[Met Performance] CID:243030



Così Fan Tutte
Metropolitan Opera House, Wed, October 15, 1975

Debut : Elizabeth Harwood, Ryland Davies, Anne Howells, Richard Stilwell




Così Fan Tutte (71)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Lorenzo Da Ponte
Fiordiligi
Elizabeth Harwood [Debut]

Ferrando
Ryland Davies [Debut]

Dorabella
Anne Howells [Debut]

Guglielmo
Richard Stilwell [Debut]

Despina
Colette Boky

Don Alfonso
Renato Capecchi


Conductor
Kazimierz Kord


Director
Patrick Libby

Designer
Rolf Gérard





Così Fan Tutte received eleven performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of Byron Belt in the Newhouse Newspapers

Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutte" has been one of the Met's great hits in seasons past, particularly in the Steber years, when it was sung in English. Back in Italian, everyone overacts to get the fun across, and what should be elegant and frequently touching is nothing but non-stop stretching for laughs. Sadly, last night's crowd seemed to like it.

Patrick Libby's direction is obvious and tacky, and he was not helped by a cast that - with the exception of Colette Boky and debuting Richard Stilwell - looked straight out of provincial opera houses of the worst sort.

Miss Boky was adorable, and sang better than we ever have heard her, and Stilwell used his modest voice effectively. Renato Capecchi's Don Alfonso is potentially fine, given solid direction. Left on his own, however, he was crude vocally and dramatically, a Rossini concept for a Mozartean role requiring deft grace and wit.

Soprano Elizabeth Harwood, mezzo Anne Howells and tenor Ryland Davies were brought over from England -as some sort of Bicentennial British revenge, one must assume. Each negotiated the notes with fair ability, and Miss Howells appears to have some charm. The voices, however, are simply second-rate. Kazimierz Kord was surprisingly fine as a Mozart conductor, and one only hopes that he'll have a decent production some day.



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