Vocal and stage image of Despina from W. A. Mozart’s opera “Così fan tutte”: genre and performance aspects

Statement of the problem. The study of the classical repertoire has practical significance for modern performers and is relevant in the context of the formation of genre and style preferences of vocalists, in particular sopranos. A classic example of creative task for a singer is the combination of brilliant vocal technique with the art of acting in Despina’s aria from the second act of Mozart’s opera “Così fan tutte” (1790). Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the article is to highlight the genre-stylistic features of the selected aria as the basis for further performance reflection. The position of cognitive analysis as a performer of genre, stylistic, musical-linguistic, and dramaturgical contexts of forming the image of a stage character determines the novelty of the research results. To reveal the topic, interrelated methods are used: historiographical, stylistic; genre-stylistic. The performance analysis of the work takes into account structural-syntactic and intonation-dramatological regularities (in particular, the role of timbre as its component). The methodological basis of the article includeds the fundamental works of musicologists H. Abert (1990), L. Ivanova, H. Kukol, M. Cherkashyna, 1998) and modern Chinese researchers Tang Zhancheng (2017) and Wang Mingjie (2018). Research results. It is known that the composer was inspired by singing voices no less than by literary and dramatic images. As an expert in the singing voice, Mozart took care of female voices, which in his operas were all designed for sopranos. In the aria of Despina from Act II of“Così fan tutte” presents his “philosophy of easy living”, giving young girls advice on seducing men. This aria was chosen for the study of Mozart’s late style not by chance, since this image meets all the requirements of the opera-buffa tradition, occupying “a worthy place in the long line of Italian maids, reaching back to Serpina Pergolesi” (Abert, 1990: 203). The organic coexistence of the “low” and “high” in the image dramaturgy gives rise to that unique plasticity of musical and theatrical action, which is a hallmark of the composer’s mature style. Two dance rhythm formulas – of siciliana and waltz (in two parts of the complex two-part form) help to feel the changes in mood. A scheme of the compositional and syntactic structure of the work is provided. Conclusion. Imagery and genre analysis of Despina’s aria from the second act of «Così fan tutte» confirmed the stylistic interaction of the Mozart’s mature opera style with the innovative reading of him the buffa genre. The image of the maid appears psychologically complicated, which corresponds with the tendency of lyricism in the reading of the image. If the involvement of the siciliana genre turns to the stable tradition of opera-seria, then the quasi-waltz is Mozart’s musical premonition of the romantic opera with its leitmotif of “love” (G. Donizetti, G. Verdi, Ch. Gounod). In general, the genre stylistics of this aria is a “calling card” of Mozart’s vocal style, putting forward the high requirements for the reproduction of the Viennese classicism style by modern performers.