 
Three Hungarians
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The Impertinence of Così fan tutte
Alain Patrick Olivier on Mozart's comedy
"Stage-director Hans Neuenfels orientates his production less on
the libretto, more on the music and its open and secret driving forces.
He is not interested in an ideal world or stylistic unity along the lines
of wretched 'spaghetti rococo'. Così is for him a night and nightmarish
piece, a negative proof of the existence of god against love and the example
of banishment from paradise: there is no such thing as love or true love.
For this view from the spirit of Paradise Lost Reinhard von der Thannen
designed stage sets that correspond in a very variable way to the emotional
journey". (Gerhard R. Koch)
Realism and Fiction
One is hardly able to believe that two young girls could betray their
lovers in the space of twenty-four hours, as Don Alfonso intends to prove.
The same young girls who have just embraced their lovers must surely recognise
them a few minutes later coarsely disguised as two Albanians - but Così
fan tutte is strictly speaking fiction. Don Alfonso is the propagator
of what is more or less a scientific demonstration that takes as its object
the biology of human passions.
Are women more virtuous?
The evident misogyny (hatred of women) of the authors in this opera was
denounced, but demonstrating the infidelity of women does not mean that
men would be faithful. Quite the contrary: the idea presented by the maid
Despina that the lovers who have gone off to the war might deceive their
girlfriends is admitted without much protestation by the young girls.
Men are well versed in the use of lies in loving rhetoric and they are
hardly surprised that feigned conversation produces the same effects in
their lovers as honest conversation. On the other hand, there is the prejudiced
view that women are more virtuous and that they are the true representatives
of love, the last bastion of a hypothetical fidelity. That is why the
experiment is made on young aristocratic, well brought-up girls, assumed
to be virgins and completely devoted to loving feelings.
Cynicism and nostalgia
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| Così fan tutte, 2000, Photo: Mathias Horn |
But the fundamental "impertinence" of the opera is indeed the
immorality of its conclusion. Così fan tutte really questions the
western concept of love, the fundamental myth which has formed the basis
of novels and then opera for centuries. It deals with its own principle,
fidelity, to demonstrate that love does not exist, merely human beings
who believe they are in love. Don Alfonso shows that the young girls,
who believe that they are able to act according to idealised representations
of courteous love, are in reality subjected to the mechanism of desire.
Nostalgia and Betrayal
Così fan tutte is W. A. Mozart's most bitter and most pessimistic
drama, perhaps even darker than Don Giovanni. Fiordiligi's aria Come scoglio
- in contrast to Despina's verses - is revelatory. The young woman senses
that her love is swaying; she courageously assumes the attitude of an
operatic heroine; she takes a heart-rending farewell of the sentimentality
of her youth. To grasp the entire extent of the tragic conflict developing
within her Mozart summons all the rhetorical resources of opera seria.
Such a moment suffices to show that despite the immorality of the subject
and of the conclusion, the comedy cannot be reduced to prosaic cynicism.
It bears the nostalgia of true love that it denounces and for Mozart this
gives rise to the use of song and the expansion of the music. Ultimately
it is as if what is most worthy of being heard - and most worthy of being
lived - is less the discussion about truth than the restless wandering
of the heart.
„Così fan tutte“
Mozarts allzu lang verkanntes Lehrstück über die Liebe
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Così fan tutte
Sung in Italian
Conductor .......... Lothar Zagrosek
Director .......... Hans Neuenfels
Stage sets and costumes .......... Reinhard von der Thannen
Dramaturgy .......... Yvonne Gebauer
Chorus master .......... Donald Palumbo
Fiordiligi .......... Catherine Naglestad
Dorabella .......... Vesselina Kasarova
Despina .......... Maria Bayo
Ferrando .......... Rainer Trost
Guglielmo .......... Natale de Carolis
Don Alfonso .......... Franz Hawlata
Vienna Philharmonic
Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus
Kleines Festspielhaus
Revival:
3 August 2001
7, 10, 14 (7.30 p.m.),
21, 24 and 27 August 6.30 p.m. (unless otherwise stated)
Così fan tutte
Tickets are still available for
the performance on 7 August
for ATS 2,800 and 4,600;
for 10 August at ATS 4,600
for 14 August at ATS 2,800
and 3,600; for 21 August at
ATS 2,800, 3,600 and 4,600
and for 27 August at ATS 1,800, 2,800 and 4,600.