UCLA Department of Music
and
Committee on Fine Arts Productions
Present
Così fan tutte
An Opera in Two Acts
Music by W.A. Mozart
Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte
Sung in English
English Translation by Ruth and Thomas Martin
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
April 25, 26, 27, and 28, 1979
8:00 P.M.
Little Theater, Schoenberg Hall
The UCLA Opera Theater has been training young vocalists for the operatic stage for almost thirty years. Founded by Dr. Jan Popper in 1950, UCLA has maintained a tradition of exciting and innovative opera ever since. Students are given intensive musical and dramatic coaching as well as instruction in stage movement, diction, audition techniques and concert procedures. The workshop productions range from standard operatic literature to rarely heard contemporary and Baroque operas. Its present director, Samuel Krachmalnick has led the Opera Theater in productions of Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny, Puccini’s La Bohème and Verdi’s La Traviata to public and critical acclaim. Last year, over 6,000 people attended opera at UCLA providing a solid support for the young American singers participating in the unique program at UCLA. Tonight’s production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte is presented in an intimate, tourable setting with two-piano accompaniment.
Act I
Discussing the subject of women’s fidelity, Don Alfonso wagers that he can prove all women are by nature unfaithful. Ferrando and Guglielmo, confident that their sweethearts could never prove false, eagerly accept.
Fiordiligi and her sister Dorabella sing of their love when Don Alfonso enters with the news that their fiances have been called to military duty. Distraught at the thought of separation, the couples promise to be faithful and the boys depart. Hysterical with grief, the ladies cannot tolerate their maid Despina’s somewhat more liberal attitudes toward romance. Don Alfonso bribes Despina enlisting her help in consoling the ladies with some “other admirers” during their sweethearts’ absence. The “other admirers” turn out to be Ferrando and Guglielmo, disguised as Albanians, each madly in love with the other’s partner. The two sisters are scandalized to find strange men in their house and order them to leave. The boys are elated but Don Alfonso warns them that the bet is not yet won.
Alone in their garden, the sisters’ tearful despair is interrupted by the Albanians who pretend to take poison because of the sisters’ coldness. Despina and Alfonso run for medical assistance and the girls resolve begins to weaken. Returning with Doctor Fatalis (actually Despina in disguise) the Albanians are saved by a miracle magnet. The boys recover and, once again, declare their love but the girls angrily refuse their advances.
Act II
Despina urges the ladies to accept the attentions of the Albanians brothers. Dorabella is willing and when Fiordiligi agrees they chose their new partners. Unaware that her Albanian is really Guglielmo, Dorabella exchanges lockets with him and the bet is half won. Fiordiligi is holding fast, even considering joining her sweetheart at the front, but when her Albanian suitor (really Ferrando) threatens suicide, she also gives in.
Now, a double wedding is planned. Alfonso in a Notary (Despina in another disguise) and the ladies sign the marriage contract. Outside maritial strains announce the return of Ferrando and Guglielmo. The girls hide the Albanians and try to deceive their suitors who return without their disguises. Discovering the marriage contract, the boys berate their unfaithful sweethearts, but Alfonso reveals the masquerade and everyone forgives with new promises and new declarations of fidelity. - John Hall
Act I
Scene 1 - A room in a cafe
Scene 2 - A garden at the seashore
Scene 3 - A room in the sister’s home
Scene 4 - A garden
Act II
Scene 1 - A room in the sister’s home
Scene 2 - A garden
Scene 3 - A large hall
Sisters living in Naples
Fiordiligi
Deborah Aston (27)
Starleigh Goltry (26)
Mary Anges Jones (25, 28)
Dorabella
Judith Boyajian (25)
Susan Grossman (26)
Debra Patchell (27)
Lisa Turetsky (28)
Despina, their chambermaid
Susan Law (27, 28)
Aviva Rosenbloom (25)
Pamela Scanlon (26)
Ferrando, officer betrothed to Dorabella
James Canning (27, 28)
Richard Horne (25)
Terrence Slavin (26)
Guglielmo, officer betrothed to Fiordiligi
Steve J. Berman (25, 28)
James Harris White (26, 27)
Don Alfonso, their mutual friend
Peter Juda (26, 28)
Yoav Steve Paskowitz (25, 27)
Director
Samuel Krachmalnick
Stage Director
John Hall
Set Design
Archie Sharp
Costumes
Edythe Johnson
Production Manager
Ray Gonzales
Publicity
Carol Vane
Piano Accompaniment
Peggy Sheffield and Sigrid Wagner
Director
Samuel Krachmalnick
Producer
John Hall
Musical Preparation and Coaching
Mario Carta
James Low
Peggy Sheffield
Sigrid Wagner
Coaching Assistant
Anne Rogat
Cathy Ypma
German and French Diction
Sybil Hast
Music Department Coordinator
John Hayes
Synopsis