The opera novice: Mozart's Così fan tutte - Telegraph Opera The opera novice: Mozart's Così fan tutte While its music has always been adored, Mozart's Così fan tutte has been accused of being clumsy or even misogynist. But Sameer Rahim discovers an opera from which all lovers can learn. Image 1 of 2 Unlucky lovers: Così fan tutte performed at The Royal Opera House. Nikolay Borchev as Guglielmo, Michele Losier as Dorabella, Malin Bystrom as Fiordiligi, Charles Castronovo as Ferrando Photo: Alastair Muir Image 1 of 2 Così Fan Tutte performed at The Royal Opera House. Thomas Allen as Don Alfonso, Charles Castronovo as Ferrando, Nikolay Borchev as Guglielmo, Rosemary Joshua as Despina Photo: Alastair Muir By Sameer Rahim , Assistant Books Editor 11:47AM GMT 17 Feb 2012 Follow “We have a certain Abbate da Ponte here,” wrote Mozart to his father in May 1783.

“He promised to write me something new…but who knows whether he will keep his word or even wants to! You know these Italian gentlemen, they are very nice to your face…” The Italian gentleman kept his promise. Lorenzo da Ponte and Mozart collaborated on two blockbuster operas: The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni. Their final work together, Così fan tutte, was not a great success. Mozart’s first biographer was puzzled that the composer could “waste his heavenly sweet melodies on such a miserable and clumsy text” and it was not popular until the 20th century. Così fan tutte is rarely given its English name possibly because it’s quite hard to translate. The full title is Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti: “Thus do they all [ie women], or The School for Lovers” but the shortened form is usually “They’re all like that” or “All women behave the same”. This slipperiness suits a work known for being cynical about love yet which has wonderful love-music; and that satirises unreliable women while showing men are hardly faultless.

Così begins with two young bucks Guglielmo and Ferrando boasting about the loyalty of their lovers Fiordiligi and Dorabella. Their friend Don Alfonso, “an old philosopher”, warns they shouldn’t be so trusting: women are all the same. They settle things with a love-test familiar to anyone who’s read medieval fabliaux or seen the US reality show Cheaters . The young men pretend to go to war only to return disguised as Albanians. Each man woos the other’s lover to see whether they remain true. As you might imagine, their plan doesn’t exactly go smoothly. I had seen Così about 10 years ago at the Hackney Empire but couldn’t remember much about it. This week I went to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden to see a revival of Jonathan Miller’s “Armani” production . When it was first put on in 1995, you could have described it as being in modern dress. Nearly 20 years later – despite the addition of modern touches like iPhones and Starbucks – it looked more like a period piece.

(Having the soldiers disguise themselves as Guns N’ Roses-style rockers, for example, might have seemed dated even in the mid-nineties.) Related Articles The opera novice: passion for Puccini's Tosca 03 Feb 2012 But I must confess I wasn’t in a good position to judge the production – literally. One of Così’s funniest scenes comes at the finale of act one when the men pretend to be dying to get the women’s sympathy. All this happened on the right side of the stage, though, and from my restricted view in seat DD11, I couldn’t see a thing. All I can tell you is that the audience was laughing. Unable to see all the action, I decided to listen more carefully. I have never understood what people meant by saying “the music was so witty” but Così has given me an idea. Take the overture : it begins with lordly violins that correspond to the men’s pompous certainty about their women’s faithfulness; then come the sinuous feminine notes of the English horn. The two call and respond to one another in a way that anticipates the back and forth of the love plot.

As the overture ends the music slows and we hear five notes match the five syllables of the title: Co-sì fan tu-te, the warning words that Don Alfonso sings to the same tune in the last scene. Whenever the theme was played, I imagined the old man wagging his finger wearily. As the men sail away to war, Fiordiligi, Dorabella and Don Alfonso sing a trio of enrapturing beauty: “ Soave sia il vento, tranquilla sia l’onda ”, “May the winds be soft, and the waves be calm.” I later learned this is very famous and a popular choice for funerals. In performance, though, it seemed oddly out of place. Miller presents the two women as flighty and self-obsessed, forever looking in the mirror or papping each other on their phones. Amusing enough but how can such shallow creatures produce such heartfelt song? Maybe it’s unfair to blame the production. Having just sung so movingly with the women, Don Alfonso declares: “I’m not such a bad actor after all!” The opera often shifts between ethereal idealisation and messy reality.

The men are in love with images (“Are they goddesses or women?” asks Don Alfonso); and the women simply love being loved – which is why the Albanians’ passionate declarations eventually sway them. Così is often regarded as anti-women but I think it’s harsh on both sexes. Mozart’s letters reveal that he had his own intrigue with two sisters. While boarding with the Weber family, he fell in love with the daughter Aloysia. She was a singer for whom he wrote music but she would not have him. Rumour spread he was flirting with her sister Constanze. “If I had to marry all those with whom I have jested,” he wrote somewhat ungallantly to his father, “I should have 200 wives at least”. Yet in the end he married Constanze. Anxiety about faithfulness (in the opera the word is Costanza) works both ways. Do you trust yourself to remain loyal to one person, especially when you know that he or she will, like everyone, slowly change into someone different? In Così’s final scene everything is revealed and the lovers reunited – but it’s unclear whether the women marry their original lovers or their new ones.

