Ferrando joyfully communicates Fiordiligi's steadfastness to Guillelmo, but is consternated to hear from him how easily Dorabella has been won, and has to submit to some triumph on the part of his friend. He feels all the acuter pain that his love to the faithless one is not yet stifled. Guillelmo now regards the wager as lost, but Don Alfonso demands that one more attack shall be made on Fiordiligi.
Fiordiligi reproaches her sister in unmeasured terms for her thoughtlessness, whereupon the latter with extreme frankness declares that she neither can nor will control her inclinations. Horrified at this, Fiordiligi determines upon escaping from her own weakness by donning man's attire and following her lover to the wars. She has a uniform brought in, puts on the helmet, takes the sword in her hand, when Ferrando rushes in and conjures her to slay him rather than desert him. This is too much; she cannot withstand his anguish, and sinks upon his breast overcome. It is now Guillelmo's turn to be beside himself. The two are bent upon forsaking their faithless mistresses, until Don Alfonso gradually succeeds in making them regard the affair from his own philosophical point of view: "Cosi fan tutte!" They decide therefore on espousing their brides, but not before they have punished them for their want of faith. Despina enters with the news that the two ladies have determined to wed their new lovers the same evening, and have sent her to fetch the notary. The two couples enter the gaily decorated room, and are received by Despina and Don Alfonso and the congratulatory chorus of friends and servants. Amid cheerful converse they place themselves at table. Despina enters as a notary, and reads the marriage contract. It is scarcely subscribed when the chorus and march of the first act are heard in the distance. Don Alfonso enters terrified with the news that the regiment has been suddenly recalled, and the old lovers are approaching the house. The Albanians and the notary are hastily concealed, and the ladies, in mortal fear and embarrassment, receive their lovers returning full of joy. Don Alfonso, acting as mediator, causes the notary to be discovered; but Despina declares herself, and asserts that she is returning from a masked ball. But the marriage contract falling into the hands of Guillelmo, the ladies are obliged to confess their guilt to their enraged lovers, whereupon the latter discover themselves as the Albanians, while Guillelmo returns the PERFORMANCES OF THE OPERA. portrait to Dorabella, mockingly repeating the melody of the duet. Confessions ended, Don Alfonso exhorts them to make peace, and brings the couples together; finally, they all unite in the moral:—
"Fortunato l' uom, che prende
Ogni cosa pel buon verso,
E tra i casi e le vicende
Da ragion guidar si fà.
Quel che suole altrui far piangere
Fia per lui cagion di riso,
E del mondo in mezzo i turbini
Bella calma troverà."
The opera was not again performed in Vienna in Italian until 1858, but it was produced at the Theater an der Wien in a German translation by Gieseke, in 1794, with the title of "Die Schule der Liebe"; in 1804 it was played at the Imperial Hoftheater as "Màdchentreue"; again at the Theater an der Wien in 1814, in Treitschke's adaptation, "Die Zauberprobe"; in 1819 and 1840 at the Hoftheater in the earlier translation, and in 1863 in Schneider's adaptation. In Berlin also, where it was first given on August 6, 1792, with the title "Eine machts wie die Andere,"[ 15 ] it was again attempted in 1805 in the translation by Bretzner, "Weibertreue, oder die Mädchen sind von Flandem" (Leipzig, 1794),[ 16 ] followed in 1820 by Herklot's adaptation "Die verfängliche Wette." Nevertheless the older adaptation was preferred for the revival of the opera in 1826 at the Königstadt theatre;[ 17 ] this gave way to one by an anonymous author in 1831,[ 18 ] which was employed for the representations of 1832 and 1835, but abandoned for L. Schneider's adaptation in 1846.[ 19 ] At Prague, Guardasoni at once placed "Cosi fan Tutte" on his repertory; and in 1808[ 20 ] it was performed there in German as "Màdchentreue," in 1823 as "Zauberprobe,"[ 21 ] in 1831 in Bohemian,[ 22 ] and in 1838 in Italian by the COS! FAN TUTTE. pupils of the Conservätorium.[ 23 ] Guardasoni also introduced the opera at Leipzig, where it was several times performed in German during 1805,[ 24 ] and by the Dresden Italian opera company in 1830.[ 25 ] Curiously enough "Cosi fan Tutte" was the first opera by Mozart performed in Dresden, in 1791, and kept its place in the repertory, although in 1812 it was still the only one.[ 26 ] In Italy it took no firmer hold than the others, and was only given on single occasions at Milan in 1808 and 1814,[ 27 ] and at Turin in 1816.[ 28 ] In Paris "Cosi fan Tutte" was given by the Italian opera company at the Odéon in 1811, 1817, and 1820;[ 29 ] and in London it was first played in an English translation by Arnold in 1811,[ 30 ] and again in 1828; in 1842 it was included among the Italian operas, and received with great applause.[ 31 ]
