Offensive but thought provoking
by KatrinaT on 2/15/10Keller Auditorium - PortlandRating: 4 out of 5Mozart's music makes anything worthwhile. That being said, the moral of the opera was "all women will always cheat on their men". The story mainly involves two couples, an older male and a maid. The men are told by the older male that their women will cheat, they refuse to believe it so they agree to trick their women with the guidance of the older man. The maid is paid to "play along", so eventually you have all the people that the women are seen talking to, pushing them to cheat. After much resistance they finally give in at which point the sinister old guy laughs and says "I told you so, and now I can have a good laugh at your misery".
You can take it at face value, at which point it is incredibly offensive and untrue. Or you can consider that during the time the opera was written it was common to assume that woman are generally at fault and have little willpower or decision making ability. But the opera was still distasteful to spectators at that time. So, I comfort myself by believing that the opera was meant to be politically charged and bring attention to the common view of women with the hope that the common view will be reconsidered.