There are two titles of Mozart’s great opera Così fan tutteAll women do this and The School for lovers. It was written and first performed a year after the French revolution. Does reason or emotion direct our actions? Should we feel guilty for the mistakes we make, especially in love? Two pairs of chivalrous, idealistic, naïve lovers play out these challenges directed by their controlling rational puppeteers, initiated by a wager made in a Neapolitan coffee house. This moral experiment enfolds over a day and a night, charged by coffee, chocolate (the favoured aphrodisiac of the day), wine, poison and much more. Men are naturally prone to infidelity: women too?

The full power and charm of this seminal opera was not fully appreciated until modern times. It is now core to every opera house’s programme. As the gentle sea-breeze of the Bay of Naples infuses Mozart’s seductive music, we can expect The Grange to be a perfect setting for this duel between the sexes, both uncomfortable in its historic assumptions and starkly revealing of contemporary trends. Be prepared for nervous glances from your partner seated next to you, as you are beguiled, disrupted and enchanted.

Works and composers

Mozart Così fan tutte