Zerlina Poem by gershon hepner

Did Zerlina cheat with Don Giovanni?
It hardly matters. When we hear her sing,
we do not want to hear the sort of blarney
excuses for betrayal tend to bring
when the unfaithfulness of any lover
is obvious. She lets Masetto beat her,
her sweet voice lending her enticing cover
to hide her trespass and redeem the cheater.

Introducing Zerlina’s aria from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni, ” the KUSC announcer pointed out that whether or not Zerlina ever carried on with Don Giovanni becomes quite irrelevant when we hear her lovely aria exhorting Masetto to beat her.

11/11/09