Dramma giocoso in 2 acts
Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte
First performed January 26 1790, Burgtheater, Vienna
Introductory talks (in German) in the Holzfoyer 30 mins before curtain up and will appear here shortly after opening night and everywhere where podcasts are to be found.
Sung in Italian with German & English surtitles
Fiordiligi Teona Todua / Karolina Bengtsson
Dorabella Kelsey Lauritano
Guglielmo Taehan Kim / Sakhiwe Mkosana
Ferrando Magnus Dietrich / Andrew Kim
Despina Bianca Tognocchi / Elizabeth Reiter
Don Alfonso Liviu Holender / Sebastian Geyer
Two engaged to be married couples’ lives are thrown out of kilter in a day.
Guglielmo and Ferrando are sure of their fiancées’, the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella, fidelity. Don Alfonso, acquainted with both men, dubious about female constancy, wagers: he can prove the girls can’t stay faithful for twenty-four hours. Provided both men adhere strictly to Alfonso’s rules. Guglielmo and Ferrando are convinced they’ll win the bet.
Fiordiligi and Dorabella are waiting for their lovers. Don Alfonso, livid, bursts in saying Guglielmo and Ferrando have just been conscripted to fight in a war. The men take their leave from their fiancées. The sisters are distraught. Despina, their maid, pokes fun at their despair and advises them to find new lovers. Don Alfonso, in exchange for money, makes Despina his accomplice, letting her in – to a degree – on his plan: She helps introduce the disguised men to her mistresses, without their being recognised. The sisters are outraged and want to get rid of the pushy »strangers« at once. But Don Alfonso greets them as old friends, who should be welcomed. Guglielmo and Ferrando’s first attempts to seduce the women fail. Both men are triumphant, but the bet’s deadline is hours away. Further attempts are made: Guglielmo and Ferrando pretend, heartbroken, they’ve taken poison, making the sisters feel sorry for them. Despina, disguised as a doctor, administers to the apparently dead men. They slowly come to, demanding kisses to help them recover. Fiordiligi and Dorabella are horrified. They refuse, and flee.
Act 2 Despina gives her mistresses advice on how to handle men. They allow themselves be talked into a rendezvous with the »strangers« and take their pick. Swapping, without realising it, their original partners. Don Alfonso and Despina manoeuvre the re-shuffled couples. Guglielmo manages to win Dorabella’s heart. Fiordiligi’s steadfast, but wavering. Ferrando’s gutted when he hears about Guglielmo’s success, who grumbles about all women being unfaithful, with he and his bride being the exception to all rules. Fiordiligi sees only one way to stop falling in love. By joining her fiancé at war dressed as a soldier. But Ferrando pleads with her again and she gives in. Now Guglielmo’s devastated too, Ferrando mocks him. They decide to punish their fiancées. Don Alfonso consoles them: All women are like that, and if Ferrando and Guglielmo love them, they should marry them. Despina and Don Alfonso organise a sham double-wedding. Fiordiligi and Dorabella have decided to say »I do« to their new paramours. Despina, disguised as a notary, gets the sisters to sign marriage contracts. Don Alfonso concludes the game: the unexpected return of their original fiancés is announced. The bogus notary’s found along with the signed marriage contracts. Guglielmo and Ferrando remove their disguises, revealing the sisters’ newly-wedded husbands’ true identities. Guglielmo and Ferrando furiously accuse the sisters of the infidelity, they feel guilty of causing. Don Alfonso announces that he staged it all to teach all four a lesson. The couples are reconciled and realise they’ve learnt a lot for life from his experiment.
All six draw the conclusion: »Happy is he who always looks on the bright side. Who, despite life’s ups and downs, is still guided by good sense!«
Mozart and his librettist, and kindred spirit, Lorenzo da Ponte’s third opera revolves around six people. The lives of two couples are thrown into confusion in the space of 24 hours: Guglielmo and Ferrando are persuaded to make a bet with Don Alfonso about their lovers’ Fiordiligi and Dorabella’s fidelity. Don Alfonso’s convinced that, with their maid Despina's help, he can prove both sisters are fickle ...
AfterLe nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni Mozart and Da Ponte homed in on disparate people for Così fan tutte, who act spontaneously at any given moment. During the second part of this »dramma giocoso« their desires and desperation come increasingly to the fore, with the music keeping us in suspense until the bitter end. Sometimes critical, sometimes caring and understanding it accompanies the people in this »amusing« story, which opens up all kinds of psychological black holes. The authors leave all unanswered questions deliberately up in the air. The fascination of Così fan tutte lies in a conundrum, no wedding can solve.
