Straight, to hell

That classic Mozart/da Ponte warning against the dangers of the heterosexual lifestyle, Don Giovanni, is the basis for La Cieca’s next podcast. It’s an example of what is called “big house Mozart” — in other words, Mozart performed in a grand opera house, with full-voiced Verdian and Wagnerian singers, and in general overlaid with a Romantic sensibility. The venue is the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the date is February 19, 1962. Georg Solti wields the baton, and the lavish casting includes Cesare Siepi, Geraint Evans, and what must be both the most starry and the best-contrasted trio of leading ladies ever assembled: Leyla Gencer, Sena Jurinac and Mirella Freni. Unnatural Acts of Opera.