Così fan tutte

Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti (pronounced [koˈzi ffan ˈtutte osˈsiːa la ˈskwɔːla deʎʎ aˈmanti]; Thus Do They All, or The School for Lovers), K. 588, is an Italian-language opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed on 26 January 1790, at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. 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 title, Così fan tutte, literally means "Thus do all [women]," but is usually translated into English as "Women are like that". The words are sung by the three men in act 2, scene 13, 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 1, scene 7).

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (German: [ˈvɔlfɡaŋ amaˈdeːʊs ˈmoːtsaʁt], English see fn.; 27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty.

At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.

Così

Così is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra which was first performed in 1992 at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Set in a Melbourne mental hospital in 1971, Così is semi-autobiographical, and is the sequel to his previous semi-autobiographical play, Summer of the Aliens.

The play was adapted into the 1996 film Cosi.

Plot summary

Set several years after the events of Summer of the Aliens, Lewis is now in a strained relationship with a bossy woman named Lucy, and in a friendship with political extremist, Nick. Lewis is always desperate for work as he states "I need the money". The venue is a theatre that smells of "burnt wood and mould", the cast are patients with very diverse needs, and the play is Mozart's Così fan tutte. Through working with the patients, Lewis eventually discovers a new side of himself which allows him to become emotionally involved and to value love, while anti-Vietnam war protests erupt in the streets outside.

Characters

The patients make up a wide spectrum including Roy, a manic-depressive with a passion for theatre; Cherry, who has a food obsession and is a Lewis-addicted romantic; Ruth, suffering from obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and is shown as obsessed with counting and distinguishing between illusions and reality; Doug, a pyromaniac, who loves sexual innuendo; Julie, dependent on drugs in the outside world; Henry, an older, silent man, previously a lawyer; and Zac, a drugged-up pianist.

Don Alfonso

"Don Alfonso" is the second UK single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1975. Side 1 has an additional credit: "featuring David Bedford on vocals". This is a comic novelty song from the early 20th century, sung by a boasting, bogus toreador, who seems to know very little about bullfighting.

Track listing

Recording details

This was the second time David Bedford sang on a recording of this song. He previously recorded it with Lol Coxhill as the Coxhill-Bedford Duo, who issued several singles under this name, and 3 songs on Coxhill's 1971 album Ear of Beholder, where this song appeared. All songs made under this name are revivals of early 20th century repertoire from British music hall, American Vaudeville, and minstrel shows, and feature Bedford on piano and vocals, and Coxhill on vocals. On the Coxhill album, the composer is credited as Ted Waite, a British music hall comedian, but the authorship may be in dispute, as all releases of Oldfield's version, including a recent DVD containing the video, credit it as "traditional".

Lorenzo Da Ponte

Lorenzo Da Ponte (10 March 1749 – 17 August 1838) was a Venetian opera librettist, poet and Roman Catholic priest. He wrote the librettos for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's greatest operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte.

Early career

Lorenzo Da Ponte was born Emanuele Conegliano in 1749 in Ceneda, in the Republic of Venice (now Vittorio Veneto, Italy). He was Jewish by birth, the eldest of three sons. In 1764, his father, Geronimo Conegliano, then a widower, converted himself and his family to Roman Catholicism in order to marry a Catholic woman. Emanuele, as was the custom, took the name of Lorenzo Da Ponte from the Bishop of Ceneda who baptised him.

Thanks to the bishop, the three Conegliano brothers studied at the Ceneda seminary. The bishop died in 1768, after which Lorenzo moved to the seminary at Portogruaro, where he took Minor Orders in 1770 and became Professor of Literature. He was ordained a priest in 1773. He began at this period writing poetry in Italian and Latin, including an ode to wine, "Ditirambo sopra gli odori".