FERRANDO           DON ALFONSO
La mia Dorabella   Ho i crini già grigi,
Capace non è:   Ex cathedra parlo;
Fedel quanto bella   Ma tali litigi
Il cielo la fe’.   Finiscano qua.

GUGLIELMO  FERRANDO E GUGLIELMO
La mia Fiordiligi   No, detto ci avete
Tradirmi non sa: Che infide esser ponno;
Uguale in lei credo  Provar cel dovete,
Costanza e beltà. Se avete onexstà. . . .

So begins Lorenzo da Ponte's dramma giocoso, spinning ever so deftly its adventures for Mozart’s Così fan tutte.

In 1950 you could have found Balthus listening over and over and over again to his favorite opera by his favorite composer as he designs the sets and costumes for the directors of the Aix-en-Provence festival.

Fast forward to 1996. Breakfast in Rossinière, Switzerland. For this book, Balthus sets in motion a quest for his 1950 watercolors and for the original recording of the opera at Aix-en-Provence - searching from a villa in the hills above Marseilles to the depths of a Paris bank vault and finally to the famed Château de Chassy in Burgundy.  Balthus selects the six most beautiful watercolors, and from these, Keiji Shinohara, a National Treasure of Japan, cut and printed the wood blocks for the prints in our book. From a 1957 recording by the same conductor and cast who performed Balthus’ original Così fan tutte, we made our CDs.

Printed in the original Italian on handmade Chinese paper. Bound in bluegreen silk to recall the sea at Naples where the opera takes place. The same silk covers the hinged and lined case.