Small folio (356 x 263 mm). 2 engraved title-pages; 8pp. letterpress book in German; pp.3-269 engraved music with plate number "1363." (Some minor mostly marginal dampstaining to first few leaves, some pale spotting to a few leaves, marginal paper flaw to pp.191/192.) Contemporary vellum-backed and cornered paste paper-covered boards, paper lettering-piece gilt on upper cover (lightly rubbed); quarter morocco folding case gilt. Provenance: Léon Muret Debort (lettering-piece on upper cover).  

FIRST EDITION of the full orchestral score, one of 50 or fewer copies printed, preceded by the piano-vocal score, published in Vienna 1790 and in Berlin in 1793. Così fan tutte was the last of Mozart's collaborations with Italian librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, who wrote the libretto for The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni. "Da Ponte's libretto is a marvel of witty, concise, and symmetrical dramatic construction... In the music, all the conflicting stains of mockery and tenderness, of sincerity and inconstancy, are fully reconciled. Delicious in its parody, ravishing in its lyricism, Così holds laughter and sympathy in a perfect equilibrium that...celebrates 'the mystery of feeling itself'" (Zaslaw and Cowdery, 64-65). Così fan tutte was largely underappreciated until the 20th century, regarded by contemporary audiences as "a heartless farce clothed in miraculous music" (Grove, Opera, p.967). Haberkamp 333; Kochel 588.