I saw the opera the night before Valentine’s Day. During the interval, I chatted to a medical student and his female companion. I sensed they were on an early date. Neither had been to Covent Garden before and though they told me they were enjoying the production, I wondered whether they could have chosen a more straightforwardly romantic opera. Then again this Così fan tutte shows us that if all women are like that, then all men are too; and that if love’s a game, it's worth learning how to play. Cosi Fan Tutte Opera Synopsis Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Synopsis/plot Following is a plot synopsis and brief history of Mozart's opera Cosi fan Tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti. The title "Così fan tutte" is roughly translated as "All Women are like that". Cosi fan tutte opera, K. 588, is classified as a dramma giocoso and opera buffa. The theme deals with womens fickleness and infidelity. Elizabeth Harmetz appeared as the maid Despina in Chiari, Italy and in 2010 with the Los Angeles Metropolitan Opera.

HISTORY: The opera was written and composed at the suggestion of the Emperor Joseph II, the libretto was originally intended to be set to music by Mozart's colleague, and Imperial court composer, Antonio Salieri who completed only parts of the first act and then broke off his work, supposedly due to the themes of sexual infidelity. The first performance of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte opera took place at the Burgtheater in Vienna on January 26, 1790. Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, K.588 (1756 - 1791) Librettist: Lorenzo da Ponte (1749 - 1838) PLOT SYNOPSIS: Time: 18th century. ACT I In the morning, Ferrando and Guglielmo joyously proclaim the eternal faithfulness of their beloved sweethearts Dorabella and Fiordiligi.

Don Alfonso overhears and wagers that if given a day, and they do everything he tells them, he can prove their sweethearts affections are fickle (as all women are.) They challenge that Don Alfonso's assertion is wrong and enter the wager on their beloved's constant affections. While the two sisters are comparing their men, Don Alfonso enters and brings news that the two officers have been ordered away. Ferrando and Guglielmo bid a reluctant farewell (quintet: Sento, o Dio, che questo piedo è restio—"I feel, oh God, that my foot is reluctant"). As the boat sets sail the grief-stricken sisters and Don Alfonso wish them a gentle voyage (trio: Soave sia il vento—"May the wind be gentle".) Alfonso alone, gloats on his certain winnings (arioso: Oh, poverini, per femmina giocar cento zecchini?—"Oh, poor little ones, to wager 100 sequins on a woman"). Dorabella bemoans the torment of having been left alone (aria: Smanie implacabili—"Torments implacable").

Despina consoles then mocks the sisters, advising them to consider new lovers over old lovers (aria: In uomini, in soldati, sperare fedeltá?—"In men, in soldiers, you hope for faithfulness?"). The sisters exit scandalized at this suggestion. Don Alfonso bribes Despina to help introduce new suitors to the sisters. Ferrando and Guglielmo return disguised as Albanians and attempt to seduce each others' fiancee. The sisters are alarmed at the presence of strange men in their home. Guglielmo tries to woo by pointing out his manly attributes (aria: Non siate ritrosi—"Don't be shy"), but to no avail (aria: Come Scoglio—"Like a rock"). Ferrando, alone, amorously praises his love (aria: Un aura amorosa—"A loving breath"). As the sisters pine in the garden, the disguised men burst in and threaten to poison themselves if they are not allowed the chance to woo their loves. Alfonso attempts to intervene but the men, unrequited, drink the poison and pass out. Despina is called an she urges the sisters to attend to the men while she gets a doctor.

Despina returns disguised as a doctor, who, through use of a large magnet, revives the love-stricken men. The revived men demand a kiss of the goddesses who stand before them. Fiordiligi and Dorabella waver as Despina and Alfonso watch. Act II. In the afternoon, Despina urges the sisters to choose between the men and each pick the others fiance (aria: Una donna a quindici anni—"A fifteen year old woman"). Dorabella confesses that she is tempted but Fiordiligi remains steadfast (duet: Prenderó quel brunettino"—"You take the darker one"). In the garden, Dorabella and the disguised Guglielmo pair off, as do the other two. After an awkward serenade, Ferrando departs with Fiordiligi. Guglielmo succeeds in wooing Dorabella and she surrenders Ferrando's portrait in exchange for a heart-shaped charm (duet: Il core vi dono—"I give you my heart").

Ferrando is less successful with Fiordiligi (Ferrando's aria: Ah, lo veggio—"Ah, I see it," and Fiordiligi's aria: Per pietá, ben mio, perdona—"Please, my beloved, forgive"), and he is enraged to discover Guglielmo has been so quickly successful. Guglielmo at first sympathizes with Ferrando (aria: Donne mie, la fate a tanti—"My ladies, you do it to so many") but then gloats, as his fiance is faithful. In the sister's room Dorabella admits her indiscretion to Fiordiligi (É amore un ladroncello—"Is love a little thief"). Fiordiligi, upset, decides they must leave and join their departed lovers. Before she can leave, Ferrando arrives and continues his seduction. Fiordiligi finally gives in (duet: Tra gli amplessi—"In the embraces"). Guglielmo is distraught and after a little gloating from Ferrando, they both wish to call off the wager. Alfonso tells the men to forgive their fiancees and continue the wager.

After all: Cosi fan tutte—"All women are like that." The title phrase is sung by the three male singers. The final scene begins as a double wedding for the sisters and their disguised grooms. Despina, in disguise as a notary, presents the marriage contract, which all sign. Directly thereafter, military music is heard indicating the return of the officers. The sisters urge the notary and their newlyweds to hide while they confront their past lovers. Don Alfonso let slip the marriage and the two men discover the notary hiding. The crest-fallen sisters admit their indiscretion and beg forgiveness. The men reveal their deception, Despina is revealed as the notary, and the sisters realize they have been duped. All is forgiven, as the entire group praises the ability to accept the fickleness of life. DRAMATIS PERSONAE / CHARACTERS / PERSONAGGI: No. 26 Aria - Donna Mie, La Fate A Tanti No. 26 Aria - ( Recitativo) In Qual Fiero Contrasto No. 27 Cavatina - Tradito, Schernito - Bravo, Questa È Constanza No.

