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Art

Two productions of Così fan tutte' (Opera Australia ★★★★1/2 and Vienna's Volksoper ★★★)

by •
ABR Arts • 25 July 2016
Art

Two productions of Così fan tutte' (Opera Australia ★★★★1/2 and Vienna's Volksoper ★★★)

by •
ABR Arts • 25 July 2016

Mozart's third great collaboration with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, Così fan tutte, has enjoyed a chequered performance history since its première in the Burgtheater in Vienna in 1790, a year before Mozart's death. Its initial series of performances were interrupted by the death of Emperor Joseph II, and bad luck seemed to dog the opera throughout much of its early performance history. While the audiences in Mozart's time did not find the subject matter of the opera confronting – contemporary reaction was generally positive – during the nineteenth century a more censorious attitude towards the opera emerged, and a reaction to what were regarded as immoral themes, antithetical to the romantic idealisation of women, resulted in several clumsy and ineffectual reworkings of the libretto in an attempt to accommodate sensibilities of a less liberal age. 

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Michael Halliwell

Michael Halliwell studied literature and music at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, at the London Opera Centre, and with Tito Gobbi in Florence. He has sung in Europe, North America, South Africa and Australia and was principal baritone for many years with the Netherlands Opera, the Nürnberg Municipal Opera, and the Hamburg State Opera singing over fifty major operatic roles, including several world premiere productions. He has served as Chair of Vocal Studies and Opera, Pro-Dean and Head of School, and Associate Dean (Research) at the Sydney Conservatorium. He is President of the International Association for Word and Music Studies. His publications include the monographs, Opera and the Novel (Rodopi: 2005); and National Identity on Contemporary Australian Opera: myths reconsidered (Routledge, 2018), as well as many chapters and articles. He still performs regularly and recent CDs include When the Empire Calls (ABC Classics, 2005); O for a Muse of Fire: Australian Shakespeare Settings (Vox Australis, 2013); Amy Woodforde-Finden: The Oriental Song-Cycles (Toccata Classics, 2014); That Bloody Game; Australian WWI Songs (Wirripang, 2015).

Leave a comment
Michael Halliwell

Michael Halliwell studied literature and music at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, at the London Opera Centre, and with Tito Gobbi in Florence. He has sung in Europe, North America, South Africa and Australia and was principal baritone for many years with the Netherlands Opera, the Nürnberg Municipal Opera, and the Hamburg State Opera singing over fifty major operatic roles, including several world premiere productions. He has served as Chair of Vocal Studies and Opera, Pro-Dean and Head of School, and Associate Dean (Research) at the Sydney Conservatorium. He is President of the International Association for Word and Music Studies. His publications include the monographs, Opera and the Novel (Rodopi: 2005); and National Identity on Contemporary Australian Opera: myths reconsidered (Routledge, 2018), as well as many chapters and articles. He still performs regularly and recent CDs include When the Empire Calls (ABC Classics, 2005); O for a Muse of Fire: Australian Shakespeare Settings (Vox Australis, 2013); Amy Woodforde-Finden: The Oriental Song-Cycles (Toccata Classics, 2014); That Bloody Game; Australian WWI Songs (Wirripang, 2015).

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Comments (2)

  • Mr Schofield is absolutely correct. It was very remiss of me to omit mention of the excellent conductor, Jonathan Darlington. The great success of the performance was due in no small part to his excellent choice of tempi and rapport with both the orchestra and the singers.
    Posted by Michael Halliwell
    28 July 2016
  • In his exhaustive review of two stagings of Cosi fan Tutte, Mr Halliwell notes the conductor of the Vienna performance but fails to do so for the splendid Sydney production by Sir David McVicar. That he and all other reviewers were impressed with the performance surely had something to do with the conductor. Jonathan Darlington too has an international reputation and has collaborated with McVicar before, both overseas and here in Don Giovanni, the first in OA's new productions of Mozart's da Ponte operas, and now with Cosi. In a lengthy 2000 word piece, Mr. Halliwell might surely have found a few extra words of praise for the conductor whose contribution to this fine new production, one of the best things OA has done in years, is at least as worthy of praise as that of the set and lighting designers.
    Posted by Leo Schofield
    27 July 2016