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- Herausgeber: Icon Books
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
A couple of smooth army officers in metropolitan Naples become increasingly horrified as they find that they are losing their bet with a misogynist philosopher. The wager? That their fiancées will be faithful. Their disguise as Albanians in an attempt to entrap their fiancées, and the complicity of the naughty maid, who feigns as a lawyer organising their 'marriage', provide hilarious moments in an opera full of favourite tunes. Lorenzo da Ponte's libretto was long considered indecent and unsuitable to stage. But today it is regarded as providing one of the greatest illustrations of Mozart's art of musical characterisation, even if the story is somewhat politically incorrect. The ways in which Mozart's music contrasts the two 'provincial' sisters, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, and presents their capitulation, can justify his reputation as possibly the greatest classical composer of all time. Written by Michael Steen, author of the acclaimed The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, 'Short Guides to Great Operas' are concise, entertaining and easy to read books about opera. Each is an opera guide packed with useful information and informed opinion, helping to make you a truly knowledgeable opera-goer, and so maximising your enjoyment of a great musical experience. Other 'Short Guides to Great Operas' that you may enjoy include The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012
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Published in the UK in 2012 by Icon Books Ltd,
Omnibus Business Centre, 29–41 North Road, London N7 9DP
email: [email protected]
www.iconbooks.co.uk
ISBN: 978-1-84831-466-5 (ePub format)
ISBN: 978-1-84831-473-3 (Adobe ebook format)
Text copyright © 2012 Michael Steen
The author has asserted his moral rights.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Typesetting by Marie Doherty
CONTENTS
Title page
Copyright
PREFACE
USING THIS EBOOK
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MOZART’S COSÌ FAN TUTTE
THE OPERA AND ITS COMPOSER
WHO’S WHO AND WHAT’S WHAT
THE INTERVAL: TALKING POINTS
‘La Ferrarese’, the prima donna
A musical farce?
Using music to illuminate character
Political correctness
ACT BY ACT
Act 1
Act 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Sources of quotes
Other sources
NOTES
Short Guides to Great Operas
PREFACE
This guide is aimed at the ordinary opera-goer and opera-lover, usually a busy person who wants to know the essentials of the opera but has little time to grasp them.
It provides key background information to Così fan tutte, told engagingly by someone who knows the opera intimately.
It is light, easy to read, and entertaining. Relevant information has been carefully selected to enhance your appreciation of Mozart’s work.
It is authoritative, but not dense or academic. It is unburdened with the clutter that can easily be obtained elsewhere. It concentrates on information that it will help you to know in advance.
Read quickly before going to the opera or listening to it at home, you will get the very best out of the performance and have a truly enjoyable experience.
Opera can be a great social occasion. Being knowledgeable and well-informed, you’ll appreciate this magical art-form much more if you read this first.
I hope you enjoy the opera!
Michael Steen
USING THIS EBOOK
A very quick grasp of the opera can be gained by reading the opening section on ‘The opera and its composer’ and the ensuing ‘Who’s who and what’s what’. Further elaboration may be found in the sections entitled ‘The interval: talking points’ and ‘Act by act’.
The footnotes and boxes are an integral part of the information. The reader is encouraged to go to these by clicking on the links.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Steen OBE studied at the Royal College of Music, was organ scholar at Oriel College, Oxford, and has been chairman of both the RCM Society and the Friends of the V&A Museum. He is a trustee of the Gerald Coke Handel Foundation and Anvil Arts, and Treasurer of The Open University.
MOZART’SCOSÌ FAN TUTTE
A SHORT GUIDE TO A GREAT OPERA
The opera and its composer
Who’s who and what’s what
The interval: talking points
Act by act
THE OPERA AND ITS COMPOSER
Così fan tutte – they’re all like that! Such generalisations about female behaviour may hardly seem a safe subject for the 21st century. Yet, ironically, Così fan tutte is among the most popular and widely performed operas in the repertoire today, and considered ‘the best of all Lorenzo da Ponte’s librettos and the most exquisite work of art among Mozart’s operas.’
Yet, almost within two years of its première in 1790, the German press attacked Così fan tutte, as absurd, frivolous and immoral. People were disgusted that Mozart could possibly have wasted ‘heavenly melodies on such a worthless libretto.’ And for a long time the standard view was that the libretto was ‘of rather doubtful character’. On the occasions when it was staged, it was often ‘improved’, even by its music being fitted to different words and action.
Da Ponte, then the Poet to the Imperial Theatres, himself rarely mentioned it later in his life, when he was so proud of his earlier association with Mozart which led to The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni. Emperor Joseph II, the eccentric ruler of the Habsburg Empire, who micro-managed (as he did most things)1 the music performed at his court, has been blamed for the misogyny and the immorality in the plot. He found women difficult to handle: he is said to have looked at them in the way that people normally look at statues. He has long been held responsible for encouraging Da Ponte to write the libretto called La scuola degli amanti, ‘The School of Lovers’, which evolved into Mozart’s opera.
The eccentric Emperor may have suggested the story himself. Alternatively, it may have been based on an actual incident that had taken place recently. Whatever, Da Ponte seems to have drawn on the work of two distinguished playwrights, the Venetian Carlo Goldoni (1707–1793), and the Frenchman Pierre de Marivaux (1688–1763), the latter described as a specialist in ‘the coming to awareness of the state of being in love, particularly in young ladies.’
Da Ponte blended two themes which have a long history in literature: one in which the man wagers his lady’s fidelity of which he is (foolishly) convinced; and the other whereby a suspicious husband disguises himself as a stranger and tests his lady’s fidelity by attempting to woo her.