27 Cavatina - Ora Vedo Che Siete No. 28 Aria - È Amore Un Ladroncello No. 28 Aria - Come Tutto Congiura - - L'abito di Ferrando No. 29 Duetto - Fra Gli Amplessi In Pochi Stanti No. 29 Duetto - Oh Poveretto Me No. 30 Andante - Tutti Accusan Le Donne - Vittoria, Padroncini No. 30 Finale - Fate Presto, O Cari Amici No. 30 Finale - Benedetti I Doppi Coniugi No. 30 Finale - E Nel Tuo, Nel Mio Bicchiero No. 30 Finale - Miel Signori, Tutto È Fatto No. 30 Finale - Sani E Salvi No. 30 Finale - Ah, Signor, Son Rea Di Morte Cheat sheet: Così fan tutte | Opera Australia Opera Australia Cheat Sheet: Così fan tutte Everything you need to know about one of Mozart's most beautiful works Who was the composer? Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

How do you know you’re listening to Mozart? He wrote stunning melodies, often with lots and lots of notes. When Mozart lived in Salzburg, the emperor is said to have remarked of his music: "Too beautiful for our ears, my dear Mozart, and vastly too many notes!" Mozart supposedly replied, "Just as many as are necessary, your majesty!" Mozart sought out stories for the music he already wished to write, believing "in an opera the poetry must at all costs be the obedient daughter of the music." A portrait of Mozart painted posthumously by Barbara Krafft, 1819. What happens in the story? Two young men are boasting about their lover's fidelity, but the cynical old bachelor Don Alfonso scoffs at their certainty. Determined to prove him wrong, the pair dress up as Albanians and attempt to seduce the other’s lover. Their young fiancées are amused, then intrigued — they are bright young women in love with love itself. Temptations and trickery put both relationships to the test. Will anyone’s love remain unchanged? Who are the main players?

Fiordiligi: a young woman Dorabella: another young woman, Fiordiligi's sister Despina: their maid Ferrando: a soldier, engaged to Dorabella Guglielmo: a soldier, engaged to Fiordiligi Don Alfonso: an old philosopher What's the big hit? 'Soave sia il vento'. Fiordiligi and Dorabella wish their fiancé safe passage as they travel off to war in this beautiful trio with Don Alfonso. Where have I heard that before? 'Soave sia il vento' is the soundtrack to desire in several films. It is a recurring motif throughout the 1971 film Sunday, Bloody Sunday , a moving backdrop to a kiss in A Home at the End of the World (2004) and a perfect soundtrack to seduction in Closer (2004). Something to listen out for Throughout the opera, Mozart uses the orchestra to paint a soundscape for Naples: listen out for the clarinet's lingering, languid melodies, evoking a lazy, seaside, summer afternoon.

At the start of the famous trio 'Soave sia il vento', the strings ripple through the first few bars, imitating the sea on which Ferrando and Guglielmo must soon travel. Fiordiligi's showstopping aria 'Come scoglio immoto resta' is a lesson in musical irony: as the soprano sings of her steadfast fidelity ("like a rock we stand immobile against the wind and storm, are always strong in trust and love"), the melody line leaps and falls in huge bounds, never settling comfortably, ever unsteady! Even critics of the shallow libretto cannot help but agree that Mozart used it to create some of his best music. He captures the comedy on the surface without ever letting go of the heartbreak which might lie beneath, when a joke goes too far and love is really on the line. Some of Mozart's most stunning music in this opera occurs at moments where the audience is feeling most cynical about the emotions depicted in the story. What beauty he creates in parody! This production is... ... a ravishing new version of one of Mozart's most popular works and the final of director Sir David McVicar 's trilogy of Mozart and da Ponte operas.

Designer Moritz Junge draws on the beautiful fashions of 1900s Italy, in the tradition of A Room with a View, or Death in Venice. A little history Emperor Joseph II was dying of tuberculosis when he supposedly commissioned Mozart and da Ponte to write an opera about an amusing incident which had recently scandalised Vienna. This anecdote may or may not be true — it's certainly a good story — but the libretto is one of just two da Ponte created without using a source text, so it is possible! However it came about, Mozart began writing the opera in 1789 and a year later, it premiered in Vienna. The Burgtheater performed it five times before the Emperor died and the city went into official mourning, closing all of the theatres. This gave the opera a slow start, and the scandalous subject matter (fiance-swapping! Infidelity!) and perhaps too-relatable emotions made it a rare treat in Europe for nearly two centuries. After World War II, the opera rose in popularity around the world, and comes in at number 11 on the charts of most performed operas around the world.

