Cosi fan Tutte
This
afternoon, Saturday, Ellie and I saw the Met broadcast of the third of Mozart’s
Da Ponte operas, Cosi fan tutte. It
is much less frequently performed than either of its predecessors, The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni, and it is not hard to
figure out why. While it has best-of-Mozart music, it does not have any “hits”
of which each of the others has quite a few. It is also much “slimmer” than Da
Ponte’s previous ones, consisting of
just two principal pairs of characters, with both of them primarily
distinguished by their voices—soprano and mezzo soprano and tenor and
baritone—rather than significantly differentiated in character or dramatic
role. The two other singers are a maid (soprano) and a “philosopher”—instigator
of action—essentially a baritone, labeled a bass. There are several not very
extensive choral passages.
That was it,
the only other time I saw Cosi, many
years ago and not well-remembered. This time opera was set—implausibly, but who
cares—in Coney Island, which, in case you don’t know, is in Brooklyn. That
“expansion” not only added a visual context, but a large cast of non-singing
characters in a great variety of costumes. This Met production in effect
expanded what is essentially a chamber opera into a quasi-grand opera. Had they
not found someone willing and able to do that, Cosi would have remained to be just the other Da Ponte opera.
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