Così fan Tutte is an opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is always known by its Italian title probably because it is impossible to find a good translation for the title, which means something like: “They all do it like that,” or “They are all like that” (meaning: “Women are all like that”).

Its full title is Così fan Tutte ossia La scuola degli amanti (That is how they all do it, or The School For Lovers). It is an opera buffa (a comic opera). The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte.

Mozart’s ‘Così fan Tutte’ takes place in Naples during the late 18th century and is one of his most popular operas.

The opera is often called Così for short in the English-speaking world. It is one of the three Mozart operas for which da Ponte wrote the libretto (the words). The other two operas on which they worked together were The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni.

It is widely held that Emperor Joseph II suggested to Mozart that he should write the opera. The libretto was originally going to be set to music by another composer, Antonio Salieri but Salieri only finished parts of the first act and then stopped working at the opera.

An abridged production of this opera, which was free to the public, was recently performed at the Astra Theatre in Victoria, Gozo. The production was organised by the European IP Project Phoenix, a multimedia Renaissance, which involves musical and artistic entities in the project from Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia and Turkey

This production was a joint venture by a number of European Universities coming from Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakkia, Turkey and Malta, co-ordinated by Raffaele Longo from the Conservatoire of Music S. Giacomantonio di Cosenza (Italy).

The participants, both singers and orchestra members, were students coming from these universities. It was a very commendable performance and some of the singers were outstanding. The orchestra, under the direction of Mro Michelangelo Galeati was likewise impeccable.

The Gozo Choir Chorus Urbanus contributed in a small way to the success of this production, when members of the choir joined forces with the University of Malta Vocal Ensemble to perform the only choral number in this performance. The choir performed a full-spirited Bella Vita Militar! during Act 1.

Photographs – George Borg.

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