The playbill of the first performance of Così fan tutte, performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 26 January, 1790. Conversation starters The story is supposedly based on a real-life incident which scandalised Vienna Mozart reportedly hated da Ponte's mistress, the soprano who created the role of Fiordiligi. He filled her showpiece aria with big leaps from low to high notes and back again in order to make her head 'bob like a chicken' on stage. Critics don't know what to make of Così fan tutte. Is it a ridiculous story, upon which Mozart wasted his genius? Or is the seeming tension between the story and music evidence of Mozart and da Ponte's brilliance, where clever writing and stunning music lends depth to an at-first-glance lightweight tale? A good director and designer can play with this unease to great effect if they avoid the temptation to reduce the story to buffoonery or neglect the comedy for the profound truths about human emotions that lies underneath. Read our ultimate guide Così fan tutte in a nutshell The composer: Mozart. Austrian. 18th century. A child genius, he wrote more than 600 works before his death at 35.

The music: sensuous, harmonious, stunning! The opera contains some of Mozart's most beautiful music. The big hit: The setting: McVicar has set this story in the early 1900s in Naples. The history: The story is supposedly based on real-life events that had been the scandal of Vienna at the time! A quirky fact to impress your date: Mozart reportedly wrote the leaps and bounds of Fiordiligi's showstopping aria to make her head 'bob like a chicken', as he didn't like the soprano set to play the role. Mozart's 'Cosi fan tutte' : NPR Mozart's 'Cosi fan tutte' Embed Embed Email May 4, 200712:00 PM ET Fiordiligi and Dorabella, played by Ana Maria Martinez and Sophie Koch, enjoy a little "girl talk" in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, from Salzburg. Photo: Bernd Uhlig hide caption toggle caption Photo: Bernd Uhlig THE HIT SINGLE Mozart had a special gift for delicate and moving tenor arias. In Cosi, Ferrando describes his fond hopes for true love in Un' aura amorosa.

Salzburg festival on World of Opera -- 'Cosi fan tutte' Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> The "B Side" Cosi is filled with memorable tunes. In the aria Come scoglio, Fiordiligi says her loyalty to Guglielmo is, 'like a rock.' Salzburg festival on World of Opera -- 'Cosi fan tutte' Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Who's Who? More about the artists ... Remember what it was like to be a teenager in love? How it seemed like it could never possibly end? How you and your "steady" were so right together that you couldn't even imagine being apart? Now think back to what it was like when the object of that love, your perfect soulmate, threw you over for someone else. Painful, right? Almost too painful to bear — or at least that's how it seemed at the time.

When we get older, it's easy to look back on our lovesick youth with amusement. We wonder at how losing that long-ago boyfriend or girlfriend could have seemed so important, and how the loss could have been so devastating. But we still remember how it felt, and age and experience tell us that when grown-up relationships break down, the pain can be even worse. Maybe that's why Mozart's outwardly comical masterpiece, Cosi fan tutte, often leaves audiences feeling more than a little uneasy. Over time, the mixed emotions Cosi evokes have led to criticism of the opera. Some say the music and the libretto simply don't match — that sentiments the libretto states routinely are heard in music so deeply stirring that the words and the score seem at odds with each other. Maybe, though, that emotional disparity is Mozart's way of making sure this unlikely story hits its mark. Article continues after sponsorship Deep down, Cosi fan tutte provides a sharp reminder of how often the true depth of our feelings is sadly contradicted by clumsy statements and predictable actions.

Mozart's opera also does something even more profound: It bluntly reminds us that our most cherished relationships can often be fragile and tenuous, and in doing so it shines a harsh light on the barest of our vulnerabilities. On this edition of World of Opera, host Lisa Simeone brings us Mozart's Cosi in a production from the Salzburg Festival, held annually in the composer's hometown. The Story of Mozart's 'Cosi fan tutte' Email May 4, 200712:00 PM ET The sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi, played by Sophie Koch and Ana Maria Martinez, discuss their complicated love lives in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. hide caption toggle caption Fiordiligi and Dorabella entertain their supposedly Albanian suitors in the Salzburg production of Cosi fan tutte. Photo: Bernd Uhlig hide caption toggle caption Photo: Bernd Uhlig BACKGROUND: Cosi fan tutte was the last of the three masterful collaborations between Mozart and librettist Lorenzo da Ponte — the other two were The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni. They were composed between 1785 and 1790, and they are all great operas.

But of the three, it's Cosi that has drawn a bit of criticism over the years. The libretto is sometimes dark and ambiguous, and the musical style can seem inconsistent. But for this story, the ambiguity and inconsistency are appropriate. How many times have you felt something so deeply that you simply couldn't put it into words? That's what happens to the characters in this opera. They wind up dumbfounded by their own emotions. But when their words are inadequate to express their feelings, it doesn't matter — Mozart's music does it for them. Act 1: The action begins in a cafe. Two young officers, Ferrando and Guglielmo, are bragging about the unswerving fidelity of their fiancees, the sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi. Don Alfonso, an older friend of theirs, says that no women are ever truly, faithful. He also says he can prove it. Alfonso bets the two young men a hundred gold pieces that if they do everything he says, their lovers will betray them. Ferrando and Guglielmo eagerly accept the wager. But their music is so stiff and ceremonial that we already wonder how confident they really are.

According to Alfonso's scheme, the two men will pretend they've been called away to war. While the women are mourning their absence, the men will return in disguise and do their best to seduce each other's girlfriends. If they succeed, Alfonso wins the bet. Fiordiligi and Dorabella are heartbroken when they find their lovers are leaving with the army. Despina, a servant, suggests that while the men are gone the sisters should entertain themselves — with new men. Their reaction is shock and indignation but, again, the underlying tone of the music hints that the women might just be interested in some extra-curricular hanky-panky. Alfonso takes Despina aside and bribes her to help with his plan. He tells her that two wealthy Albanians are in town, and are eager to meet her mistresses. The Albanians are actually Ferrando and Guglielmo, in outlandish disguises. Alfonso brings the men in, and hides. Despina agrees to introduce them to Dorabella and Fiordiligi. When the brazen Albanians make their moves, the two women are offended and leave. The soldiers say they have won their bet.

