In Association With

overture opera guides

in association with We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Overture Publishing on this series of opera guides and to build on the work English National Opera did over twenty years ago on the Calder Opera Guide Series. As well as reworking and updating existing titles, Overture and ENO have commissioned new titles for the series and all of the guides will be published to coincide with repertoire being staged by the company at the London Coliseum.

We hope that these guides will prove an invaluable resource now and for years to come, and that by delving deeper into the history of an opera, the poetry of the libretto and the nuances of the score, readers’ understanding and appreciation of the opera and the art form in general will be enhanced.

John Berry Artistic Director, ENO The publisher John Calder began the Opera Guides series under the editorship of the late Nicholas John in association with English National Opera in 1980. It ran until 1994 and eventually included forty-eight titles, covering fifty-eight operas. The books in the series were intended to be companions to the works that make up the core of the operatic repertory. They contained articles, illustrations, musical examples and a complete libretto and singing translation of each opera in the series, as well as bibliographies and discographies.

The aim of the present relaunched series is to make available again the guides already published in a redesigned format with new illustrations, updated reference sections and a literal translation of the libretto that will enable the reader to get closer to the meaning of the original. New guides of operas not already covered will be published alongside the redesigned ones from the old series.

Gary Kahn Series Editor Sponsors of the Overture Opera Guides

for the 2013/14 Season at ENO

Eric Adler Frank and Lorna Dunphy Richard Everall Ali Khan Andrew Medlicott Ralph Wells Così fan tutte

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Overture Opera Guides Series Editor Gary Kahn

Editorial Consultant Philip Reed

OVERTURE overture opera guides in association with

Overture Publishing an imprint of alma classics London House 243-253 Lower Mortlake Road Richmond Surrey TW9 2LL United Kingdom

Articles by Richard Wigmore, Julian Rushton and Hugh Canning first published in this volume © the authors, 2014

This Così fan tutte Opera Guide first published by Overture Publishing, an imprint of Alma Classics Ltd, 2014

Translation of the libretto © Jonathan Burton

Printed in United Kingdom by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall isbn: 978-1-84749-555-6

All the pictures in this volume are reprinted with permission or presumed to be in the public domain. Every effort has been made to ascertain and acknowl- edge their copyright status, but should there have been any unwitting oversight on our part, we would be happy to rectify the error in subsequent printings. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be resold, lent, hired out or otherwise circulated without the express prior consent of the publisher. Contents

List of Illustrations 8 The Making of Così fan tutte 9 Richard Wigmore The Music of Così fan tutte 21 Julian Rushton Così fan tutte: A Selective Performance History 33 Hugh Canning Thematic Guide 48 Così fan tutte, Libretto 55 Act One 59 Act Two 159 Select Discography 259 Così fan tutte on DVD: A Selection 265 Select Bibliography 269 Mozart Websites 271 Note on the Contributors 273 Acknowledgements 275 List of Illustrations

1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 2. Lorenzo Da Ponte 3. Playbill for the Vienna premiere 4. The Burgtheater in Vienna 5. Aloysia Lange, née Weber 6. Constanze Mozart, née Weber 7. The Eruption of Vesuvius, 1771 8. Silhouettes of the original cast 9. Playbill of Tit for Tat; or The Tables Turned! 10. Cast List from programme of 1934 Glyndebourne Festival production 11. Glyndebourne in 1934 12. Sacha Machov’s production for Sadler’s Wells Opera, 1944 (Alexander Bender) 13. Oscar Fritz Schuh’s production at the Salzburg Festival, 1953 (Salzburger Festspiele) 14. Günther Rennert’s first Salzburg Festival production, 1960 (Salzburger Festspiele/Ellinger) 15. Günther Roth’s production at the Piccola Scala, Milan, 1961 (Erio Piccagliani) 16. Anthony Besch’s production at Scottish Opera, 1967 (Bryan and Shear) 17. John Copley’s production at the Royal Opera House, 1968 (Reg Wilson) 18. Günther Rennert’s second Salzburg Festival production, 1976 (Salzburger Festspiele) 19. Peter Sellars’s production at the PepsiCo Summerfare, 1986 (Peter Krupenye) 20. David Freeman’s production for Opera Factory, 1986 (Bolesław Lutosławski) 21. John Eliot Gardiner’s production at the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, 1992 (Marco Caselli) 22. Jonathan Miller’s production at the Royal Opera House, 1995 (Catherine Ashmore) 23. Calixto Bieito’s production at Welsh National Opera, 2000 (Bill Cooper) 24. Doris Dörrie’s production at the Staatsoper Berlin, 2001 (Monika Rittershaus) 25. Karl-Ernst and Ursel Herrmann’s production, Salzburg Easter Festival, 2004 (Bernd Uhlig) 26. Peter Konwitschny’s production at the Komische Oper, Berlin, 2005 (Monika Rittershaus) 27. Claus Guth’s production at the Salzburg Festival, 2011 (Monika Rittershaus) 28. Michael Haneke’s production at the Teatro Real, Madrid, 2013 (Javier del Real) Thematic Guide

Themes from the opera have been identified by the numbers in square brackets in the article on the music. These are also printed at cor- responding points in the libretto, so that the words can be related to the musical themes.

