''The Stoned Guest'' is a "half-act

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

" by

Peter Schickele "Professor" Peter Schickele (; born July 17, 1935) is an American composer, musical educator, and parody, parodist, best known for comedy albums featuring his music, but which he presents as being composed by the fictional P. D. Q. Bach. He also ...

in the satirical persona of

P. D. Q. Bach P. D. Q. Bach is a fictional composer invented by the American musical satirist Peter Schickele, who developed a five-decade-long career performing the "discovered" works of the "only forgotten son" of the Bach family. Schickele's music combines ...

.Schickele, Peter
''The Stoned Guest''
at the PDQ Bach website, accessed 2016 May 25 The title is a play on the "stone guest" character in ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

'' by

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

, as well as the opera '' The Stone Guest'' by Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomïzhsky after the

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

by Pushkin. The work is a parody of classical

. The opera appears on the 1970 album of the same name. The loose story combines elements of ''

'' with elements of ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'' by

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...

. 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 Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Spanish, Kalo, Moorish, Ottoman, Italian, Sephardic, Swiss, and Portuguese music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a similar ...

-clicking "Carmen Ghia" plays on the title character of Bizet's opera (and puns on the

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is a sports car marketed in 2+2 coupe (1955–1974) and 2+2 convertible (1957–1974) body styles by Volkswagen. Internally designated the Type 14, the Karmann Ghia combined the chassis and mechanicals of the Type 1 ( ...

). 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", resembles the "Rex tremendae majestatis" from Mozart's ''

Requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

''. At one point in the opera, the rival

diva Diva (; ) is the Latin word for a goddess. It has often been used to refer to a celebrated woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, theatre, cinema, fashion and popular music. If referring to an actress, the meaning of ''diva'' is clo ...

s Carmen Ghia and Donna Ribalda break character in the middle of a ''

recitative Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repea ...

'' to hold a conversation (still in recitative) about their singing careers. At a subsequent point, they have a contest to see who can hold a note the longest. The final scenes of the opera parody first the stereotype (exemplified by ''Don Giovanni'' itself) of classical opera as having a tragic ending and then the stereotype of the Romantic narrative (as reflected in, ''e.g.'', Goethe's revision of the

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...

legend) by revealing the tragic ending to have been a

false ending A false ending is a device in film and music that can be used to trick the audience into thinking that the work has ended, before it continues. The presence of a false ending can be anticipated through a number of ways. The medium itself might bet ...

and introducing ''

deus ex machina ''Deus ex machina'' ( , ; plural: ''dei ex machina''; English "god out of the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function ...

'' to generate a happy conclusion not warranted by the earlier plot.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoned Guest, The 1970 operas P. D. Q. Bach Musical parodies Operas English-language operas Works based on the Don Juan legend