Scene 5, ACT I of Don Giovanni - Mozart

We're reading about Mozart in music history, and one characteristic of his opera that is noted in our textbook is that he characterized personages of the opera, "...not only in solo arias but especially in duets, trios, and larger ensembles." (The Concise History of Western Music 356). This scene provides an excellent example of that, supposedly. There is a trio involving Donna Elvira, Don Giovanni, and Leporello, and the way each of the characters sings is indicative of their personality.

Donna Elvira sings a "rage aria," which displays her anger. It seems like Mozart had a very different, probably more subtle conception of angry-sounding music than I do. Besides the leap-filled melody, the music sounds pretty pleasant. I would say that, today, angry-sounding music is often dissonant, loud, and the vocalist uses a different tone. In Mozart's opera, the orchestration is pretty light and consonant, with unusual harmonic progressions. The scene from Don Giov is written in a major key, and most often the cadences are perfect and authentic. Maybe I just don't know German, but my general impression about her aria was that she didn't sound too angry.