Mozart - Cosi Fan Tutti / Della Casa, Ludwig, Loose, Dermota, Kunz, Schöffler, The Vienna State Opera Chorus, The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Böhm / Richmond 3x LP Stereo

SRS 63508

Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti (All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers), K. 588, is an Italian-language opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte who also wrote Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni.

Although it is commonly held that Così fan tutte was written and composed at the suggestion of the Emperor Joseph II, recent research does not support this idea. There is evidence that Mozart's contemporary Antonio Salieri tried to set the libretto but left it unfinished. In 1994, John Rice uncovered two terzetti by Salieri in the Austrian National Library.

The short title, Così fan tutte, literally means "So do they all", using the feminine plural (tutte) to indicate women. It is usually translated into English as "Women are like that". The words are sung by the three men in act 2, scene 3, just before the finale; this melodic phrase is also quoted in the overture to the opera. Da Ponte had used the line "Così fan tutte le belle" earlier in Le nozze di Figaro (in act 1, scene 7).

• Baritone Vocals [Don Alfonso] – Paul Schöffler
• Baritone Vocals [Guglielmo] – Erich Kunz
• Choir – Wiener Staatsopernchor
• Composed By – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Conductor – Karl Böhm
• Libretto By – Lorenzo da Ponte
• Orchestra – Wiener Philharmoniker
• Soprano Vocals [Despina] – Emmy Loose
• Soprano Vocals [Dorabella] – Christa Ludwig
• Soprano Vocals [Fiordiligi] – Lisa Della Casa