner or friend or sister or whatever. The choice is yours. Use any criteria you want. I have chosen Dorabella - probably not a wise choice but I find her music irresistibly sexy and I think she would be great fun though I would probably end up dying in a duel. Fjordilligi would be far too demanding and needy a lover for me to cope with. It was a tough choice between her and Susanna and Zerlina.

I have included characters from operas I know very well. So have excluded the early operas and also Idomeneo and Clemenza as I dont know the female characters well enough. If your favourite is not in my list please select other and leave a comment.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Definitely Susanna. She was Mozart's idea of an ideal gal!


----------



## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

This poll will show how many true connoisseurs of Mozart there are here. I know none of the women, but I have yet to discover the charm of Mozart operas


----------



## Zhdanov (Feb 16, 2016)

stomanek said:


> Which of Mozart's delectable women would you choose?


none of your business.


----------



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Zhdanov said:


> none of your business.


That's the spirit for a good discussion. well done.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Jacck said:


> This poll will show how many true connoisseurs of Mozart there are here. I know none of the women, but I have yet to discover the charm of Mozart operas


Well, a treat awaits you! :lol:


----------



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Its a tough choice. There are some here I would certainly not choose. Notably Elvira and Donna Anna - anger and vengeance dont chime well with me. Pamina has too many virtues. Papagena looks like she could be a challenge but we dont know enough about her otherwise. Despina could never be trusted with anything. The countess is a bit stiff for my liking and Pasha Selim could have made Constanze more interesting by having Omin take the whip to her just to see if her proclamations are not just bluff.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Despina may not be trusted but she seems to have more common sense and organisational skills than most, don't you think?


----------



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

elgars ghost said:


> Despina may not be trusted but she seems to have more common sense and organisational skills than most, don't you think?


If I need someone to manage my restaurant - then I will call on Despina


----------



## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Blonde - she whines less than the others.


----------



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Jacck said:


> *This poll will show how many true connoisseurs of Mozart there are here.* I know none of the women, but I have yet to discover the charm of Mozart operas


It wont do that.


----------



## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

From Mozart operas I know only The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute, so I can't really vote here for now.


----------



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Allerius said:


> From Mozart operas I know only The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute, so I can't really vote here for now.


Yes you can - select from those that you do know.


----------



## poconoron (Oct 26, 2011)

Zerlina from Do Giovanni has always struck a chord with me after seeing her played by Kathleen Battle. So coquettish!!!


----------



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Looks like there's enough to go around.


----------



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

poconoron said:


> Zerlina from Do Giovanni has always struck a chord with me after seeing her played by Kathleen Battle. So coquettish!!!


She is wasted on that clot Massetto


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

None of the above. I don't know any of them anyway. I'll take Leonore from Beethoven's Fidelio!


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

^
^

Even when she cross-dresses?


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

So far the gullible, whiny Donna Elvira is winning with two votes. Proof that there is truly no accounting for taste.

I think I'll take the Queen of the Night. If I can rescue her from the sexist universe of Sarastro and her vacuous little daughter, she could turn out to be quite interesting. At least she has a nifty fashion sense.


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

elgars ghost said:


> ^
> ^
> 
> Even when she cross-dresses?


Ahem! Ah, perhaps I take Amina from Bellini's La Sonnambula.


----------



## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

Could someone explain me who these women are? (I'm joking...) Very bad that my knowledge prohibits the entrance to this interesting poll.


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Dimace said:


> Could someone explain me who these women are? (I'm joking...) Very bad that my knowledge prohibits the entrance to this interesting poll.


I think maybe some of them are women of ill repute.


----------



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Dimace said:


> Could someone explain me who these women are? (I'm joking...) Very bad that my knowledge prohibits the entrance to this interesting poll.


get some DVDs and watch the operas.


----------



## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

For "smart badass" category, Susanna and Despina.

For the "wish I could sing it" category, Donna Anna.

For the "holy **** I am gay for Diana Damrau" category, the Queen of Night.


----------



## gellio (Nov 7, 2013)

This was a tough choice between Rosina and Donna Elvira. I gave the nod to Rosina because Porgi Amor is just so amazing, and Dove Sono ain’t half bad either. Elvira is hilarious though, so she would come second.


----------



## gellio (Nov 7, 2013)

Sieglinde said:


> For "smart badass" category, Susanna and Despina.
> 
> For the "wish I could sing it" category, Donna Anna.
> 
> For the "holy **** I am gay for Diana Damrau" category, the Queen of Night.


Ok, you are gay (but I am too). I just wanted to say I love your user name. Bravo! I'd want to sing the La Contessa. You like Wagner too? Mozart and Wagner are my opera Gods.


