New-York tribune., 1922-04-02
'COsi fan Tutte'
WinsHearts OF
Music Lovers
Second Performance of
Mozart Work at Metro
pOlitan Shows Marked
Improvement Over First
Score Reveals New Beauty
Opera Patrons Voice Their
Delight in Piece and
Artists Performance
By n. f. krehbicl

It is the voice from the box Office
which speaks oracularly and convinc-
'ngiy to the purveyors OF entertain
ment at the Metropolitan Opera House
and what that voice will say toucnin
the future of "Cosi fan lutte" during
the remainder of the season we shall
not attempt to guess. AS for the voice
of the lovers of music 1t spoke in en-
thusiastic approval at the first perform
ance OF Mozarts opera on the night Of
last Friday week, and again yesterday
afternoon. II was indeed heart-warm-
ing yesterday to listen to plaudts
which rolled through the house after
every scene and still more heart warm
ing 20 witness the groups of musicians,
amateur and profess onal, gathered in
the corridors between the acts and
near their CALCULATIONS of delight
evoked by the music and its perform
ance
1t might have reminded one of a
scene described by Thayer Some of
beethoven's friends gathered about
him and questioned him about the
great composers. Cherubini, he said,
was the greatest of his contemporaries,
but when somebody mentioned the
name of the composer OF the music
which we heard for the second time in
New York yesterday. the composer of
"Fidelio" threw up hands and eyes in
an ecstasy and g iaculated ooh. Mozart"
That was all. Much later, perhaps half
century. when styles and tastes had
greatly changed, the composer of
Faust confessed that in his youth he
was wont to say Il and Mozart: then,
AZ he ripened in knowledge, Mozart
and l." and finally in the maturity of
his fame, when he knelt before the
4ufOprarb ccora nf nDou Cjoyopr; =
summed up his credo in one word
"Mozarti"
Criticism of Book Dsturbs None
So the host of musicians in yester
days audience all spoke rapturously
about the music to which they We're
listening and in praise of the artists
who were so successfully evoking of
the master who died young so that he
might remain ever young and ever fair.
Criticism of the book on the ground Of
It's improbability seems to have dis
turbed nobody here, nor any of the
translations Of the title. The ladies
whose too great conscicntiousncss Of
sex have led them to inveigh against
the proposed monument to Civic Virtue
have not yet, so far as we know, pa, III
n protest and petition to Mr.. Gatti that
"Cosi fan tutte" be changed to "Cosi
fan tutti," SO as to make the charge of
fckleness apply to both sexes. Perhaps
1t is because opera goers as q rule care
as little now about the words sung in
foreign tongue as they did in the day
when Addison INDUCED his pretty wit
at their expense. Perhaps there will
be an indignant awakening if the opera
IS ever sung and played in English with
some such title as "The Way of All
WOmenH Whic 10 the hest pnI1iVa lert
we can think Of for "Cosi fan lutte" A
forgotten English version called it "Tit
for Tat but in that version as in
most of the German versions (that by
Dnge lstedt for instance, which kugel
edited the two ladies of the play were
informed by their maid Of the conspir-
acy against their constancy and played
out the comedy for the purpose of dis
comfiting their lovers, We do not see
how the change improved the comedy.
but we do see and feel how it must
harm the music.
Delightful Contrast in Music
One of the most delightful elements
in Mozart's composition is the contrast
between the sincere utterances Of the
women and the mock sentiment of their
lovers when they are laying siege to
them in disguise. Their jeering laugh
ter when they think for a moment that
they have discounted Don Alfonso is
one of the most delightful moments in
the opera, and we sincerely deplore the
elision of Ferrando's air when, IN the
moment of his rage when convinced
that his inamorata had played him
false, he confesses that he cannot helm
but love her. That air, as we'll as the
earlier one, "Un aura amoroso,'' ought