But Alfonso tells them it's not over yet. Alfonso and Despina hatch the next part of their scheme. The women are in their garden, again pining for their absent lovers. The Albanians suddenly appear. They say they can't bear any further rejection, and both pretend to swallow arsenic. Despina goes with Alfonso to find a doctor. Then, as the women timidly approach the "dying" men, Alfonso returns, bringing Despina disguised as a doctor. Using a dubious, magnetic medical device, she revives the Albanians. Fiordiligi and Dorabella had expressed sympathy for their suicidal suitors. But when the men immediately resume their pleas for love, they're rejected again. Act 2: Fiordiligi and Dorabella are increasingly confused and conflicted over the attentions of the lovesick Albanians. Despina tells them to stop being silly. She says that any woman over the age of 15 should take advantage of this kind of situation. After all, she proclaims, a woman can survive without love — but not without lovers.

The sisters act scandalized by her suggestions, but they're beginning to think Despina's approach might have certain advantages. Dorabella persuades Fiordiligi that it might be fun to lead these guys on. She decides she'll take the dark one — Guglielmo — leaving Fiordiligi with Ferrando. Unwittingly, the sisters have just agreed to switch lovers. Despina and Alfonso bring the two couples together, and leave them alone. Both men turn on the charm, and one of them succeeds. Guglielmo persuades Dorabella to accept a gift, a small golden heart. She puts it in her locket — replacing her picture of Ferrando. The two men get back together to compare notes, and things start to go sour. Ferrando has had no luck with Fiordiligi, and he assumes Guglielmo has also struck out with Dorabella. Guglielmo first hedges a bit, but when he produces the picture Dorabella removed from her locket, Ferrando is heartbroken. Disguising his pain as anger, Ferrando resolves to have another go with Fiordiligi. Meanwhile, the sisters also compare notes.

Dorabella has adopted Despina's carefree attitude, and is ready to marry her new lover. But it's the faithful Fiordiligi who feels most guilty. She rejected her Albanian, but she really did want the guy and now wishes she had acted on her passion. As a penance for her licentious feelings, she decides that she and Dorabella should dress as soldiers and head for the battlefield to be with their true loves. But Ferrando reappears, still in disguise, and Fiordiligi can't resist him any longer. She gives in while Guglielmo is watching. Now it's his turn for anguish. Alfonso says the two men might just as well marry the women. They were bound to be unfaithful eventually, so why not make the best of it? Despina makes their decision even easier when she announces that the women are proposing a double wedding. The couples uneasily drink to their future happiness — with the two men quietly seething. The versatile Despina again turns up in disguise, this time as a notary. She produces a marriage contract, and the women sign it.

Before the men can do the same, Alfonso suddenly announces that the sisters' former boyfriends have returned from battle. Frantically, Dorabella and Fiordiligi send the Albanians into another room. The men take the back way out, then return through the front door without their disguises. They feign outrage when they discover that their supposedly faithful fiancees have signed a marriage contract. Alfonso points to the room where the women have hidden the Albanians. The men go in with swords drawn, and then return carrying the disguises. The women finally realize they've been tricked. Alfonso tells the two couples that it's all for the best — everyone is wiser now. They've seen each other as they really are, and can all have a good laugh at their own expense. There's forgiveness all around, and the couples are reunited. Still, the atmosphere is uneasy. It's hard not to wonder about the future, and if the mistrust and betrayal — on both sides — can ever really be forgotten.

The Libretto & Source of Così fan tutte Certainly the greatest of Mozart’s operas were the three operas that he wrote with the poet-librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte: The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte. Da Ponte was a fascinating character, and he had many careers during his extremely long life. He was a priest, a poet, a philosopher, a stage director, a professor of languages, and at one point he was even a grocer. Let's take a closer look at this fascinating character. Da Ponte was born Emanuele Canigliano in the Jewish sector of Venice, now the Vittorio Veneto. After the early death of his mother, his father, wanting to marry a young Catholic woman, insisted on having the whole family convert to the Catholic faith so that they could all worship together. He also insisted that his three sons all become priests in thanksgiving to God for what he considered the blessing of this marriage. So the young Lorenzo (so named to honor the bishop who brought them into the faith) went into training and indeed, became a priest.

But according to his journal, Lorenzo felt that there was only one vocation that he felt he was completely unsuited for, and that was the priesthood! The problem was that he was a very free thinker during a time when the church didn’t appreciate that kind of thinking. And he was constantly falling in love with beautiful women, something else the church didn’t really appreciate in its priests. He was eventually run out of Venice for his bad behavior, left the priesthood and began to wander through Europe looking for a home. He spent some time in Dresden working with Caterino Mazzolà translating and arranging libretti and eventually landed in Vienna where he not only became the royal playwright, but met Mozart and began to collaborate on those three wonderful operas for which they are now world famous. (Early during his stay in Vienna, Da Ponte had the opportunity to meet the earlier great librettist of the day, Pietro Metastasio, who approved of the younger man's verses and praised him before the court.) It is interesting to wonder how Mozart and Da Ponte were able to get along.

