Classical Music / Operas
Così fan tutte, an opera buffa (comic opera),
remains one of the four most popular operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Wolfgang A. Mozart wrote some 20 operas. Four
of them have been extremely famous on stage and record. Aside from Cosi fan tutte, the other three are: The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze Figaro),
Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte).
Cosi fan tutte is a comic (opera buffa) with an unusual title. Cosi
means "in this way" or "like this"; fan means "do"; and tutte means the Italian feminine version for "all". So the title can be translated as "In this way do all (women)" or "Like this do all (women)." Or it can even be "Women are all Alike." It's a farce, a fun opera, nevertheless, the genius Mozart wrote some of his great music.
This opera was commissioned to Mozart by Emperor Josef II subtitled The School for Lovers.
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto in Italian by Lorenzo da Ponte.
First
performed: Burgtheater, Vienna, January 26 (or 28), 1790, conducted
by Mozart himself.
Setting:
Naples during the 18th
century. It is in two Acts, approximately two hours and thirty minutes.
The
Characters:
Fiordiligi and Dorabella Two
sisters from Ferrara (Both
Sopranos)
Despina
The sisters' maid (Soprano)
Ferrando
An officer in love with Dorabella (Tenor)
Guglielmo
An officer in love with Fiordiligi (Baritone)
Don Alfonso An
elderly philosopher (Baritone)
Cosi fan tutte is said to have been composed by Mozart
at the height of his fame. Here's my favourite quote which I've taken from The Harrap Opera Guide by Sir
Alexander Morley, London, 1970, in my readings: "The artificial comedy, verging at times on the farcical, is set to
apt and witty music, with a strong element of parody but also of a
sentimentality which is constantly spilling over into genuine and touching
sentiment."
Mozart's music for Cosi consists of an overture, formal arias, symmetrical ensembles of various combination of the characters with a delightful presence, lively recitatives, and full finales.
Mozart's music for Cosi consists of an overture, formal arias, symmetrical ensembles of various combination of the characters with a delightful presence, lively recitatives, and full finales.
Brief
Synopsis:
Don Alfonso, an old philosopher and cynic, is determined to prove to his two young friends, Guglielmo and Ferrando, that their fiancées, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, are not to be trusted like any other woman. With the help of Despina, the ladies' maid, Alfonso lays his plot. First he tells them that as officers, their lovers have been called up on duty; and
as a part of the old man's plan, he introduces the sisters to two Albanians, who are, in fact, Guglielmo and Ferrando disguised. After inner conflicts the two women succumb to the advances of the "Albanians," forcing Guglielmo and Ferrando to concede defeat. However, Don Alfonso reveals the plot to the two deceived ladies and they are reconciled with their original
lovers.
Video Credit:
Amanda Roocroft - Fiordiligi,
Rosa Mannion - Dorabella,
Rodney Gilfry - Guglielmo, Rainer Trost - Ferrando,
Eirian James - Despina,
Claudio Nicolai - Don Alfonso.
Monteverdi Choir.
English Baroque Soloists .
John Eliot Gardiner - Conductor,
Peter Mumford - Director. (Youtube, uploaded by Aimee. Accessed 25 January 2018.)
Suggested Reading:
Cosi fan Tutte in the Mirror: Eternal truths on being human. A Musical Vision. Accessed January 26, 2016.
Cosi fan Tutte in the Mirror: Eternal truths on being human. A Musical Vision. Accessed January 26, 2016.
Trivia:
A sort of a joke from the jovial Mozart. The role of Fiordiligi in Cosi was created for Adriana Ferraresi, Da Ponte's mistress, who was reputed to be arrogant and ugly. Mozart wrote her a difficult aria, full of vocal leaps - in Cosi fan tutte - aria "Come scoglio". Mozart was banking on Ferraresi's tendency to lower her chin on the low notes and throw back her head on the high notes, making her head bob back and forth, just like a chicken.
I'm quoting from my Course Guidebook: Mozart - His Life and Music, p.35, by Prof. Robert Greenberg. It's from his lecture 8: The Last Years. This course is one of the three classical music courses I studied under him: from The Great Course / The Teaching Company. Actually, the first time I read about this jolly-humoured 'episode' of our Wunderkind was in fact, from the book 'The Operas of Mozart' written by William Mann, English Music Critic. His original book was published in 1977, the copy I read was in paperback version, 1986. / Tel, 4 May 2007.
A sort of a joke from the jovial Mozart. The role of Fiordiligi in Cosi was created for Adriana Ferraresi, Da Ponte's mistress, who was reputed to be arrogant and ugly. Mozart wrote her a difficult aria, full of vocal leaps - in Cosi fan tutte - aria "Come scoglio". Mozart was banking on Ferraresi's tendency to lower her chin on the low notes and throw back her head on the high notes, making her head bob back and forth, just like a chicken.
I'm quoting from my Course Guidebook: Mozart - His Life and Music, p.35, by Prof. Robert Greenberg. It's from his lecture 8: The Last Years. This course is one of the three classical music courses I studied under him: from The Great Course / The Teaching Company. Actually, the first time I read about this jolly-humoured 'episode' of our Wunderkind was in fact, from the book 'The Operas of Mozart' written by William Mann, English Music Critic. His original book was published in 1977, the copy I read was in paperback version, 1986. / Tel, 4 May 2007.
Further suggested reading:
Mozart's Fiordiligi: Adriana Ferrarese del Bene. Published online by Cambridge University Press (27 August 2008, pp. 199-214). Written by Patricia Lewy Gidwitz. (Journal: Cambridge Opera Journal / Volume 8 / Issue 3/ Print publication: Nov 1996
Resources:
Various books in my private collection of Mozart books, and other classical music reference materials, including opera books of Da Capo and Batta. Also, from Course Guidebooks, when I was a student at The Teaching Company / The Great Courses. "Great Masters: Mozart - His Life and Music." / Tel
(c) May 4, 2007. Updated January 27, 2010. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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