From the start, Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte has been given a hard time. Beethoven loved the music but was shaken rigid by the so-called "immorality" of the plot, as were his contemporaries. For more than a hundred years, the "shocking and licentious work" pretty well disappeared from view. The twentieth century was not so much shocked as condescending. Richard Strauss rediscovered the play, recognized it as a masterpiece and became a propagandist of the work. With a large-scale revival in Munich in 1910, the sun began to shine on Cosi again. The acceptance by the opera world became permanent only with the revival at Glyndebourne in 1934. People have been chattering about it ever since, mainly because of the plot. No one argues about the music, which is pretty well canonized by every operatic sect. People no longer question Cosi's morality, nor the rather strange conventions of the plot - time span of 24 hours, outlandish disguises, seductions at the speed of lightning. What interests them now is to poke about looking for the larger truths.
How is it possible that this uneasy attitude toward one of Mozart's canonical masterpieces could have lasted so long? Surely the subtitle "La scuola degli amanti" (The school for lovers), which lacked any allusion to women, was clear enough ? This made it clear that Cosi is a moral tale that teaches two lessons, one to men ("don't trust your girlfriend for an inch") and one to women ("infidelity can only lead to disaster"). It fits into the general message of the Enlightenment thinking that we are told by Don Alfonso in the closing measures : "Happy is the man who in adversity and misfortune is guided by reason."
Any director of Cosi Fan Tutte must seek solutions to three problems. Primo : what makes Don Alfonso so misogynous ? Secundo : how credible is the disguise of the gentlemen in the role reversal, intended by Mozart and Da Ponte probably not as a serious matter but as a thought experiment within the framework of a "drama giocoso." Tertio: Should Cosi Fan Tutte refer only to the infidelity of women? Mozart and Da Ponte surely did not intend it that way. Director Kiril Serebrennikov resolves the tricky points without drastic mutilations of the text. He has neatly divided the stage into two halves, initially a gym for the women upstairs, a haven for muscle culture downstairs for the men. Both women and men make themselves attractive to the opposite sex, the women by losing a few excess pounds, the men by gaining a pound of muscle.
The bet has already begun when Don Alfonso finds his own relationship suddenly broken off. The ease with which he gets the sack via a chat message seems to suggest that it happens to him more often than not. It explains why he turns to tobacco and booze and wants to teach his youthful companions a life lesson. At the very end, he will paint Cosi Fan Tutte on the wall, change his mind and a moment later change the "tutte" to "tutti."
During the "Bella vita militar," burning tanks can be seen. War is not as innocent as Mozart/Da Ponte make it seem, the director quite rightly believes. It is also the stepping stone to his biggest interference with the plot. After the farewell, he suggests that the girls really believe their fiancés are already dead, and the trio of "Soave sia il vento" becomes a funeral ceremony. The girls now wear black dresses, the urns of the fallen are set down. A solemn fire burns. In doing so, the girls are largely relieved of the guilt of their infidelity and the play becomes more of a reflection on dealing with pain from the loss of a loved one.
Despina in Da Ponte's text is already a feminist, a suffragette avant-la-lettre. Here she takes on the traits of a psychiatrist. Twice she will be lecturing on the basis of a powerpoint presentation, illustrating both her arias with feminist imagery, from Valerie Solanas to Femen and with such bold slogans as "my pussy, my rules." It is highly illustrative and rather pedantic in its radical rejection of patriarchy.
Ferrando and Guglielmo do not swap places with their respective fiancés but observe from a distance the behavior of the young girls, who are now being courted by their avatars, two muscular extras, Tizio and Sempronio, who do everything they can to get them into bed. Evgeny Kulagin as Tizio, who rehearsed the 2018 premiere in the absence of the director who was then under house arrest, gets to take his chances with Dorabella, the hot-blooded one of the ladies. It sharpens the spectator-voyeur's identification with the men. How they become aware of the cynical game they play with their partners is clearer than ever. All of this works very well. Even if there are moments where the singers mingle among the "living" but are not noticed by them.
Ferrando concludes "Un aura amoroso" in a spotlight in front of a microphone. After which Don Alfonso calls for applause for Mozart's great aria. The director's jokes are always really funny, too. Are the Albanians initially dressed as sheiks, watching a soccer game from Quatar on the TV set, the self-poisoning makes a big impression on the girls and largely blunts their inhibitions. Both are sexually overpowered on the kitchen counter. Again, the director can go a little further by using extras.
While Fiordiligi struggles with herself in "Per pietà, ben mio, perdona," her sister is busy making love to her newest acquisition, Tizio, orgasmic screams included. Meanwhile, the cooperative Despina has had 20,000 CH transferred to her account. The Albanians smoke bong and host the ladies amid Oriental carpets. In the finale, they are dressed in what are presumably Albanian folkloric wedding dresses. A real coup de théâtre follows when the soldiers make their return to the sounds of the intro to Don Giovanni (the appearance of the stone guest). Even Despina has to admit she was fooled into thinking the Albanians were real. The only thing that was real were the Swiss francs.
Vannina Santoni's soprano gets very thin at times, the chest register not yet sufficiently developed. Fiordiligi's first aria "Come scoglio," with many chest notes is therefore not a real highlight. She gives her best in "Per pietà, ben mio, perdona." Samantha Hankey as Dorabella could already show wonderful dramatic outbursts in "Smanie implaccabile." The two girls' singing together is usually very beautiful. The seduction duet with Guglielmo ("Il core vi dono") was among the finest moments of the evening. Mauro Peter as Ferrando sang "Un auro amoroso" with great sense of style and dynamically beautifully differentiated. Xiaomeng Zhang as Guglielmo also had a well-projecting voice and a beautiful timbre. With eyes closed, you could not hear that he was Asian. I found that rather surprising. Edwin Crossley-Mercer has the appropriate fatherly timbre for Don Alfonso and he manages to articulate the part engagingly. Valentina Farcas was a delightful Despina, funny, sharp and entertaining.
The Mozart experienced Riccardo Minasi immediately stood out for his energetic conducting style and sense of precision. Exemplary of this were the fast runs in the introduction to "Smanie Implaccabile." The colors in the brass section were determined by natural trumpets and natural horns, the continuo by a brisk Hammerklavier. A blanket hung over the orchestra, as it were, the blanket of period instruments. This was not an idea of the conductor but a choice already made in 2018.
Poor 'Cosi'! Stage directors just can't leave it alone! After some of the disasterous productions of it that I have seen, I much prefer listening to it to seeing it...If you are unfamiliar with the Rubicon recording of it, from the European Opera Centre, it is definitely worth checking out. A reconstruction of Mozart's and Da Ponte's original intentions by Ian Woodfield. The couples don't switch partners! A solid cast, nicely conducted by Lauren Pillot.