These were, after all, two geniuses, one in music the other in poetry and theatre, great artists each in their own right and both with very large egos. But from everything we know from Da Ponte's autobiography it must have gone rather smoothly. After all Da Ponte understood music very well, and Mozart understood poetry very well. There is every reason to believe that they worked very closely together on these operas, each artist making certain demands on the other as the process unfolded, and most certainly making compromises along the way. Mozart mentions Da Ponte only once in his correspondence, not with much flattery, in a letter to his father dated May 7, 1783: "Our poet here is now a certain Abbate Da Ponte. He has an enormous amount to do in revising pieces for the theatre and he has to write per obbligo an entirely new libretto for Salieri, which will take him two months. He has promised after that to write a new libretto for me. But who knows whether he will be able to keep his word -- or will want to? For, as you are aware, these Italian gentlemen are very civil to your face. Enough, we know them!

If he is in league with Salieri, I shall never get anything out of him! But indeed I should dearly love to show what I can do in an Italian opera!" After his collaboration with Mozart and other composers (Martin y Soler and Salieri among them) in Vienna Da Ponte lived in London, where he managed the King's Theatre, Haymarket and married an Englishwoman, Nancy Grahl. Having to declare bankruptcy in 1800 he and his growing family left London for New York in 1805 where he was involved in many different occupations. But he was the first teacher of Italian and the classics at Columbia University and helped build the first Italian opera house in New York City where he acted briefly as manager. He died in 1838 at the ripe old age of 89. Così fan tutte is the only opera that Mozart wrote which is not based on some other source like an event from history, or a play or a novel.

Even his other two operas with Da Ponte were based on earlier sources…The Marriage of Figaro was based on the French play Le mariage du Figaro by Beaumarchais (written only a few years before the premiere of the opera), and Don Giovanni was based on the old Spanish story about Don Juan, the famous lover, and which during Mozart’s lifetime had been traveling around Europe as a puppet play. But Così fan tutte, although the story had roots in classical literature, was a completely original story. There's been a rumor ever since the opera was written in 1790 that the plot was based on something that actually happened in the royal court of the Hapsburg family at the time of the premiere in 1790, but there is no evidence to support this theory. If it is true, when the opera was finally performed the royals in the audience must have had a field day trying to figure out who was who, and what was what If one is new to this opera, the title takes a bit of explaining.

Così fan tutte means “All women are like that”, referring to Don Alfonso's belief that the women (Fiordiligi and Dorabella) will be proven unfaithful and, ultimately, that all women are flighty, superficial and incapable of fidelity. This is a harsh judgment that cannot be measured against contemporary standards. And it must be accepted that the women are entrapped, tricked and put in a very unfair position. But the title is misleading. If one pays close attention to what happens at the end of the opera, no one comes out of this story squeaky clean. At the end, everyone has egg on their faces, not just the women but the men as well. This author prefers the sub-title provided by Da Ponte and Mozart: they called it “The School for Lovers”. There’s a lot to be learned from this opera about relationships, about the constant struggle between the sexes and how to laugh at yourself, how to ‘keep things light’ when you think you’ve fallen in love. Mozart and Da Ponte succeed in getting us to laugh at our imperfections and that, of course, is the essence of comedy.

1790: Mozart in Vienna: “Così Fan Tutte” Schönbrunn Palace Theatre, Vienna 2006 Photo: Austrian Theatre Museum, Vienna / Barbara Palffy 1790 Così fan tutte Schönbrunn Palace Theatre, Vienna 2006 Photo: Austrian Theatre Museum, Vienna / Barbara Palffy 1790 was not a good year for Mozart’s wife. Constanze was frequently ill. She required spa treatments and these were expensive, requiring money that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart did not have. More than once he was forced to ask his friend Johann Michael Puchberg to lend him money. In addition, Mozart’s fifth child had died the previous year, only little Carl was still alive. Times were hard for Mozart in Vienna, but finally he received a commission, most likely from Emperor Joseph II. A story of love and jealousy was worked into the opera “Così Fan Tutte”. Once more the libretto was written by Lorenzo da Ponte. It was the last time he would write a libretto for Mozart. Originally, Salieri had been commissioned to compose this work, but he was no longer working on it.

According to Mozart, he deemed the material to be unworthy, but was later greatly angered in hindsight that Mozart had received the commission. Jealousy and loose morals “Così fan tutte o sia La scuola degli amanti” (Thus Do They All, or a School for Lovers) is set in eighteenth-century Naples. Ferrando and Guglielmo, two young officers, accept a cynical wager with Don Alfonso to test the loyalty of their fiancées. They pretend to set out on a military campaign and return to their ladies in disguise, to woo them as strange cavaliers. At first Dorabella and Fiordiligi remain steadfast, causing the pretend soldiers to fake suicide out of sheer despair. However, they are rescued and left in the care of the ladies. Slowly their ceaseless wooing proves effective. Dorabella is the first to succumb, then Fiordiligi - a double wedding takes place. The two disguised men stage a return in their original identities and the ladies pretend to be overjoyed by their return. Don Alfonso causes the infidelity of the women to be discovered, a heated jealousy scene ensues. The young men reveal their ploy and everybody is shamed.

