Così Fan Tutte – the third and last of Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte’s collaborations – followed Le nozze di Figaro (Vienna, 1786) and Don Giovanni (Prague, 1787). This was a time of increased penury and loss for Wolfgang and Constanze (two children died during the writing of writing Così) but also one of almost unfathomable creativity for Mozart, who wrote his three last symphonies within a matter of weeks. Così (commissioned by the Emperor Joseph II) had its première in Vienna on 26 January 1790 (with Joseph Haydn in the audience) and would have run for longer than its season of ten performances but for the emperor’s death in February 1790. Mozart would compose two more operas – La Clemenza di Tito and Die Zauberflöte (both in 1791) – before dying at the end of that year, aged thirty-five.