Mozart’s Così fan tutte (“Thus do They All”) drops under the category of opera buffa, or comic opera. It’s an absurd story of “fiancée swapping,” which eventually turns out all best in the end.
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In a coffeehouse in Naples, two armed forces officers, Ferrando and Guglielmo, boast that their fiancées, Dorabella and Fiordiligi, will never be unfaithful. Don Alfonso makes a wager that, in ~ a day, he have the right to prove the policemans wrong. The believes that all women are eventually fickle. Accepting the wager, Ferrando and Guglielmo ~ pretend to walk off to war, however then return in disguise and attempt to seduce the other’s lover.
Amid all of this buffoonery comes one of opera’s many sublimely expressive moments. In the act 1 trio, Soave sia il vento (“May the wind it is in gentle”), the women and Alfonso great the soldiers safe travels together their delivery sails. There’s a hint of the calm ocean in the trio’s undulating wire lines. Yet what makes this music so remarkable is the way it transcends the dramatic case of the opera. We’re summary transported what else, entirely. The music is deep expressive, yet it can’t totally be described in words.
In a city Opera Orchestra musician profile, cellist Kari Docter talks about a life-changing suffer which resulted from hearing Mozart’s Soave sia il vento during a Met rehearsal.
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Here are Thomas Allen (Don Alfonso), Susanne Mentzer (Dorabella), and Carol Vaness (Fiordiligi) in a 1996 city Opera production, carried out by James Levine:
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Categories classic Period, Opera, The Listeners" Club, Uncategorized sign Carol Vaness, Cosi fan tutte, James Levine, Kari Docter, urban Opera, opera buffa, Soave sia il vento, Susanne Mentzer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart write-up navigation
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