Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart · Synopsis, Premiere & Arias

Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti (Women are like that, or The School for Lovers), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was 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 short title, Così fan tutte, literally means "So do they all", using the feminine plural (tutte) to indicate women. It is sometimes translated into English as "Women are like that". The words are sung by the three men in act 2, scene 3, 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).

For readers approaching Così fan tutte for the first time, the entry below sets out the dramatic situation, the principal musical highlights, and the work's place in performance history. Detailed scholarly editions of the score and libretto remain the indispensable companions to any serious study of the opera.

Background & Context

Così fan tutte belongs to the standard operatic repertoire and is documented in the OperaPedia archive as a complete editorial entry. Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, the work is preserved in the canon of the disciplined Classical idiom that married theatrical immediacy to formal symmetry. It received its first performance in 1790 at Burgtheater.

Like many works of the Classical period, Così fan tutte is built around the alternation of solo aria, ensemble, and orchestral commentary characteristic of the form. The drama is laid out across 2 acts, a structural choice typical of the operatic conventions of the day. Its formal designation as Opera buffa situates the work within a recognisable subgenre, with the dramaturgical and musical conventions of that subgenre informing the architecture of every scene.

Critical reception of Così fan tutte has shifted with the broader currents of operatic taste. Where earlier audiences may have valued the immediate theatrical effect of a star turn, modern listeners and conductors increasingly attend to the work's harmonic logic, its handling of orchestral colour, and the precision of its text-setting.

Singers approaching the principal roles will find the writing characteristic of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's mature manner: long phrases that demand both a flexible technique and a sustained legato line, with ensemble passages that reward careful attention to ensemble blend and pace.

Synopsis

The dramatic action of Così fan tutte unfolds across 2 acts, set primarily in scenes that combine ensemble writing with extended solo arias for the principal voices. The libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte draws on dramatic conventions familiar to audiences of the Classical era, and the score by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is structured around a sequence of recitatives, arias, and choral interventions typical of the form.

Like much of the standard operatic repertoire, the work blends private emotional crisis with public spectacle. The opening act establishes the central characters and the conflict that will drive the drama; the middle of the opera develops that conflict through arias of recognition, ensembles of confrontation, and one or more set-pieces that allow the principal singers to demonstrate the full range of their vocal art. The closing act resolves the action, often through a large ensemble that draws together every voice on stage.

Critical assessments from later generations consistently emphasise the score's harmonic invention and its sensitivity to the rhythms of the original text. Productions in the modern era have approached the work in a variety of stylistic registers, from period-instrument revivals attentive to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century performance practice to contemporary stagings that relocate the action to the present day in the search for fresh dramatic resonance.

Notable Arias & Musical Highlights

Among the musical episodes most cherished by audiences of Così fan tutte are the principal solo arias, in which the voice steps forward from the orchestral fabric to deliver the central emotional argument of each act. The vocal writing, characteristic of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's mature manner, calls for both flexible coloratura and sustained lyrical line. The great interpreters of the role have always been those who can find the shape of the long phrase without sacrificing dramatic urgency.

The orchestral preludes, dance episodes, and act-closing ensembles also deserve mention. Conductors approaching the score for the first time often note how carefully the composer balances the practical needs of the singers against the demands of the dramatic situation: tempi must breathe enough for the words to land, but never slacken so far as to lose the architectural arc of the act.

For singers preparing roles in Così fan tutte, the standard editions of the score remain the essential reference. Voice teachers and coaches typically pair the principal arias with carefully chosen technical exercises that address the specific demands of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's vocal writing: the breath control required for the long-spun cantilena, the agility needed for ornamented passages, and the dramatic concentration that makes the recitatives land.

Premiere & Production History

Così fan tutte received its first performance in 1790 at Burgtheater. Contemporary accounts describe an audience response shaped as much by the fashions of the day as by the merits of the score itself; subsequent revivals, however, established the work's place in the repertory.

The twentieth century brought a sequence of important revivals, often led by conductors and stage directors associated with the broader rediscovery of Classical opera. In recent decades, the work has been mounted by major houses across Europe and North America, with notable studio recordings and house premieres documenting changing performance practice. Editors and musicologists continue to refine the critical edition of the score, restoring passages cut in earlier theatrical traditions and clarifying the composer's intentions in matters of orchestration and tempo.

An Intermission

About the Composer

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is the composer of record for this opera.

Read the full biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart →

Other Operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Related Operas in the Catalogue

Listeners drawn to Così fan tutte may wish to explore the following entries from the same era or the same operatic tradition:

Eduardo e Cristina · Gioachino Rossini, 1810
Cendrillon · Nicolas Isouard, 1810
Horatius Coclès · Étienne Méhul, 1794
Erwin und Elmire · Anna Amalia, 1775
Die Schweizer Familie · Joseph Weigl, 1807
Eliza · Luigi Cherubini, 1794

Editorial Note

This entry is part of OperaPedia's continuing project to document the canonical operatic literature. Sources for this article include the Wikidata structured-data layer for opera works (Q1344) and the corresponding English Wikipedia articles, both reproduced here under the editorial conventions of an encyclopaedia. Where our entry diverges from those sources, the difference reflects editorial judgment rather than disagreement with the underlying scholarship.