Cosi Fan Tutte at the New York City Opera
Christopher Alden Directs the Opera for Today
By: Susan Hall - Mar 19, 2012
Cosi Fan Tutte
By W. A. Mozart
Libretto by da Ponte
Conducted by Christian Curnyn
Directed by Christopher Alden
Cast: Sara Jakubiak (Fiordiligi); Jennifer Holloway (Dorabella); Marie Lenormand (Despina); Allan Clayton (Ferrando);Philip Cutlip (Gugiliemo);Ron Gilfry (Don Alfonso).
New York City Opera Orchestra
New York City Opera
Lynch Theater
New York, New York
March 18, 2012 thru March 24, 2012
The New York City Opera returned to Manhattan with a bang up production of Cosi Fan Tutte. Set in a park, perhaps New York’s own Central Park, scenes and poses are appropriated from Dejeuner sur l’herbe the Manet painting which in turn paid tribute to Giorgione/ Raphael.
Yet the set retained a contemporary New York feel, where young people, after they dare to leave Facebook, tweets and twitters have to face the age old problems of love, loyalty, fidelity and seizing the moment as they walk the Hi Line. Everything is black and white except the sky which changes like a mood lipsick. Things are hardly black and white as the opera proceeds however.
The origins of Cosi are murky. We do know that Mozart and his librettist were in the midst of their own conflicts and tugs of love war. Away from home, Mozart as he was composing Cosi would write his wife Konstanze, asking her not to go into the baths at Baden without company to protect her from men’s advances. He also had to reassure her that he was behaving himself. Probably they both had a seven year itch. Mozart had coached the beautiful and talented Henriette Baranius privately, most likely in more than singing. Or at least that’s what Konstanze heard.
Da Ponte was in the midst of a torrid affair with the soprano who sang Fiordiligi in the premier of Cosi. What she lacked as a diva on stage, she magnified off. Often provoking her colleagues, she became so disruptive in the opera house that she was fired. Ever gallant da Ponte got himself fired in her defense. While all of this may have helped the creators to brilliantly portray human fickleness, it ended a collaboration that had also produced The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni.
Christopher Alden, who had produced a wonderful take on Don Giovanni for the City Opera, brought forth another fresh and lively take on Cosi, an opera over two hundred years old. While Marriage of Figaro was a comment on the class structure, Cosi is not.
Alden has textured the opera emotionally. When the sisters fall apart, they are dishabille. Dorabella sings one aria barefoot, with her hair covering her face. Don Alfonso literally becomes a bear. No more flouncy gowns of the court. This helps to solve the one problem with Cosi, Fiordiligi’s perfectly beautiful, heartfelt arias. By projecting them in emotional costumes, suddenly full-felt feelings seem in place in a farce.
Still Da Ponte makes fun of conventional opera in the attempted suicide of the Turks and in Fiordiligi‘s simile aria –“Like a fortress in ocean founded and the billows surge around it…my heart is steadfast.” Alden's take takes care of the odd disconnect in the libretto
All the singers are just right for Mozart and Cosi. Sara Jakubiak, a glowing soprano, milked Fiordiligi’s moving arias with a magical texture. Demands on Dorabella sung by Jennifer Holloway are more complex. Even as she has aneasier time defecting, she sings about what’s going on with a passionate attention to detail.
Allan Clayton soared as Ferrando at Glynbourne in 2010 and reprises the role with verve and elegance. He is a born performer who makes what in the end is a very silly role seem plausible. You can’t take your eyes off him on stage and his helden ping fills a theater easily. As Gugiliemo, Philip Cutlip completed the central quartet with a rich, precise tone and charming presence.
The original Don Alfonso and Despina performers were married. Certainly in the opera they are more closely tied than the other couples, real or in disguise. Marie Lenormand was not the original maidservant, but rather a wise bag lady who turns tricks when necessary. She quickly accepts the Don’s bribe to assist him in persuading the girls to seize the day and romance visiting men who seem swept by love. Despina has obvious disguises as a Mesmer trained electrical specialist and a dotty Notary, a full plate which Lenormand took on with skill and a lovely soprano, except when required to squeak.
Don Alfonso is appropriately horrid. In high hat and sometimes bowler, as he whips sticks and his bear tail, Rod Gilfry intrigues. Mozart composed for a baritone at the end of his career, and musical challenges are minimal, but Gilfry met them with a stylish presentation.
Innocence is seduced and naiveite taught a lesson. Contrast between sentimental idealism of young love and the mysterious temptations and the sometimes impersonal nature of desire are explored.
Everyone contributed to this wildly successful production. Christian Curnyn conducted with a brisk,charming presentation. Bradley Brookshire added immeasurably at the harpsichord. The afternoon belonged to City Opera, which showed why it belongs in New York, and to Christopher Alden, who brought Mozart right up to now.