Don Alfonso gives the advice not to hold any grudges and to live happily ever after. “Così Fan Tutte” was not very popular with Mozart’s peers. The libretto was considered ludicrous and immoral – after Mozart’s death the opera was frequently changed and different texts were used. Only in the 20th century was this opera elevated to equal status with his previous masterworks, “The Marriage of Figaro” and “Don Giovanni”. Not the best prerequisites for success At least Joseph II enjoyed the opera. He was known to enjoy bawdy jokes at the expense of “his” Viennese and saw the opera as an opportunity to show the Viennese high society its mirror image. He was well-disposed to Mozart and more than one of Mozart’s operas owes its existence to his direct or indirect intervention. When “Così Fan Tutte” premiered at the Burgtheater on January 26, 1790 – receiving only lukewarm applause from the audience – the emperor was not present. He suffered from tuberculosis and would die shortly afterwards at the age of 48. Things did not improve for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

His successor, Joseph’s brother Leopold, was no lover of music… Così fan tutte, opera, K. 588 | Details | AllMusic Così fan tutte, opera, K. 588 Share this page google+ Description by Allen Schrott Così fan tutte (All women act that way) is the last of Mozart 's three "da Ponte" operas -- those composed to libretti by Lorenzo da Ponte (the other two are Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni). Long neglected and misunderstood, Così emerged from obscurity in the twentieth century and has come to be regarded as among the composer's finest, if also most problematic, works. It has been assumed that the opera was commissioned by Emperor Joseph II, probably sometime during the summer of 1789. Coming as it did during a fallow period in Mozart 's output, the work was a financial boon to him and allowed for the repayment of some debt. Little is known about the creation of the work, but the first rehearsal took place in Mozart's apartment on January 21, 1790, and the first performance was at the Burgtheater in Vienna five days later.

This initial run was extremely brief, due to Joseph II's death after only five performances had been mounted; the closing of the Viennese theaters prevented any further performances until June. Da Ponte's libretto is presumed to be an original work, but its numerous literary precedents included episodes in Ovid's Metamorphosis as well as da Ponte's own libretto for Martin y Soler 's L'abore di Diana; the latter was written coincidentally with Così. Suggestions that the plot was based on actual events within Viennese society have not been substantiated. Two friends, Ferrando and Guglielmo, wager with Don Alfonso that their lovers, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, will remain constant in their absence. To prove the point, they depart under false pretenses and return as "Albanians" who try to woo the women away. The libretto has long been considered flimsy, misogynistic, immoral, and dramatically unresolvable. However, any judgement of the opera as a whole must take account of Mozart 's exceedingly fine and deeply interesting score.

Through music, Fiordiligi transcends her role as the victim of cruel manipulation, revealing a complex personality that is sincere, capable of growth, and inarguably sympathetic. In contrast, Guglielmo never progresses beyond concern for his own ego and interests; his music, fittingly, remains within the stock traditions of opera buffa. Each of the six characters receives an equally insightful portrait, and the ambigous nature of the ending (who actually loves whom?), while vexing to directors and audiences, can be seen as appropriate, given the emotional issues aired during the drama. The marriage of Mozart 's score and da Ponte's libretto represents the apotheosis of the opera buffa genre (making its setting in Naples -- the birthplace of the genre -- all the more appropriate) and embodies the best of the Classical era. Moments that, at first glance, seem transparent, formulaic, and impersonal become instead clarifying, organic, and genuinely inspired. There is an unusually large number of vocal ensembles in the score, far more than are found in either Don Giovanni or Figaro. All of these highlight Mozart 's unique fusion of symphonic techniques with lyrical expression.

The best-known ensemble is undoubtedly the trio "Soave sia il vento," sung by Fiordiligi, Dorabella, and Don Alfonso, in which farce, grief, and the musical depiction of gentle waves are seamlessly combined to form one of opera's brightest gems. The finales of both acts are typically Mozartean in their complexity, ambition, and symphonic logic, and, especially in the case of the Act One finale, they are arguably finer than those composed for any other of his operas. The combination of logical, restrained structure and lyrical outpouring in these finales encapsulates Mozart 's unique operatic voice.

Parts/Movements La mia Dorabella capace non è È la fede delle femine come l'araba fenice Una bella serenata Vorrei dir, e cor non ho, e cor non ho Sento, o Dio, che questo piede Al fato dàn legge quegli occhi vezzosi Bella vita militar Ah che tutta in un momento (Finale) Una donna a quindici anni dee saper ogni gran moda Prendero quel brunettino, che piu lepido mi par Secondate, aurette amiche La mano a me date Il core vi dono, bell' idolo mio! Ah!

Lo veggio, quell' anima bella al mio pianto resister non sa Per pietà, ben mio, perdona, all' error (Rondo) Donne mie, la fate a tanti, a tanti, a tanti Tradito, schernito dal perfido cor (Cavatina) È Amore un ladroncello Overlooked Opera: Così fan tutte - WQXR Overlooked Opera: Così fan tutte Wednesday, November 27, 2013 - 03:00 PM By Fred Plotkin Cosi fan tutte at Salzburg Festival with Luca Pisaroni, Martina Janková, Marie-Claude Chappuis, Gerald Finley, Malin Hartelius, Martin Mitterrutzner (© Michael Pöhn) Back in July, I wrote the first of what I said would be an occasional series called Overlooked Operas. Readers seemed to agree that Weber’s Der Freischütz has been undervalued, especially in the United States. I suspect there will not be similar consensus for today’s Overlooked Opera, Mozart’s Così fan tutte.

