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Mozart – Così Fan Tutte Overture arr. for 2 Guitars (sheet music)

Così fan tutte by Mozart

Cosi fan tutte, i.e. The School of Lovers, is a playful drama in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and a booklet in Italian by Lorenzo da Ponte. Taken by number KV 588. The first time that was represented Così fan tutte was at the Burgtheater in Vienna, on 26 January 1790.

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Thus, all of them are one of the three operas of Mozart, for whom Da Ponte wrote the libretto. The other two collaborations between Da Ponte and Mozart were The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni.

Although it is usually said that it was created due to the suggestion of Emperor Joseph II of Habsburg, recent investigations have not supported this idea.​ There is evidence that the contemporary of Mozart, Antonio Salieri intended to play the book, but left it unfinished.

In 1994, John Rice discovered two Salieri trios in the National Library of Austria.

The literal translation of the title ‘Così fan tutte’ is So Do All, and less literally: ‘they all do the same’ or ‘Women are like that’. These words are sung by the three men when they talk about fickle female love, in the second act, picture III, just before the end. Da Ponte used the verse ‘Così fan tutte le belle’ before Le Nozze di Fígaro (in act I, scene 7).

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Musically speaking, the critics arouse the symmetry of Mozart’s opera: two acts, three men and three women, two pairs, two personalities in the extreme (Don Alfonso and Despina), practically the same number of arias for all soloists. For other critics, symmetry was a value proper to Italian opera of the eighteenth century.

All coincide in revealing the abundance of parts dedicated to the ensembles: out of the finale, Mozart composed six duos, five trios, one quartet, two quintets and three sextets.