The wide-spread reputation of "Figaro" and "Don Giovanni" had prepared the public mind to receive Mozart's music to this opera (588 K.)[ 32 ] with the favour which it deserved;[ 33 ] but the libretto was universally pronounced to be one of the worst of its kind;[ 34 ] nor has the judgment of ALTERATIONS IN THE LIBRETTO. posterity reversed the verdict passed upon it.[ 35 ] Two reproaches were more especially brought forward. One was the extreme improbability that neither the lovers nor Despina in their disguises would have been recognised by the two ladies, and the other the outrage committed on the moral sense by the frivolity of the test imposed, and if possible still more by the ease with which, after the unfortunate issue of the trial, the lovers all adopt a philosophic toleration towards each other. These two blemishes, however, will scarcely account for the fact that, even where attempts have been made to remove them by adaptation, the opera has never maintained its place on the stage.[ 36 ] Unquestionably, the device of the disguise is trivial, and in itself not at all entertaining, but the number of popular comedies the main point of which consists in disguise prove that the public in this respect is not hard to please. It makes no undue call on the imagination of the spectators to proceed on this supposition, although in every drama deviations more or less important must thereby be made from reality. But the imagination refuses to accept these improbabilities unless they are made to serve as external manifestations of events and actions which seem thus to be taking their regular course. If they are made the foundation for events which are manifestly false to nature, the revulsion in the spectator's mind is extended to the improbable representation itself. Treitschke hit upon the most unfortunate device for obviating the difficulty, by turning Alfonso into a magician and Despina into a sprite, and thereby not only producing glaring inconsistencies, but completely nullifying the musical characterisation. Another attempt was made by Krebel in an adaptation called "Màdchen sind Màdchen," performed in Stuttgart in 1816, where the lovers return home after a lengthened absence and COSÏ FAN TUTTE. before appearing to their brides undertake and carry out the trial of their constancy; Despina undertakes the cure in her own person, and in the last finale a real notary is brought on, whom she afterwards declares to be her lover. The progress of the plot is completely changed, almost all the songs are transformed and taken from their proper connection. Herklot's alterations in "Die verhangnissvolle Wette" went still deeper.[ 37 ] The ladies are not put to the test by their own lovers, but, with the connivance of the latter, by two of their friends, whose servant Pedrillo takes part in the intrigue as the doctor and the notary. Not to mention the injury which the musical characterisation suffers thereby, the clumsiness of the test imposed is made still more apparent, and the final reconciliation becomes more unreal and revolting.
Da Ponte has made no effort to soften the awkwardness of the situation; it is indeed very much increased by the exchange of lovers made during the trial, as if the right choice was that which is then made. G. Bernhard (Gugler), who has done honour both to words and music by his excellent edition of the opera,[ 38 ] removed this obstacle in his adaptation, "Sind sie treu?" (Stuttgart, 1858). Here each lover proves his own mistress, and the plot and its development are modified accordingly.[ 39 ] Da Ponte sacrificed the excuse this would have afforded to the two ladies—who might be supposed unconsciously drawn towards the true object of their affections—to the dramatic effect of the embarrassing position of the men on either side. Attempts to remedy this defect led to other and greater ones.[ 40 ] In an old adaptation, "Die Wette, oder Màdchen-List und -Liebe," the author CRITICISM OF THE LIBRETTO. (whose name is unknown to me) has hit upon the device of making the waiting-maid betray Don Alfonso's plot to the sisters before the entrance of the pretended friends, so that they are supposed to be hoaxing their lovers all the time, and the latter have to sue for pardon at the end. Despina's disguise as the doctor is retained, but a real notary is brought in for the last finale. Arnold proceeded similarly in his English version, "Tit for Tat."[ 41 ] L. Schneider, too, has made the same alteration, with the difference that Despina does not betray to her mistresses the plot against them until the second act, from which time they feign the weakness with which they mean to chastise their lovers. But this alteration implies a coarseness of conduct in the two sisters which is scarcely less reprehensible than their fickleness. The musical characterisation also is destroyed, since they are now supposed to feign the sentiments which they were originally intended to express in all seriousness; the inconsistency is sometimes unendurable. Added to this, the second finale is nullified by the altered catastrophe, and the charming part omitted where the men recall the characters assumed by them.[ 42 ]
