Opera "Everybody does this way": content, video, interesting facts, history

V.A. Mozart opera "All do this way"

The old story for the sitcom - the exchange of brides - has found its life in music with a light hand V.A. Mozart. “That's what everybody does,” or, as it is also briefly called, “Cosi” is an opera with cheerful disguises, dramatic partings, a frivolous adultery and an ambiguous ending.

Summary of Mozart's opera "So do all", interesting facts and history of this work read on our page.

Summary of the opera "All do this way"

Naples, the end of the 18th century.

In the lives of young officers, Guglielmo and Ferrando, it is time for hopes and romantic thoughts - they are in love. Their brides - the sisters of Fiordiligi and Dorabella - are admired, which the young men do not hide in a conversation with the skeptic Don Alfonso. He laughs at the inviolability of ladies' feelings. Then all three of them decide to check women's loyalty. The young men declare to their lovers that they are supposed to go to war. The sisters in tears accompany the suitors.

Don Alfonso bribes Despina to spy on her mistresses. She knows only a part of the truth - that, with the light hand of an old schemer, two foreigners appear in the house. But she does not know that the grooms of her young ladies disguised beyond recognition are unrecognizable. And the exotic guests immediately begin to flirt with the girls - each with the bride of the other. But, despite all the tricky tricks, the sisters do not resist the temptations.

However, soon Dorabella accepts the wooing of Guglielmo, which plunges Ferrando into despair. Alfonso does not allow the young man to interrupt the experiment. Fiordiligi is still devoted to her fiancé fiancé, resisting the pull of a stranger with all her might, she is even ready to seek death on the battlefield with Guglielmo. However, Ferrando soon persuades her feelings. The triumph of the rally is a cruel disappointment for both young men when their beloved ones agree to marry their new fans.

Don Alfonso organized and the wedding, on which Despina played the role of a notary. The girls have already signed marriage contracts when the sounds of the march were heard. They guessed that the troops were returning from the war. Having hidden their newly-made husbands, the sisters did not have time to hide the documents, and the “returning” presented them to unfaithful brides. The confusion did not last long - it soon became clear who was hiding under the makeup of foreigners. Couples reconciled Don Alfonso, who said that there is no point in quarreling, for all women are like that ...

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Interesting Facts

• Yes, Ponte was friendly with Casanova himself, so such a good libretto on an ambiguous topic was written easily, elegantly and ... reliably.
• Emperor Joseph II became interested in this story after hearing a similar story that recently occurred at the court and told him as an anecdote.
• In the 20th century, voices performing opera parts changed. Despina and Dorabella began to sing a mezzo-soprano, and Don Alfonso - baritones.
• Because of the difficult theme for the bourgeois perception of the 19th century, opera was often edited. Even its name changed, most often out of good intentions to make it more specific. At different periods, “All do this way” was called: “They all do this way, or the Girls from Flanders,” “Women's loyalty,” “Women's revenge,” “Pari,” and even “Two aunts from Milan, or Dressing.”

The best numbers from the opera "That's what everybody does"

"Come scoglio immoto resta" - aria of Fiordiligi (listen)

"Una donna" - Despina's aria (listen)

"Un aura amorosa" - Ferrando aria (listen)

"Soave sia il vento" - Tercet Fiordiligi, Dorabella and Don Alfonso

History of creation and productions

Mozart began to compose "Cosi fan tutte" already having behind his main "hits" - "Don Juan"and"The Figaro Wedding"Their success was the reason for receiving the imperial order for a new opera, the author of the text of which, like the two mentioned, was Lorenzo da Ponte, the court librettist of the Vienna Italian Theater. All scenes and Ponte were adaptations of existing stories, however, for those times This was standard practice.

The premiere was given by the Viennese Burgtheater. From January 26, 1790, the opera took place only 5 times in a few months, since Emperor Joseph II passed away, and mourning banned entertainment. After its completion, in the summer of the same year, the opera was performed 5 more times. Mozart will die in just a year, having managed to release two more works, but he will never hear “That's all the way” in the theater.