[1] Overture Andante  Oboe                           

[2] Presto                                             

[3] Flute Oboe                                  

Flute Oboe                                   [Basilio: 'co - sì fan tutte le belle.']

[4] FERRANDO / No. 1 Trio                          La mia Do- ra - bel - la ca- pa - ce non è,  

[5] ALFONSO / No. 2 Trio Allegro                       È la fe- de del- le fe -mi- ne co -me l'a- ra - ba fe -ni - ce:

[6] No. 3 Trio Allegro FERRANDO                                 U -na bella se - re -na - ta GUGLIELMO                              In o- nor di Ci- te -a re - un con- vi - toio vo- glio far,

48 Così fan tutte o sia La scuola degli amanti

Opera buffa1 in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (K588)

Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte

English translation by Jonathan Burton

Così fan tutte was first performed at the Burgtheater, Vienna, on 26th January 1790. It was first performed in Britain at His Majesty‘s Theatre, London, on 9th May 1811. The first performance in the United States was at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, on 24th March 1922. THE CHARACTERS Fiordiligi sisters from Ferrara, soprano Dorabella } living in Naples soprano Ferrando, lover of Dorabella tenor Guglielmo, lover of Fiordiligi baritone Despina, a chambermaid soprano Don Alfonso, an old philosopher bass

Chorus of soldiers and people, chorus of sailors, chorus of servants The action is set in Naples

1 Mozart’s term. Da Ponte called his libretto a ‘dramma giocoso’. Ouvertura [1, 2, 3] ATTO PRIMO

Scena I Bottega di caffè. Ferrando, Guglielmo e Don Alfonso. N°1 Terzetto FERRANDO La mia Dorabella [4] capace non è: fedel quanto bella il cielo la fe’. GUGLIELMO La mia Fiordiligi tradirmi non sa: uguale in lei credo costanza e beltà. DON ALFONSO Ho i crini già grigi, ex cathedra parlo; ma tali litigi finiscano qua. FERRANDO, GUGLIELMO No, detto ci avete che infide esser ponno: provar ce ’l dovete se avete onestà.

58 Overture ACT ONE

Scene I A coffee shop. Ferrando, Guglielmo and Don Alfonso. No. 1 Trio FERRANDO My Dorabella [4] could never do such a thing: heaven created her as faithful as she is beautiful. GUGLIELMO My Fiordiligi wouldn’t know how to betray me: I believe that her constancy and her beauty are equal. DON ALFONSO My hair has already turned grey, I speak from experience; but let us make an end of these arguments. FERRANDO, GUGLIELMO No, you told us they could be unfaithful: it’s up to you to prove it, if you are a man of honour.

59 Note on the Contributors

Jonathan Burton was Music Librarian at Glyndebourne Festival Opera (1975–84) and ENO (1984–2000) before working in the Surtitle Department at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He is now a freelance writer, lecturer, translator and surtitler.

Hugh Canning has written about classical music and opera in The Sunday Times since 1989 and was named Critic of the Year at the 1995 British Press Awards. He is a regular contributor to and Editorial Board member of Opera.

Julian Rushton is Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Leeds and has published extensively on Mozart, including The New Grove Guide to Mozart’s Operas and the Cambridge Opera Handbook on Idomeneo. He has also contributed to the Overture Opera Guides to Idomeneo and Le nozze di Figaro.

Richard Wigmore is a writer, broadcaster and lecturer special- izing in the Viennese Classical period, opera and Lieder. He re- views for Gramophone, appears frequently on BBC Radio 3 and has contributed many articles to reference works, including The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. His books in- clude Schubert: The Complete Song Texts and The Faber Pocket Guide to Haydn.

273 Acknowledgements

We would like to thank John Allison, Hugo Shirley and Erica Jeal of Opera, Charles Johnston, Mike Ashman and Robin Gordon-Powell for their assistance and advice in the preparation of this guide.