Grande Scherzo (Così fan tutte)

Details

Grande Scherzo for piano, 4 hands by Greg Anderson, based on the Finale to Act I of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Così fan tutte (Women are like that), K. 588 / I. Presto: “Si mora, si, si mora” (“Let us die, yes, let us die”), II. Allegro: “Eccovi il medico” (“Here’s the doctor”), III. Andante, “Dove son?” (“Where am I?”), IV. Molto Allegro: “Dammi un bacio” (“Give me a kiss”) / Difficulty: Advanced / Duration: 12 minutes / Copyright: 2009, 2019 / Work number: 34 / Appears on the album An Amadeus Affair / Spotify / Apple Music

Program Notes

Mozart’s operas undoubtedly contain some of his most astonishing music. Today, piano students around the world are constantly reminded to “play Mozart’s piano music as if it was a scene from an opera, filled with a host of dramatic characters."

As pianists ourselves, we wanted the opportunity to truly sink our fingers into Mozart’s glorious opera literature; thus, I composed a concert piece based on one of our favorite operatic scenes: the finale to Act I of Cosi fan tutte. The scene is at once humorous, dramatic, romantic, and scandalous as two men, in disguise, venture to test their fiancées faithfulness. Guglielmo, the lover of Fiordiligi, attempts to seduce her sister Dorabella while Ferrando, the lover of Dorabella, pursues Fiordiligi – a fiancée swapping of sorts. The women reject their advances, and the finale begins when the men burst into the room and “poison” themselves. Soon thereafter, a bogus doctor arrives whom, through use of a large magnet, is able to revive the scheming men. Conscious but hallucinating, they demand a kiss of the “goddesses” who stand before them. Although the sisters are tempted, they furiously refuse the men’s strong (and hilarious) advances.

My ten-minute free arrangement captures the essence of the scene in a highly pianistic and Mozartean manner; I've reimagined the score as if Mozart had conceived it as a playful exchange between two pianists. Performed on one piano, the primo part plays the roles of Fiordiligi, Dorabella, and Despina (the sisters’ maid and doctor-in-disguise), and the secondo part takes the roles of Guglielmo, Ferrando, and Don Alfonso (an old philosopher and friend of the men).

— Greg Anderson