At the premiere of Fiordilligi's party, the lover of Ponte Adriana Ferrarese performed, which Mozart frankly didn’t like - he was already familiar with her work, since the singer was the first Susanna in his "Figaro's Wedding". Perhaps that is why he wrote for her the aria "Come scoglio immoto resta", which is a real challenge even for experienced vocal masters. Dorabella was sung by her sister, L. Villeneuve, Guglielmo - F. Benucci, who performed on the previous premieres of Figaro and Leporello, Ferrando - V. Kalvezi. The reaction of the public was different: someone found the novelty charming, while others believed that such a topic would not find sympathy among the female audience. Be that as it may, the latter opinion has dominated Cosi for almost a century.

In 1816, the opera crossed the borders of Russia, and across the ocean was performed only in the 20th century. The romance and free manners of the Rococo epoch passed away together with high powdered wigs of the 18th century, and the bourgeois values ​​of the 19th century were motivated to moral standards and family values. For this reason, until the 1950s, "Cosi", if it was performed, then - in alterations and revisions. Today, "That's what everybody does" confidently enters the twenty most popular operas in the world, leaving behind the most successful work Wagner, "The Flying Dutchman," and the brilliant operetta Lehar "Cheerful widow"and Puccini's last masterpiece"Turandot".

Genius and villainy

Lorenzo da Ponte wrote only three operas for Mozart, but twice as much for the composer, who is considered to be his antagonist - Antonio Salieri. “Everybody does this way” has many intersections between two prominent musicians of the era. Let's start with the fact that Antonio Salieri began working with the libretto of the opera, only after the refusal of which Mozart received the material. At the premiere, the opera had the subtitle “School of Lovers”, which referred to Salieri, an incredibly popular “School of Jealousy” a few years earlier. Facts show that Salieri was a far more successful composer of his time than Mozart. He was considered a master of Italian opera, which, despite the active state support of the Austrian musical genre, singspiel, still owned the hearts of the public, and, therefore, the proceeds of the box office.

Antonio Salieri made a brilliant career in Vienna, becoming a court conductor. He was well acquainted with Mozart, attending his premieres and even conducting some of his writings. Finally, he was one of the few people who accompanied Mozart on his last journey. The great Amadeus, alas, never had during his lifetime neither glory nor position, approximate to those possessed by the Italian.

But 40 years after his death, Mozart received full compensation for a not very successful career - the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin wrote the “little tragedy” of “Mozart and Salieri”, where the latter appears to be the insidious poisoner of a young genius. ON. Rimsky-Korsakov put this plot to music, thereby perpetuating in the operatic genre a gossip that has no relation to reality. At the end of the 20th century, another wave of interest in this story swept the world after the release of M. Forman’s film “Amadeus,” which was awarded an Oscar as the best picture of 1984. In 1997, the name of Antonio Salieri was officially cleared of all charges of killing Mozart - two centuries after the tragic event.

"So they do everything" on video

• With the most frivolous Mozart opera you can get acquainted without leaving home, thanks to the performances of previous years:
• Performance of the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, 2006, production by F. Kemp. In the main parties: T. Lehpituu (Ferrando), M. Persson (Fiordiligi), L. Pizaroni (Guillelmo), A. Vondung (Dorabella).
• Performance of the Opera Zurich, 2000, staged by B. Large. In the main parties: R. Sakka, C. Bartoli, O. Widmer, L. Nikitheanu.
• Performance of the Vienna Opera, 1988, production by J.P. Ponnel. In the main parties: L. Lima, E. Gruberova, F. Furlanetto, D. Ziegler.

Opera music was also used in the movies:

• "The Greatest Showman", 2017
• "4 days in France", 2016
• "Love and Friendship", 2016
• "Sea inside", 2004

The most mysterious and elegant opera Mozart based on a love game. The initial task - to check women's loyalty in the course of the development of the action turns into an erotic adventure for all its participants. Did not any of the girls have guessed that in front of her was the former bridegroom of her sister? Mozart clothed the game and reality with charming musical harmony, leaving, however, an open question, whether couples can forget what happened to them.