BROADCAST OF JANUARY 28, 2006, 1:30 P.M. THE TOLL BROTHERS-METROPOLiTAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK THE 2005-06 METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST SEASON IS SPONSORED BY TOLL BROTHERS, AMERICA'S LUXURY HOME BUILDER™, WITH GENEROUS LONG-TERM SUPPORT FROM THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION AND THE VINCENT A. STABILE FOUNDATION. COSiFANTUTTE Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte

The "Doctor" is called in to treat

.YEARS the "Albanians" (Barbara Frittoli as Fiordiligi, Matthew Poienzani as METROPOLITAN OPERA Ferrando, Nuccia Focile as Despina, RADIO BROADCASTS Thomas Allen as Don Alfonso, Mariusz Kwiecien as Guglielmo, Maqdalena Kozen^ as Dorabella)

OPERA NEWS Clockwise from top left: Guglielmo and Dorabella (Kwiecien, Ko^en^); Despina Jn disguise (Foclle); Ferrando and Fiordiligi (Poienzani, Frittoli); the "Albanians" serenade the sisters: the sisters and their officers {Kwiecien, KoienS, Poienzani, Trittoii)

JANUARY Z00& FAN TUTTE

THE CAST (in order of vocal appearance) Mr. and Mrs. Samuel L. Tedlow Ferrando tenor, MATTHEW POLENZANl Revival a gift of The Metropolitan Opera Guglielmo baritone. MARIUSZ KWIECIEN Club Don Alfonso baritone, THOMAS ALLEN Fiordiligi sop., ALEXANDRA DESHORTIES THE SCENES Timings (ET) Dorabella mezzo, MAGDALFNA KOZENA (Naples, 18th c.) Despina soprano, NUCCIA FOCILE ACT I 1:30-3:03 Sc. 1 A piazza no harm in a little flirtation, and surpris- Conducted by JAMES LEVINE Sc. 2 A terrace overlooking tbe sea ingly, Fiordiligi agrees. They decide who Sc. 3 Fiordiligi and Dorabelia's bome and will pair off with whom ("Prendero quel Production; Lesley Koenig garden brunettino"). Set and costume designer: Michael Yeargan ACT II 3:34-5:06 The young men have arranged a sere- Ligbting designer: Duane Schuler Fiordiligi and Dorabellas bome and Stage director: Robin Guarino garden, later that day nade in the garden. Seeing their wager Chorus master: Raymond Hugbes through, Guglielmo ardently pursues Musical preparation: Kevin Murphy, Announcer: Margaret Juntwait Dorabella ("II core vi dono"), while Fer- Kathleen Kelly, Kazem Abdullah, Audio director: Jay David Saks rando woo.s Fiordiligi ("Ah, lo veggio Justina Lee quell'anima bella"); when he leaves, she Assistant stage director: CJregory Keller INTERMISSION FEATURE Harpsichord continuo: Kevin Murphy Producer: Michael Bronson Timings admits he has touched her heart ("Per Italian diction coach: Nico Castel Toll Brothers-Metropolitan 3:03-3:34 pieta"), hoping her absent lover will for- Prompter: Kathleen Kelly Opera Quiz' give her. When the men compare notes, Tbor Eckert questions Phillip Gainsley, Guglielmo is glad to see Fiordiligi appar- Continuo: Kevin Murpby, harpsicbord Paul Tbomason, Cori Ellison ently standing fast but Ferrando is dis- David Heiss, cello 'Send quiz questions to Opera Quiz, Box 805, mayed that Dorabella has given Production a gift of Alberto Vilar F.D.R. Station. New York. NY 10150, Guglielmo the locket containing his por- Additional funding from I he Metropolitan or lo^ on to www.operamfo.org. trait. Guglielmo decries the waywardness Opera Club, the Denenberg Foundation of the fair sex ("Donne mie, la fate a in honor of Dan Denenberg, The DuBose tanti!"). Left alone, Ferrando sighs that he and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund, still loves Dorabella, though he feels betrayed ("Tradito, schernito"). Fiordiligi rebukes Dorabella for being THE STORY la, returning, are scandalized to see the strangers, whom the)' do not recognize as