Così

One of the most sensational arias in Cosiì fan tutte, along with Fiordiligi’s “Come scoglio” in Act I, is her “Per pietà” in Act II. Fiordiligi, one of the two sisters whose fidelity to their lovers is being tested in a plot organised by the old cynic Don Alfonso, has a gift for self-dramatisation. In “Come scoglio” she most emphatically declares herself as invulnerable as a rock in a stormy sea. In “Per pietà,” having found that she is more susceptible to seduction than she thought, she pleads with her absent lover for forgiveness. Preceded by a guilt-laden recitative, “Ei parte,” it is a rondò (an aria with a slow beginning and a quick ending) worthy of any opera seria. As a tragic aria set in a comic context, it clearly has an element of caricature but, at least as far Fiordiligi herself is concerned, it is no less sincere for that. Although its vocal range is not quite as wide as that of “Come scoglio,” it makes dramatic use of the singer’s chest notes and reflects her heroic posture in a spectacular obbligato for the two horns.