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“Singing “Viva la liberta” Malkovich was closer to Tom Waits,
than to Fritz Wunderlich…”
“A bold and playful approach on
the opera genre, a quite unconventional classical evening. The
public acknowledged it with bravos.”
Kurier
“The memories of the famous rococo seducer correspond so
naturally with the music from “Le Nozze di Figaro”, “Don Giovanni”
and “Cosi fan tutte”, it seems Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte themselves had dedicated
an opera to Giacomo Casanova.”
Austrian press agency
The 18th century is nearly over…
…Mozart died seven years ago and the first bars of his Prague symphony still resound a certain vicinity of death, when the Venetian adventurer Giacomo Casanova contemplates putting an end to his deplorable existence. Stranded as Count Waldstein's librarian at the remote castle of Dux and lacking any eligible occupation for fifteen years now, Giacomo has been doing nothing but writing his memoirs. Considering himself to be forgotten by the world, he is surprised to see the German poet Elisa van der Recke paying him a visit and showing serious interest in the four thousand pages of his “histoire de ma vie“. Attracted by this fascinating woman, old Giacomo for one last time wages the struggle to capture a female heart, ready to show her “...how young I can be! “ Reciting Lorenzo da Pontes lyrics to her, he recalls his first love and above all his falling in love with love: “Non so piu cosa son, cosa faccio... “ Inspired by Elisa's amazement, Giacomo cannot refrain from opening chapters of his life, even granting Elisa a brief look into his catalogue of affairs: “...in Ispagna son gia mille e tre. “ On the one hand Giacomo stresses the fact, that it would be
impossible to publish his outspoken memoirs, but on the other Casanova senses the possibility of trading his impressive body of work for an erotic encounter, or as he refers to it, ≪a walk in the garden≫. He relives his juvenile libertine adventures with nuns, his joy of physical pleasures, his delight with early contraceptives and his almost marriage to a girl, who turned out to be his daughter, “… son suo padre, ella sua madre,…” But in his attempt to win Elisa, Giacomo is drawn into flashbacks and confusing past and presence. Finally undergoing his famous duel again and mistaking the chambermaid for a woman, who had nearly driven him to suicide years ago, Giacomo’s heart is hit by a fatal stroke. In the eyes of his approaching death he becomes aware that the verdict of his greatest love: “You will forget… Henriette.” written in glass with her diamond
ring was right. Although he never wanted to, he had to forget her in order to go on running after the nearest
skirt…
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