One of the few nice cultural events in my area is the Culture Coach program, which allows people to buy season tickets for the opera. The group gets bused in to Montreal. Occasionally, someone can't attend a certain performance, and the ticket goes up for sale. Such was my luck. Last night, I went to see Mozart's Così fan tutte, performed by L'Opera de Montreal's Atelier lyrique at the Monument-National.I'm not really knowledgeable enough to comment on the performance, and you're probably not interested in reading about it. Let me just say that the performance was enjoyable for me, and it was a real pleasure to attend the Monument-National, which has a good-looking interior with spacious old-fashioned seating.
Monument-National, Montreal
Così is opera buffa, which is to say opera comedy. As it happens the most humorous moment in this opera is health care-related!
The plot involves a bet between two soldiers (FERRANDO AND GUGLIELMO) and a gentleman (DON ALFONSO) that their fiances (FIORDILIGI AND DORABELLA) will stay faithful while they are gone. The soldiers say they are going off to war, and then return disguised as foreigners to court their fiances. The gentleman recruits the ladies' maid (DESPINA) to help him win the bet.
In this scene, the soldiers in disguise pretend to poison themselves in order to win the affection of their fiances. The maid Despina arrives dressed as a doctor and "saves" them by using a magnet (!) to pull out the poison...
DORABELLA
His head is very cold.
FIORDILIGI
This one's cold as ice.
DORABELLA
And his pulse?
FIORDILIGI
I can't feel it.
DORABELLA
This one's beating very slowly.
FIORDILIGI AND DORABELLA
Oh, if help is long in coming,
There'll be no more hope of life!
FERRANDO AND GUGLIELMO
aside
Both have become
Calmer and more gentle;
We shall see if their pity
Will turn into love.
FIORDILIGI AND DORABELLA
Poor dears! Their death
Would fill me with grief.
DON ALFONSO
Here's the doctor,
Gentle ladies!
FERRANDO AND GUGLIELMO
aside
Despina dressed up!
How heavily she's disguised!
DESPINA
"Salvete, amabiles,
Bonae puellae!"
FIORDILIGI AND DORABELLA
He speaks a language
We do not understand.
DESPINA
Let's speak, then,
As you command me.
I know Greek and Arabic,
Turkish and the Vandal tongue;
And I can speak
Swabian and Tartar too.
DON ALFONSO
Keep all these languages
For yourself, sir;
For the moment,
Look at these poor fellows;
They've taken poison;
What can be done?
FIORDILIGI AND DORABELLA
Yes, doctor,
What can be done?
DESPINA
feeling the pulse and forehead of each
First I must know
The nature of this potion
And the reason it was taken;
Whether it was swallowed
Hot or cold,
A little or much,
In one draught
Or in several.
FIORDILIGI, DORABELLA AND DON ALFONSO
They took arsenic,
Good doctor,
And drank it here.
The cause was love
And they swallowed it
In a single gulp.
DESPINA
Don't worry,
Don't be afraid;
Here is an earnest
Of my skill.
FIORDILIGI AND DORABELLA
He's taken a piece
Of iron in his hand.
DESPINA
This is
A piece of magnet,
The stone which the great
Doctor Mesmer discovered
In Germany
And then became
So famous in France.
She touches the heads of the feigned invalids with the magnet and gently draws it the length of their bodies.
FIORDILIGI, DORABELLA AND DON ALFONSO
Look, they're moving,
Twisting, shaking!
They'll hit their heads
On the ground in a moment.
DESPINA
Ah, hold their foreheads
Steady, will you?
FIORDILIGI AND DORABELLA
We're standing ready!
DESPINAHold tight.
Courage! Now they
Are safe from death.
FIORDILIGI, DORABELLA AND DON ALFONSO
They're looking round
And recovering their strength.
Ah, this doctor's
Worth all the gold in Peru!
FERRANDO AND GUGLIELMO
rising to their feet
Where am I? What place is this?
Who is he? Who are they?
Am I before Jove's throne?
Are you Pallas or Cytherea?
Ferrando to Fiordiligi and Guglielmo to Dorabella
No, you are my fair goddess!
I recognise you by
That sweet face,
And by that hand I now know so well;
It is my only treasure.
They embrace the girls tenderly and kiss their hands.
DESPINA AND DON ALFONSO
It's the effect of the poison still;
Don't be afraid.
Atelier lyrique's cast
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