It would have been necessary to bring the psychological interest of the drama into the foreground in order to conceal what was objectionable in the situations. Ingenuity and delicacy of invention might have turned the subject into an interesting drama, with the guilt and mishaps so evenly balanced that the whole might naturally come to a cheerful and pacifying conclusion. Da Ponte's text in no way fulfils these requirements; he takes his stand on the level of the ordinary opera buffa, and demands to be measured by that standard. He makes some attempt at more delicate characterisation in his Fiordiligi, in which Ferrando partakes, but the remaining characters are all of the usual opera buffa type, and only receive their individual stamp by virtue of the music. Nor do the situations COSÌ FAN TUTTE. display much more of original invention. The only animation afforded to the play, consisting of the pretended poisoning and the entrance of Despina as doctor, is neither new nor refined, and the plot proceeds without exciting either interest or suspense. But it gives occasion for a succession of musical situations which, considered apart, have been skilfully treated by Da Ponte. The parting scene, the sestet, and especially the first finale, are thoroughly musical in design, and Da Ponte's verses are easy and flowing, often not devoid of wit. Unfortunately his energies are almost all exhausted in the first act. While this contains a wealth of ensemble movements and contrasting situations scarcely to be found in any other opera, the monotony of the second act is strikingly apparent. It does not seem to have occurred to Da Ponte to develop his plot by means of an artistic arrangement of ensemble pieces. His sole care has evidently been to apportion the airs and duets indispensable to the chief characters in opera buffa with a due regard to dramatic contrast.[ 43 ]
Mozart therefore found himself once more engaged upon an opera buffa in the strict sense of the term. The plot is without meaning, the characters without individuality, deriving what effect they have by means of the ordinary resources of low comedy and exaggeration. Passion and feeling rarely assert themselves without the disturbing elements of hypocrisy and deceit; and thus the source of Mozart's own peculiar conception of musical representation is virtually closed to him. Then, in addition, the demands of the artists had to be taken into consideration. We can only wonder, under the circumstances, at Mozart's power of seizing every point which could be turned to the service of his artistic conceptions; the work reveals a side of his nature which has not hitherto appeared.[ 44 ]
The unreserved expression of emotions throughout the THE MUSIC—ENSEMBLES. opera affords a not ungrateful field for musical representation. The awkwardness of having three terzets for male voices following each other disappears under Mozart's treatment, since he makes each the natural outcome of the situation, and they serve as joint members of one organism to produce a natural climax. The first terzet takes its tone from the excited mood of the young officers, which Don Alfonso seeks with easy playfulness to moderate. In the second, Don Alfonso comes to the foreground with his old song about the phoenix and woman's faith, which he sings in a tone of good-humoured irony, exceedingly well supported by the orchestra, while the other two try mainly to interpose and stop him; it is a most original piece of music, full of excellent humour. The third terzet displays the high spirits of the lovers, raised to a pitch of great excitement, and the music brings the merry feast to which they are already looking forward vividly before the mind. The light and cheerful, somewhat superficial tone which here prevails, fixes the ground-tone of the opera. The young men are characterised generally, without accentuating their individualities; they stand opposed to Don Alfonso, whose contrasting character comes out all the more sharply. The duet for the two sisters (4) is more elevated in tone, to accord with the situation. They are melting in tender emotion as they gaze on the images of their lovers, and the expression of the music is full of life and sensuality, but more animated than warm, with no echo of those gentle accents in which Mozart elsewhere so inimitably characterises the hidden longings of the soul. The unanimity of sentiment here again obscures individual character, and the modifications are more musical than dramatic in their nature. Don Alfonso's COSI FAN TUTTE. short air (5), where he appears to urge composure, characterises not his true nature, for he is feigning all the time, but the situation, and that with a degree of exaggeration which comes out in striking relief to his otherwise calm and equable nature. The tone and delivery of the air are correctly indicated by Don Alfonso's words: "non son cattivo comico"; the deceit is conscious and evident throughout, and it is rendered easy for the performer to let an ironical tone occasionally peep through. The following quintet (6) carries us to a height hitherto unsuspected. The grief of the sisters at the prospect of separation from their lovers is expressed with ever-increasing passion, while conscious dissimulation imposes a certain restraint on the men, though the emotion they express is in itself genuine enough; the softer nature of Ferrando betrays itself in his gradually increasing sympathy with the sorrowing women. The ironical element introduced by Don Alfonso, just at the point when the passionate lamentation of the sisters is making the greatest impression on their lovers, prevents the situation from passing altogether into the pathetic vein. This quintet undoubtedly belongs in every respect to Mozart's highest achievements. The short duet (7) on the other hand, in which Ferrando and Guillelmo seek to console their trembling fair, ones is poor both in musical substance and characterisation, being an easily constructed piece of the kind which the general public loved. The march with chorus (8), which comes next, is simple, but very fresh and pretty, well suited both to the situation and the character of the opera. The farewell scene (9) takes place at the same time—indicated in the autograph score as "Recitativo coi stromenti"—and is a perfect masterpiece of beauty and delicate characterisation. The broken sobs of the afflicted women have something of the same comic effect as the infinite sorrow of childhood, and the men seem, half involuntarily, to imitate them; but when the last adieux have been exchanged they give vent to such a sweet and touching sound of lamentation that even the lovers are touched by it, and Don Alfonso is silenced. The repetition of the chörus interrupts the tender leave-taking just at the right time, and endows the scene with fresh life and animation. It finds an appropriate conclusion in the TERZET. tones and gestures of the two maidens as they wave their adieux from the shore, while Don Alfonso appears to share their feelings with a sort of ostentation of sympathy. This terzettino (10) shows Mozart's power of displaying endless shades of one and the same feeling. The farewells wafted from the shore are more composed than the lamentations called forth by the idea of separation, or even by the separation itself; they are more pure also, more intense, and transfigure all that has gone before with the light of a tender and harmonious grace finding its expression in separate sharp suspensions, and especially in the unexpected dissonance which occurs upon "desir—[See Page Image]
The murmuring accompaniment of the muted violins, combined with the soft full chords of the wind instruments, suggesting the idea of the sea-voyage, contribute to the colouring of this gem of musical expression. The instrumentation throughout this first division of the opera is carefully and admirably managed. The first terzet is simple, the lively figures for the stringed instruments denoting its character, while the oboes, bassoons, and horns strengthen the lights and shades; it is quite otherwise in the second, where the stringed instruments have a gentle accompanying passage, while a flute and a bassoon carry on the melody of the song; the third is brilliant with trumpets and drums, shrill oboes and rapid violin passages. During the whole of the love scene the clarinets are kept in the foreground, the combined orchestra is full and soft, but milder and more sparkling in the last terzet, where flutes come in; the contrasting clang of the lively and vigorous march is highly effective. Thus far all has taken a natural course, and we COSÌ FAN TUTTE. have met with no unusual characters, no startling situations; the emotions represented have been true and simple, and have been the necessary consequences of the events composing the easily comprehended plot. The musical depicting of such emotions is a grateful task; if it is true in itself and a faithful rendering of the given situation it cannot fail of its effect. And Mozart has here combined truth of characterisation with a beauty of form and a charm of sweet sound which almost overpower the ear, and are scarcely to be found in such fulness in any other of his operas. The further development of the plot leads to a sharper characterisation of individuals. Dorabella first unfolds her grief in a grand air (n) introduced by an accompanied recitative. It consists of one movement (allegro agitato) which receives its distinctive character from the sextole passage for the violins—[See Page Image] which does not cease for one bar until just before the end; an unsteady trembling movement is imparted to it by varied harmonic transitions, and an occasional sharper accentuation by the full chords of the wind instruments. The simple sustained voice-part moves above this accompaniment in short expressive phrases, rising now and then to a tone of passionate appeal, and at the close to an unexpected pathos. Both in musical treatment and emotional expression the air takes a high rank; but none the less is it in striking contradiction to the character of Dorabella as it is afterwards developed. It is she who proposes to her sister to coquet with the new lovers, and in the duet (20) in which they agree to do so it is she who takes the initiative. In the duet with Guillelmo (23)[ 45 ] she shows herself so easily persuaded and so full of amorous passion that it appears the revelation of her true nature. It renders superfluous her subsequent expression of opinion in an air (28) that love rules over all hearts, and it is but folly to resist his sway. This air has a certain resemblance to the first in the simplicity of the DORABELLA. voice-part and the moderation of the expression, although the feelings inspiring it are of such a different nature. The accompaniment again bestows upon the song its peculiar colouring; and the great prominence given to the wind instruments adds an insinuating and specious tone to the whole. But a closer examination reveals the evident contrast of the two songs. Dorabella is a woman of lively but not deep feeling; excitement is necessary to her, even though it may be of a painful nature—she cannot live without it. Her expressions of sorrow increase in intensity, and the orchestra is markedly toned down to allow her to display her true, somewhat shallow nature. Besides this, the exaggerated tone of her grief, displaying its want of perfect sincerity, is strongly marked by the words, e.g.—
