Mozart’s original masterpiece, produced entirely by Fornasetti, makes its debut this evening at the Teatro dell’Arte in Milan. Never have art and design been so intrinsically united in a sublimation of intent: experimenting, imagining, creating. A deliberate act of support for culture and its leading lights by the Milan company, the authoritative international brand in design and decor in the luxury furniture sector.
The original of The profligate punished, or Don Giovanni will be staged today, Thursday, December 1, repeated on Saturday, before travelling to Florence (from January 10th to 13th, 2017)
The great merit of Fornasetti’s production is retrieving and staging the original opera written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, which was staged for the first time in Prague on October 29, 1787, renouncing the more traditional, second version of Don Giovanni, written by the composer for the public of Vienna in 1788.
The orchestra (30 members playing period instruments) mirrors the authentic line-up from Mozart’s time, so the director’s approach respects the original score (apart from the setting and division into scenes). The scenery was created through the use of classic iconography reinterpreted in a modern light by Fornasetti: the themes – taken from the company’s archives – range from playing cards to a metaphysical room, to the emblematic woman’s faces, a constant reminder of the opera’s main theme.
Director, scenes, costumes, lights, music: the choral collaboration and craftsmanship of the workforce found perfect synergy with Casa Fornasetti, where they were welcomed during the conception and realisation, as well as the historic residence of Piero and Barnaba Fornasetti, where the Atelier lived in the fifties.
Theatrical experiences are not new to Fornasetti: in 1945, Piero produced the manifesto and programme for “Caligula” by Albert Camus, with direction and set design by Georges Firmy (Giorgio Strehler) at the Théâtre de la Comédie in Geneva. In 1954, at La Scala in Milan, Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amelia goes to the Ball” was staged, with scenic design and costumes by Fornasetti. This work was recently revived and illustrated in the booklet “Fornasetti at La Scale” by Vittoria Crespi Morbio, published by Umberto Allemandi & C.
