HINSON, DANIEL ROSS, DMA Are You Serious? - The University of ...

eference to commedia dell’arte. Don Alfonso, the buffo bass, is a jaded old philosopher and
bears resemblance to the wily “Scaramuccio.” It is he who challenges the young officers to this
test of lover’s fidelity. He is the puppeteer, and they the marionettes. The other buffa character,
the cynical and resourceful soubrette Despina, wears a variety of masks through the course of the
opera, first as herself, the malcontent servant-girl, who again bears resemblance to the coquettish
“Colombina.” Later, she appears as the bogus magnetic medico, “Graziano,” and later still as the
droning notary, “Tartaglia.”
The mezzo carattere are Dorabella and Guglielmo; these characters have elements of both
seria and buffa. “As in Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro, Mozart has sharply differentiated
between types of soprano in Così fan tutte, making a distinction between temperaments as well
as between classes.” 28 Dorabella is the lower voiced, and certainly more capricious of the two
sisters. Surprisingly, it was she who in her seria aria, “Smanie implacabili,” complains most
loudly that she will die without her Ferrando. One must “recognize that Dorabella is indulging
her emotions and that she is about to sing an extravagant aria of frenzied grief, more suited to
Electra in Idomeneo than to a frivolous young lady in a comic opera. The effect is absurd and
raises smiles of amusement.” 29 Of course, the lady doth protest too much, and a few hours later,
she discards her plaints and readily succumbs to seduction without the flourish.
Guglielmo, the baritone, is always engaging in some form of competition with his
compatriot Ferrando. This is apparent in the very first scene, when they give their word of honor
to keep the wager a secret. Ferrando swears “Tutto” (everything), and Guglielmo says
28 Charles Osborne, The Complete Operas of Mozart (New York: Da Capo, 1978), 288.
29 Mann, 536.
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