A singing and acting analysis of Ferrando character in Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte

The main aim of this study is to analyze Ferrando in Cosi Fan Tutte in terms of singing technique and acting style. In the first part of the study, the principles of classical period, the movements preceding this period, Mozart's understanding of music, opera buffa as a genre and the zeitgeist of the time when Cosi Fan Tutte was composed are discussed. Besides, Mozart's and Lorenzo da Ponte's lives are depicted as the composer and the librettist of the work. Next, this study shows how tenor voices are categorized which is followed by the registers in tenor voice. In light of all this information, Ferrando's singing party is examined technically and his character is analyzed in terms of the way he acts. This study also asks questions how to sing and act Ferrando's party with ease. The findings obtained as a result of these analyses are classified and explained. The parts selected over libretto are translated into Turkish by benefiting from the expertise and experience of specialists in this field and findings are marked on the musical notes of the party. In the end, it is concluded that Ferrando's singing party requiring a dynamic performance in terms of acting includes a lot of passage notes, passages in between registers, parts where the singer has to go up the high notes and quite a lot of number of high notes over head register.