COSì FAN TUTTE

In the organizer's words:

Fiordiligi loves Guglielmo and Dorabella loves Ferrando. For the moment. To find out how lasting their love really is, cynic Don Alfonso proposes a wager to Guglielmo and Ferrando: They are to trick the ladies of their hearts into thinking they have to go to war, only to come back in disguise and then court the other. "It'll never work", both lovers are sure of that, and they agree without hesitation. But no sooner has the experiment begun than the beautiful couple's world begins to crack, and Alfonso and his maid Despina only have to help imperceptibly to bring the harsh truth about the real nature of love to light ...

"Happy is the man who takes everything at its best and keeps calm despite the vicissitudes of life, which he laughs at!" This is the final message of the dramma giocoso "Così fan tutte", proclaimed by the six protagonists and put into their mouths by librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. The fast-paced chamber drama about love and loyalty, which bears the full title "Così fan tutte ossia La scuola degli amanti" ("This is how everyone does it or The School of Lovers"), is the crowning conclusion to the collaboration between the librettist genius Da Ponte and the composer genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is explosive material for a world premiere at the Vienna Burgtheater in 1790, demonstrating in times of the French Revolution that not only political orders but also social pillars such as marriage are not inviolable. It is hard to imagine that Emperor Joseph II himself was the initiator of this opera project, which is still unparalleled today in terms of its radicalism and musical beauty.