Così fan tutte, Opera by W. A. Mozart
After its premiere on 26 January 1790, the first run of Così fan tutte was cut short by the death of Emperor Joseph II. The period of court mourning that followed, together with Joseph's successor Leopold II's antipathy towards Mozart's music, saw the opera performed only four more times in the composer's lifetime; from this stuttering start, the opera has come to be seen as one of Mozart’s greatest works.
Viewed for much of its life to be wildly misogynistic, Così fan tutte is in fact a satire on fidelity in which the male characters are as duplicitous as their female counterparts are fickle. Two soldiers, taunted by a wager that no woman can possibly stay faithful, decide to test their lovers by pretending to go to war. Both return in disguise and successfully woo each other’s financée. While their actions cause considerable distress for all parties, in the final scene the soldiers reveal their deception in such hilarious fashion that all is forgiven and each groom takes his rightful bride’s hand in marriage.
Audiences originally struggled to reconcile Mozart’s glorious talent for song and orchestral arrangement, evident throughout Così fan tutte, with the bawdiness of the story and the seemingly shallow nature of the protagonists. Mozart’s intent however was to raise the esteem of opera buffa by writing music that would render the characters’ dialogue more plausible and the drama more real. Today, Mozart’s brilliant interpretation of every aspect of the librettist da Ponte’s script is enjoyed and appreciated by audiences worldwide.
The Estates Theatre in Prague, which plays host to this production, is one of the most historic centres in which to enjoy Mozart’s music; one of Mozart’s other great comic operas, Don Giovanni, received its premiere at the very same venue.