It is a difficult task to account for the enigmatic aspects of the music and libretto of Cosi fan tutte. Unlike Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, the opera fascinates less for the complexity of its plot and its sheer monumentality, than for its finesse and aplomb. The analysis of the work of the great directors of our century allows us to see how this particularly stimulating opera has given rise to completely different productions, all based on the same music and words. Atmosphere and sensations change radically from one presentation to the other, different contexts and contradictory hypotheses present the spectator with the possibility of identifying with the drama according to his/her own tastes and predispositions.
Staging can therefore, and indeed must, offer the public a physical and concrete interpretation of the opera. This can be done by interweaving human senses and spirit in an artistic mixture of lights, sounds, colours and people, the effect of which is radically opposed to the ascetic austerity that is often, unfortunately, the lot of many opera- goers.