fickle, although she admits that in her ACT I. In eighteenth-century Naples, rhe their lovers, heavily disguised as Albanians. heart she has succumbed to the stranger. cynical Don Alfonso discusses women The newcomers declare their admiration Dorabella coaxes her to give way, saying wirh two young officers, Ferrando and for the ladies, but both repulse them, and love is a thief and people get robbed every Guglielmo. The gallants insist their sweet- Fiordiligi likens her fidelity to a rock day ("E amore un ladronceilo"). Alone, hearrs are paragons ot virtue ("Fa mia ("Come scoglio"). Fhe men are thrilled, Fiordiligi decides to drag her sister ofT to Dorabella") and accept Alfonso's her that but Alfonso warns that the bet isn't won join their sweethearts at the front, but he can prove the ladies fickle if they do as yet. Ferrando blissfully looks forward to when Ferrando, pursuing the wager, he says for twenty-four hours. victory and reunion with his love ("Un'au- enters and threatens suicide, Fiordiligi The sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella ra amorosa"). When he is gone, Despina gives in. Now Guglielmo is furious, but compare the merits of their respective suggests a plan to Alfonso to win the ladies' Alfonso counsels forgiveness; that's the beaux, Guglielmo and Ferrando, showing sympathy way women are, he claims ("Tutti accusan le donne"). pictures they carry in their lockets ("Ah, Alone in their garden, the sisters lament guarda, sorella"). Alfonso brings sad news: the absence of their lovers. Suddenly the A double wedding is arranged between the young men have been called to their "Albanians" stagger in, pretending to have the sisters and the "Albanians." Alfonso regiment. They appear, and the five make poisoned themselves in despair over their brings in the notary — Despina in anoth- elaborate farewells ("Sento, o Dio"). As rejection. Alfonso and Despina run for a er disguise. Just as the ladies have signed soldiers march by, Ferrando and Gugliel- doctor. Meanwhile, the ladies begin to the marriage contract, familiar martial mo fall in; Fiordiligi, Dorabella and waver; pity for the strangers will be their strains outside herald the return of the Alfonso sorrowfully wish them a prosper- undoing. Despina returns, disguised as a former lovers' regiment. In panic, the sis- ous journey ("Soave sia il vento"). Alfon- doctor using Dr. Mesmer's invention, the ters push their intended husbands from so, alone, delivers one last jeer at women's magnet, to draw out the poison, and urg- the room and go more or less to pieces inconstancy. ing the sisters to nurse the patients as they when the men reappear without their The maid, Despina, advises her mistress- recover. The men revive ("Dove son?"), but 'Albanian'" mtifti. Ferrando and Gugliel- es to forget old lovers with the help of new their increased ardor alarms the women, mo storm at the ladies when the marriage ones ("In uomini, in soldari"), but Dora- who angrily refuse their demands for a kiss. contract is discovered. But Alfonso bella is outraged at her capricious approach explains the deception, reasoning that to love ("Smanie implacabili"). When the ACT Ii. Attending her mistresses, true happiness lies not in romantic illu- sisters leave, Alfonso comes to bribe Despina lectures them on how to handle sion but in accepting things as they are. Despina to introduce two foreign friends men ("Una donna a quindici anni"). Agreeing a trick can work both ways, the of his cu the ladies. Fiordiligi and Dorabel- Dorabella is easily persuaded that there is lovers are reconciled.

