Così fan tutte

Don Alfonso explains to Guglielmo and Ferrando that it is quite possible that their fiancés Dorabella and Fiordiligi could be unfaithful - as all women are.

A bet is made and Don Alfonso hires Despina, Fiordiligi and Dorabella's employee, to help with the intrigue. In disguise, the men finally succeed in seducing each other's fiancée. After Don Alfonso and Despina have broken up the intrigue, it is left to the four young lovers to deal with the consequences of the story.

The fact that Guglielmo and Ferrando are not supposed to seduce their own fiancée in the course of the »test of fidelity«, but that of the other, was a decision whose radical nature Mozart and Da Ponte must have been well aware of. The evidence suggests that they only made the decision at a late stage or that they changed the constellation several times during the compositional process: For example, the two seducers in Act 1 always address the women in pairs, and the scene instructions according to which Ferrando addresses himself »à Fiord.« and Guglielmo »à Dor.« are only found in later editions of the music, but not in the printed libretto or in Mozart's manuscript. The original Guglielmo aria »Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo«, replaced by »Non siate ritrosi« shortly before the premiere, shows the obvious change of perspective in a particularly interesting way: Guglielmo turns to Fiordiligi here and advises her to turn his gaze to Ferrando - »lui« - while Dorabella should concern herself with him. Not only did Mozart initially omit the personal pronoun »lui« in his score and then add it in a different ink; he actually entered the aria in his own catalog of works under the title »Rivolgete a me lo sguardo«. Where the two women were to turn was therefore evidently up for discussion for a long time.