It would have been necessary to bring the psychological interest of the drama into the foreground in order to conceal what was objectionable in the situations. Ingenuity and delicacy of invention might have turned the subject into an interesting drama, with the guilt and mishaps so evenly balanced that the whole might naturally come to a cheerful and pacifying conclusion. Da Ponte's text in no way fulfils these requirements; he takes his stand on the level of the ordinary opera buffa, and demands to be measured by that standard. He makes some attempt at more delicate characterisation in his Fiordiligi, in which Ferrando partakes, but the remaining characters are all of the usual opera buffa type, and only receive their individual stamp by virtue of the music. Nor do the situations {COSÌ FAN TUTTE.} (248) display much more of original invention. The only animation afforded to the play, consisting of the pretended poisoning and the entrance of Despina as doctor, is neither new nor refined, and the plot proceeds without exciting either interest or suspense. But it gives occasion for a succession of musical situations which, considered apart, have been skilfully treated by Da Ponte. The parting scene, the sestet, and especially the first finale, are thoroughly musical in design, and Da Ponte's verses are easy and flowing, often not devoid of wit. Unfortunately his energies are almost all exhausted in the first act. While this contains a wealth of ensemble movements and contrasting situations scarcely to be found in any other opera, the monotony of the second act is strikingly apparent. It does not seem to have occurred to Da Ponte to develop his plot by means of an artistic arrangement of ensemble pieces. His sole care has evidently been to apportion the airs and duets indispensable to the chief characters in opera buffa with a due regard to dramatic contrast.[43] Mozart therefore found himself once more engaged upon an opera buffa in the strict sense of the term. The plot is without meaning, the characters without individuality, deriving what effect they have by means of the ordinary resources of low comedy and exaggeration. Passion and feeling rarely assert themselves without the disturbing elements of hypocrisy and deceit; and thus the source of Mozart's own peculiar conception of musical representation is virtually closed to him. Then, in addition, the demands of the artists had to be taken into consideration. We can only wonder, under the circumstances, at Mozart's power of seizing every point which could be turned to the service of his artistic conceptions; the work reveals a side of his nature which has not hitherto appeared.[44] The unreserved expression of emotions throughout the {THE MUSIC--ENSEMBLES.} (249)