- The Stoned Guest
This musical work, while touted as "
P. D. Q. Bach 's Half-Act Opera: "The Stoned Guest"," is actually the work ofPeter Schickele . The title is a play on the subtitle ofDon Giovanni by Mozart, "The Stone Guest", as well as the opera "The Stone Guest" by Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomïzhsky. The work is a parody of classicalopera , although somecritic s consider it to be the equal of many classical works in technical ability.Fact|date=February 2007 The opera appears on the 1970 album of the same name.The loose story combines elements of "
Don Giovanni " with elements of "Carmen " byGeorges Bizet . Some character names, such as "Don Octave" and "Donna Ribalda" play on the Mozart opera, referring to Don Ottavio and Donna Elvira respectively, while the castanet-clicking "Carmen Ghia" plays on the title character of Bizet's opera (and puns on theVolkswagen Karmann Ghia ). The "Commendatoreador" plays on both operas at once, being a combination of "Il Commendatore" and the toreador Escamillo. The orchestral accompaniment for Donna Ribalda's opening aria, "Let's face it—I'm lost", bears more than a passing resemblance to the "Rex tremendae majestatis" from Mozart's "Requiem".At one point in the opera, the rival
diva s Carmen Ghia and Donna Ribalda have a contest to see who can hold a note the longest.The ending parodies many classical operas, "Don Giovanni" in particular, by apparently ending in tragedy, then having a completely unmotivated happy ending.
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