More "Così fan tutte," I can hear you shriek, “how is that an overlooked opera?” To which I would answer that “overlooked” is a word with shades of meaning. It can mean “ignored” or “forgotten,” but also can suggest something whose merit is not given its due. That is the case here. I think Così (1790) is the victim of being neither here nor there in the public and professional perception of Mozart’s works. The composer’s two previous collaborations with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte are hard acts to follow. Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro, 1786) is often thought of as the first work in the standard operatic repertory that continues until Puccini’s Turandot (1924). Le Nozze di Figaro is brilliant comedy with beautiful music and is often said to have played a role in the political upheaval that spread through Europe in its wake. Don Giovanni (1787) is thought by many people to be the best opera ever written, and there are certainly days when I agree with that.

It is a cosmic miracle concerning issues great and small and is arguably one of the most difficult operas to stage and perform. But it is one of the rare works of art, along with Hamlet, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and a few others, that are universally revered yet never fully understood. How can one follow that with an opera about two sisters who are duped into taking each other's boyfriend? It did not help that da Ponte himself referred to Così as "the drama that holds third place among the sisters born of that most celebrated father of harmony." I looked in the Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia (Cambridge’s composer encyclopedias are catnip for music lovers) and discovered that da Ponte thought of this opera by the name – La Scuola degli Amanti (The School for Lovers) – that ultimately became its subtitle. The librettist was not pleased when Mozart imposed a new title on the opera.

Così fan tutte is often translated as "Women are all the same" but a more literal translation is “This is how all women do things” or perhaps “This is how all women are.” The lack of specificity in the title can prove frustrating to people who insist that everything be comprehensible and cut-and-dried. The ambiguity (a characteristic found in Don Giovanni) makes this opera more complex and more intriguing. According to the Cambridge encyclopedia, the title came from a line in Le Nozze di Figaro: “Count Almaviva’s discovery of Cherubino hiding in Susanna’s room causes Basilio to comment: ‘Così fan tutte le belle/Non c’è alcuna novità’ or ‘All the beauties do it/There’s nothing new in that.’” When directed and played as a sex farce of mistaken identities, Così remains superficial. But as an exploration of the quicksilver changes of the human heart, it makes the two previous da Ponte operas seem naive by comparison.

If every heart harbors a mystery (to paraphrase a lyric from Verdi’s Ernani), what happens in Così fan tutte is that it is Mozart in his music, much more than da Ponte in his words, who plumbs the depths of the mystery in each of the six characters in the opera. It takes a superb conductor to grasp this and a worldly stage director to also discover these mysteries in the music. Both of them must find ways to help the cast members use their own sensibilities to connect with these mysteries and then perform the opera without indicating emotions before they should be revealed. This is extremely challenging but richly rewarding on the rare occasions when everything works. Matthew Polenzani, Susanna Phillips, Isabel Leonard and Rodion Pogossov in the Met's 'Così fan tutte' (Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera) The opera has another element that makes it more challenging and rewarding than the previous two da Ponte works: The stage director has many ways to interpret the ending. At the start of the opera, soprano Fiordiligi is dating baritone Guglielmo. Her sister, mezzo-soprano Dorabella, is dating tenor Ferrando.

At the instigation of a cynical older man, Don Alfonso, and with assistance of the sisters' maid Despina, the two young men return in disguise and pursue the other’s girlfriend. Dorabella falls first while Fiordiligi maintains a resistance to Ferrando's wooing. Ultimately, Fiordiligi and Ferrando are caught by surprise as they discover the genuine intensity of feeling (as opposed to raw lust) that they have for one another. In most of the 170 years that followed the opera’s premiere, the four young people returned to their original partners and, supposedly, all ends happily. With more psychological study and the evolving status of women, by the 1960s, some directors staged the opera so that the couples switched partners at the end and all ended happily (we are asked to assume). In recent years, I have seen productions in which the four characters stand alone at the end, dazed and confused by what they have experienced. This seemed logical until I saw the revelatory ending in Sven-Eric Bechtolf’s new production at the Salzburg Festival last summer. As the opera concluded, Fiordiligi and Ferrando had found soulmates in one another.

Dorabella wanted to be with Guglielmo but he was not interested. With his preening male ego, he delighted in the fact that he was able to seduce his friend’s girlfriend while watching his own girlfriend remain faithful. When Fiordiligi opted for Ferrando, Guglielmo became enraged with jealousy and rejected Dorabella (about whom he never really cared) and stormed away. The message here was that all women do not behave that way but lots of men do. Another reason I think Così should be held in higher regard is that when James Levine made his very-welcome return to the orchestra pit at the Met on September 24, this is the opera he chose. The other works he conducts this season are two operas he is closely associated with: Falstaff, in Robert Carsen’s wonderful production that receives its Met premiere on December 6, and Wozzeck , which Levine has led more than 40 times at the Met yet still finds depth and new meaning in this masterpiece each time he returns to it. If James Levine thinks so highly of Così fan tutte to put it with two of his very favorites, that is good enough for me.

Tags: Fred Plotkin FRED PLOTKIN is one of America’s foremost experts on opera and has distinguished himself in many fields as a writer, speaker, consultant and as a compelling teacher. He is an expert on everything Italian, the person other so-called Italy experts turn to for definitive information. Fred discovered the concept of "The Renaissance Man" as a small child and has devoted himself to pursuing that ideal as the central role of his life. In a “Public Lives” profile in The New York Times on August 30, 2002, Plotkin was described as "one of those New York word-of-mouth legends, known by the cognoscenti for his renaissance mastery of two seemingly separate disciplines: music and the food of Italy." In the same publication, on May 11, 2006, it was written that "Fred is a New Yorker, but has the soul of an Italian." Show 11 comments

Question: Who wrote the opera Cosi fan Tutte?
Answer: Mozart