Così fan tutte
April 15, 20, 22, and 24, 2010, at 8 pm. Matinée April 17 at 3 pm
The Music of Così fan tutte
Below are video selections from several recent productions of Mozart's Così fan tutte. The first video is three scenes from a 1996 Wiener Staatsoper production.
- As Ferrando and Guglielmo proclaim their sweethearts' virtue, their cynical friend Don Alfonso proposes a wager: if the brash lads will follow his instructions, he will prove that the women are not to be trusted. The men pretend to go off to war and return, disguised as Albanians. Each then tries to seduce the other's girlfriend. When sweet talk doesn't work, they pretend to take arsenic: Si mora, sì, si mora (Let us die, yes, let us die) .
- Eventually the girls admit there may be no harm in a little flirtation. In their duet, Prenderò quel brunettino (I'll take the dark one) they divide up the two Albanians; each chooses the other's original sweetheart.
- After both girls have succumbed to their seducers and agreed to marry them, Guglielmo and Ferrando return from the battlefront and "discover" the marriage contract: Giusto ciel! Voi qui scriveste (Merciful heaven! You've signed here).
Fiordiligi: Barbara Frittoli. Dorabella: Angelica Kirchschlager
Guglielmo: Bo Skovhus Ferrando: Michael Schade
Despina: Monica Bacelli Don Alfonso: Alessandro Corbelli
Vienna State Opera Chorus and Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Riccardo Muti, conductor
Recorded live at the Wiener Staatsoper, 1996.
Fiordiligi, Dorabella: Ah guarda sorella
Early in the opera, before Guglielmo and Ferrando depart for their regiment, Fiordiligi and Dorabella revel in their love for their sweethearts.
Ah tell me sister, If one could ever find a nobler face, a sweeter mouth.
Janice Felty as Dorabella Susan Larson as Fiordiligi
Peter Sellars' 1990 production set in Despina's Diner in the 1950s
Vienna Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Craig Smith
Fiordiligi, Dorabella, Don Alfonso: Soave sia il vento
In one of the loveliest moments in the opera, the two women and the cynical Don Alfonso wish the men godspeed as they sail away. It's all a trick, of course, and they'll be back soon, disguised as Albanians and up to no good.
Gentle be the breeze, calm be the waves,
And every element smile in favour on their wish.
Fiordiligi: Miah Persson Dorabella: Anke Vondung Don Alfonso: Nicolas Rivenq
From the DVD of Così fan tutte, recorded at Glyndebourne in 2006.
Ivan Fischer directs the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Dorabella: Ah scostati... smanie implacabili
Their lovers have ostensibly gone off to war, and the sisters are devastated. Dorabella proclaims her torment in this deliciously hysterical recitative (Ah Scostati!) and aria (Smanie Implacabili).
Ah leave me! Flee the dread effect of a distracted love! ...
Implacable pangs which torment me, do not subside within my being
Until my anguish brings me death.
Liliana Nikiteanu as Dorabella Cecilia Bartoli as Fiordiligi Agnes Baltsa as Despina
Zurich Opera House, 2001. Directed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
Fiordiligi: Come Scoglio
This scene is from the 2002 Berlin Staatsoper production directed by Doris Dörrie and set during the 1970s – the era of Hippies and Flower Power. Guglielmo and Ferrando, who had previously sported suits and ties, have returned, disguised outrageously as hippies.
They have begun their campaign to seduce one another's girlfriends with an encouraging lack of success. The women are resisting mightily. In her aria Come Scoglio (Like a rock) Fiordiligi proclaims that she is immovable and will remain faithful to her true love:
Like a rock standing impervious to winds and tempest,
So stands my heart ever strong in faith and love.
Alfonso asks the girls to at least be polite to the men, who again plead with the ladies to make them happy. Although the men persuasively enumerate their own attractive physical features, they are again repulsed. The men are delighted at this turn of events, but Don Alfonso reminds them that the bet isn't won yet.
Dorothea Röschmann as Fiordiligi Katharina Kammerloher as Dorabella
Hanno Müller-Brachmann as Guglielmo Werner Güra as Ferrando
Daniela Bruera as Despina Roman Trokel as Don Alfonso
2002 Berlin Staatsoper. Conducted by Daniel Barenboim Directed by Doris Dörrie
Ferrando: Un' aura amorosa
Confident that Dorabella will remain true to him and that he and Guglielmo will win their wager on the girls' fidelity, Ferrando sings of his love for Dorabella.
A breath of love from our treasures
Will afford our hearts sweet sustenance.
A heart nourished on the hope of love
Has no need of greater inducement.
Rainer Trost as Ferrando. Covent Garden, 1997.
Fiordiligi: Per pietà
Though she has not yet given in to the stranger's advances, Fiordiligi has already lost her heart to him. In her great second-act aria she expresses her guilt and remorse, begging her absent lover to forgive her.
In pity's name, my dearest, forgive the misdeed of a loving soul.
But the horns in the orchestra slyly hint that despite her remorse, she will indeed betray Guglielmo.
The late British soprano Susan Chilcott sings Per pietà
Paris - Opera Garnier 1996
Guglielmo: Donne mie, la fate a tanti
Guglielmo has broken the news to Ferrando that Dorabella has betrayed him. Ferrando is enraged, and Guglielmo sympathizes with his friend, commenting that although he loves the ladies, they do treat men very badly.
Ladies, you treat so many thus that, if I must speak the truth,
I begin to sympathise when your lovers complain.
Simon Keenlyside as Guglielmo
Paris Garnier 1996
Maureen Woodall
Tickets: 250-385-0222
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