Practicing Progress The Promise and Limitations of Enlightenment

The essay reads an Enlightened and modern critique of progress in Mozart's Cos fan tutte. With numerous references to other operas and texts, and with a storyline that emphasizes inevitable, yet mutable aspects of human nature, Cos presents an ambivalent picture of the ways in which even the most disinterested and best-informed attitude toward the past can affect the future. At the same time, the opera seems to embrace the notion of freedom of choice without rejecting tradition or repetition. The essay also comments on the performance of Cos in Zurich in 2000, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, who often works with authentic period instruments.Schade, Richard E. is the author of 'Practicing Progress The Promise and Limitations of Enlightenment', published 2007 under ISBN 9789042021464 and ISBN 9042021462.