University of Iowa School of Music's “Così fan tutte" at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts -- November 15 through 17.
Friday, November 15, through Sunday, November 17
Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, 1301 Fifth Street, Coralville IA
A beloved romantic comedy that will be sung in Italian and presented in a production focused on opulence, travel, and the perils of modern dating, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's legendary opera Così fan tutte serves as the 2024-25 season opener for the University of Iowa School of Music's opera program, this new take on classic material – running November 15 through 17 at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts – directed by Abbigail Coté and conducted by Kenny Lee.
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is Mozart's opera buffa in two acts, and the libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte, who also wrote Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni. Although it is commonly held that Così fan tutte was written and composed at the suggestion of the Emperor Joseph II, recent research does not support this idea. There is evidence that Mozart's contemporary Antonio Salieri tried to set the libretto but left it unfinished. In 1994, John Rice uncovered two terzetti by Salieri in the Austrian National Library.
The short title, Così fan tutte, literally means "So do they all," using the feminine plural (tutte) to indicate women. It is usually translated into English as "Women are like that." The words are sung by the three men in Act II, Scene Three, just before the finale; this melodic phrase is also quoted in the overture to the opera. Da Ponte had used the line "Così fan tutte le belle" earlier in Le nozze di Figaro (in Act I, Scene Seven).
The first performance of Mozart's setting took place at the Burgtheater in Vienna on January 26, 1790. It was given only five times before the run was stopped by the death of the Emperor Joseph II and the resulting period of court mourning. It was performed twice in June 1790 with the composer conducting the second performance, and again in July (twice) and August (once). After that, the opera was not performed in Vienna during Mozart's lifetime. The first British performance was in May of 1811 at the King's Theatre, London. Così fan tutte was not performed in the United States until 1922, when it was given at the Metropolitan Opera.
In the opera, Mozart and Da Ponte use the theme of "fiancée swapping," which dates back to the 13th century; notable earlier versions are found in Boccaccio's Decameron and Shakespeare's play Cymbeline. Elements from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and The Taming of the Shrew are also present. Furthermore, it incorporates elements of the myth of Procris as found in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The subject matter did not offend Viennese sensibilities of the time, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries was considered risqué, vulgar, and even immoral. The opera was rarely performed, and when it did appear, it was presented in one of several bowdlerised versions. After World War, however, the work regained a place in the standard operatic repertoire and is now frequently performed.
The University of Iowa School of Music's Così fan tutte enjoys three performances at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts from November 15 through 17, with Saturday presentations at 7:30 p.m. and the Sunday production at 2 p.m. Admission is $10-20, and more information and tickets are available by calling (319)335-1160 and visiting CoralvilleArts.org.
