The prospect which was known to have been opened to him in Berlin may have had some effect in causing "Figaro" to be again placed on the stage in August. At the request of the prima donna, Madame Adriana Ferraresi del Bene, who had made her first appearance on October 13, 1788, Mozart wrote the grand air (577 K.).[3] For Louise Villeneuve he composed, during the following month, three airs for insertion in different operas (578, 582, 583, K.), perhaps with some view to his own new opera, in which Mdlle. Villeneuve was to appear. The approbation with which the revival of "Figaro" was received[4] no doubt suggested to the Emperor to commission Mozart to write a new opera. "It was not in his power," says Niemetschek (p. 43), "to decline the commission, and the libretto was provided him without consultation of his wishes."[5] It was "Cosi fan Tutte, osia la Scuola degli Amanti," by Da Ponte.[6] Mozart was busily engaged on it in December, 1789; and in January, 1790, it is entered in his catalogue as completed; it was first performed on January 26, with the following cast:[7]-- {CHARACTERS AND PLOT.} (239) It appears to have been successful,[8] although it did not remain long on the repertory.[9] Unfortunately, we have no detailed information as to the preparation and performance of this opera. Da Ponte's achievement as the writer of an original libretto[10] serves to show more clearly than ever how much he had hitherto owed to his predecessors. Neither invention nor characterisation are anywhere visible, only a certain amount of dexterity in the handling of his subject. The plot in its main points is as follows:-- Two young Neapolitan[11] officers--Ferrando (tenor) and Guillelmo (bass)--who are betrothed to the sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi, are discovered seated in a _café_ in lively dispute with their friend Don Alfonso, an old cynic, who maintains that their two _fiancées_ would fail under any trial of their constancy. Upon their challenge to make good his words at the point of the sword he retorts with the old proverb, that woman's faith is like the phoenix--never seen.[12] Each of the lovers {COSÌ FAN TUTTE.} (240) declares his bride to be the phoenix. At last they agree to a wager. The two lovers promise on their word as officers to do nothing during the next four-and-twenty hours but what they are directed by Don Alfonso, who thereupon undertakes within that time to prove the fickleness of the two maidens. The young men, confident beforehand of victory, determine on celebrating it by a grand banquet in honour of their mistresses.