----------



## gellio (Nov 7, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> So far the gullible, whiny Donna Elvira is winning with two votes. Proof that there is truly no accounting for taste.
> 
> I think I'll take the Queen of the Night. If I can rescue her from the sexist universe of Sarastro and her vacuous little daughter, she could turn out to be quite interesting. At least she has a nifty fashion sense.


Oh come on now, Elvira is one of my favorites. She just so hilarious. Mozart didn't write a single phrase, IMO, that isn't miraculous and compelling, but Elvira is not one of my favorite roles from a musical standpoint, but rather I love how damn funny her character is. At least I think it is.


----------



## gellio (Nov 7, 2013)

Jacck said:


> This poll will show how many true connoisseurs of Mozart there are here. I know none of the women, but I have yet to discover the charm of Mozart operas


Well, I hope you can one day. When I saw _Pretty Woman_ I had to have the music for the moment when Geer is driving up to her apartment in the limo. Not because I was emotionally impacted by the story at that point. I was deeply emotionally impacted by the music at that moment. I scanned the credits looking for it, and the first thing I saw was Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I really knew nothing about classical music at that time so I dropped everything, walked 20 minutes to the local music store and bought Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Imagine my initial disappointment when I put it in my CD player (in the end it was a wonderful buy, of course). Looked again, and this time gambled that it was _Traviata_. That was my start to opera. It became a mild interest. I bought a few more Verdi works and some Puccini.

A couple years later, I watched _Amadeus_. That turned a mild interest into a full throttle passion, especially when I heard _Le nozze di Figaro _. It was my single favorite thing I had ever heard from the moment I heard it, and it still is 22 years later. There is not one second of that work that I absolutely do not love. In _Amadeus_ Salieri called Mozart's music the voice of God. Well, if God has a voice, I would agree he is speaking through Mozart's music.

Sorry for the long winded post.


----------



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

gellio said:


> Well, I hope you can one day. When I saw _Pretty Woman_ I had to have the music for the moment when Geer is driving up to her apartment in the limo. Not because I was emotionally impacted by the story at that point. I was deeply emotionally impacted by the music at that moment. I scanned the credits looking for it, and the first thing I saw was Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I really knew nothing about classical music at that time so I dropped everything, walked 20 minutes to the local music store and bought Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Imagine my initial disappointment when I put it in my CD player (in the end it was a wonderful buy, of course). Looked again, and this time gambled that it was _Traviata_. That was my start to opera. It became a mild interest. I bought a few more Verdi works and some Puccini.
> 
> A couple years later, I watched _Amadeus_. That turned a mild interest into a full throttle passion, especially when I heard _Le nozze di Figaro _. It was my single favorite thing I had ever heard from the moment I heard it, and it still is 22 years later. There is not one second of that work that I absolutely do not love. In _Amadeus_ Salieri called Mozart's music the voice of God. Well, if God has a voice, I would agree he is speaking through Mozart's music.
> 
> Sorry for the long winded post.


That's funny yes I can imagine your face when you heard cheerful spring from the 4 seasons when you were expecting violetta's love agony.

We all start though from blameless ignorance. When I invited my dad to see nozze di figaro he said - wow - that aria - yes! So we went to the opera and when we came out my dad said with disappointment - where was the famous la la la la la la la laaaa aria? The silly fool!


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

gellio said:


> Oh come on now, Elvira is one of my favorites. She just so hilarious. Mozart didn't write a single phrase, IMO, that isn't miraculous and compelling, but Elvira is not one of my favorite roles from a musical standpoint, but rather I love how damn funny her character is. At least I think it is.


Funny? Humor is in the mind of the beholder. I do agree that a woman who throws herself at a rapist and complains constantly about how awful he is a bit ridiculous. But the thread asks what woman would be your "choice." What are you "choosing" Elvira _for?_

Much funnier to me than dim Donna Elvira are people who go on about every phrase in Mozart's oeuvre being "miraculous."


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I'll choose Despina - I'd rather have a laugh with her in the scullery than be bored to death by all the privileged bimbos in their chintzy drawing rooms.


----------



## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

I have to go with Susanna. She's fueled by love for her husband to be, but she's an independent sort who is more likely to speak her mind. She also seems very playful. Even if there wouldn't be love, I could definitely get along with Susanna as a friend.


----------



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

SalieriIsInnocent said:


> I have to go with Susanna. She's fueled by love for her husband to be, but she's an independent sort who is more likely to speak her mind. She also seems very playful. Even if there wouldn't be love, I could definitely get along with Susanna as a friend.


In addition - I think she is probably of all of them - possesses the most feminine charm. She drives the count virtually insane with desire and Figaro mad with jealousy - plus her music - notably the act 4 aria - is seductive to say the least.


----------