44 OPERA NEWS Morgan Tours Exploring the worfd of opera since 1979 l-800-Morgan T(667-4268) www. morgantours, com

PARIS'RING' April 6-16, 2006 D Hibelungen [Robert Wilson) at Chatelet. important in the composer's onstage and BERLIN FESHAGE (self-direcfed) April 10 - THE BACKGROUND 16, 2006 7ristan urKJ Isolde, Parsifal, Well- offstage lives. Tempered Clavier Books 1 & 2, Mohler 1. The fifi:eenth of Mozart's operas, Cosi Fan On CD, James Levine leads the Vienna COPENHAGEN-RING' May 14 - 22, 2006 Tune dates from the final period of his Philharmonic in a fleet, elegant perfor- Der Ring des N/be/ungen at the new Operaan. lite. If his alacrity in writing Cosi is mance of an opera that is one of his spe- PRAGUE, VIENNA, BUDAPEST May 27 - explainable in terms of his hectic activity cialties (DG); his responsive cast includes June 10, 2006 Don Giovanni, Pelleos ef during this period, the scores sparkle and Kiri Te Kanawa, Ann Murray and Melisande, ienufa, Candide, Manon Lescout, technical and expressive virtuosity seem Thomas Hampson. The Met's current Moses and Aaron, Coppelio, Don Car/os. More. more remarkable in view of his failing Cos! principals available on disc are ITALIAN OPERA PAR ADISO June 30-July health and many distractions. He used Thomas Allen, Don Alfonso on Simon 10, 2006 Dido & Aeneas, Lucia di Lammermoor manuscript abbreviations — unusual for Rattle's reading for EMI, and Nuccia (La Scala); Don Carlo (Turin); Ai'da, Carmen, him — and adapted music to the specific Focile, who sings Despina on Charles Covclierio Rusticana, I Pagliacci (Verona). vocal strengths and weaknesses of the Mackerras's Telarc Cosi. SALZBURG FESTIVAL August 11 - 20, 2006 soloists. Die EnfiOhrung aus dem Serail, Die Zauberflote, Cos) is unusually well represented on Cosi fan tutfe, Don Giovanni, La Clemenza di Tito, Legend has it that an actual Viennese disc, especially when one considers its Zaide, plus chamber music, recitals. scandal prompted Austrian Emperor long lack of currency in international TORONTO'RING' September 18-25,2006 Joseph II to commission Cosi Fan Tutte. houses. An otitstanding Cwi of recent Der Ring des Nibelungen. Art, wine, cuisine. To turn the story into a libretto, he chose vintage is led by Rene Jacobs (Harmo- OPERA BY DESIGN Create your own four! All Lorenzo da Ponte, peripatetic scholar, nia Mundi), who captures the opera's customized options are possible. Call for detaih. entrepreneur and erstwhile crony of bittersweet flavor to perfection. The Gasanova. Da Ponte had supplied Glyndebourne Festival's happy associa- 879 Shefford Rood, Suite 100 Mozart with texts for Figaro and Don tion with Co.fi is well documented on Ottawa, Ontario, Conada KIJ 8H9 Giovanni. CD; Fritz Busch's 1935 (Lyrica) and Email: [email protected] Probably no opera has been subjected 1951 (Guild) recordings preserve the to such revision as Cosi Fan Tutte, for the vivid Fiordiligis of Ina Souez and Sena nineteenth century found the story and Jurinac, respectively. Karl Bbhm's c HAUTAUQU A enduring affection for Cosi is well libretto unacceptable. Beethoven lament- M USICFESTIVA L ed that Mozart should have squandered demonstrated by his 1954 Salzburg per- his genius on such a trivial, immoral formance (Orfeo d'Or) and his 1962 subject. studio recording (EMI). Herbert von c HAUTAUQU A One day before Mozart's thirty-fourth Karajan's dark-edged 1954 Cosi (EMI) birthday, Cosi Fan Tutte had its premiere has an especially splendid quartet of \ •06 ' ^ at the Burgtheater in Vienna, January 26, lovers: Leopold Simoneau, Rolando 1790. The work enjoyed repetitions Panerai, Nan Merriman and Elisabeth Marlena Malas, chair Schwarzkopf, caught at her vocal peak. through August and then was dropped, June 24 - August 12, 2006 not to be revived in Vienna during the Arnold Ostman's period-instrument composer's lifetime. He did witness it in performance from Drottningholm is Prague, and it soon reached Leipzig and avaiiahle in a mid-price set of all three Dresden. The Metropolitan first per- da Ponte operas (Decca). formed it on March 24, 1922. The pre- On DVD, Allen is Guglielmo in sent production was unveiled on February Adrian Slack's 1975 Glyndebourne Cos} 8, 1996. (Arthaus), conducted by John V Pritchard. Nikolaus Harnoncourt paces Cecilia Bartoli's Fiordiligi at Zurich WHAT TO READ AND HEAR Live Auditions Only Opera (Arthaus), Peter Sellars's eye- New York, NY - January 22 For suggested reading on Mozart, see Die catching staging, which sets the action Chicago, IL - January 27 Zauberflote What to Read and Hear, page in an American diner, is available from Cleveland, OH - January 28 39. Other valuable books include Universal. John Eliot Gardiner leads the Chautauqua, NY - January 29 Edmund J. Goehring's Three Modes of English Baroque Soloists in a lean, Perception in Mozart (Cambridge) and the spicy Cos) from Theatre du Chatelet To apply online or for more info visit: Cost entry in the Cambridge Opera (Universal); those who want more Ital- ianate flavor will be happier with Ric- http://music.ciweb.org Handbook series. Jane Glover's Moztnis You may also wnle to: Women (HarperCollins) offers fascinating cardo Muti's La Scala performance Sarah Malmoski, (Image). Z Coordinator of Studenl Services background on the ladies who were ••mail: [email protected] (el ;16 357,6233

JANUARY 2006