"Don Giovanni Dragged Down to Hell," Pietro Bini
Not only can we ourselves no longer produce new art, we can't even understand the old art our culture has already produced. For example, in a new English production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, the title character, who is meant to be an unrepentant dissolute, is instead depicted as a hapless chap who finds himself seduced by a raunchy Donna Anna. At the opera's normally dramatic conclusion, instead of being dragged down to Hell by demons, the Don simply collapses into a wheelchair, and may or may not be dead. In other words, Mozart's masterpiece, like so many others, has been reduced to meaningless travesty. The estimable Dr. Oddie has more here.
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