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早在1990年代我跟凯·安伯拉（Kai Amberla）先生初相识时，他是《芬兰音乐季刊》（Finnish Music Quarterly）的编辑。过了不久，他履职芬兰交响乐团协会总监。又过了几年，他接任芬兰音乐信息中心的总裁，负责推广西贝柳斯时代前后的几乎所有的芬兰作曲家。后来，他被委任为芬兰艺术节组织（Finnish Festivals）的行政总监，这是一个政府牵头的伞状组织，代表芬兰在全世界范围内推广芬兰的数百个各类艺术节活动。
我们两人这些年来把酒言欢，尝过不少佳酿，这也让我们之间很多次谈话的细节都变得模糊了。但只要我想收集关于芬兰的资料，必定会先向凯这位老朋友打听打听。今年年初，当我知道凯——这位比我累积更多飞行里数的音乐同行之一——跟我同病相怜，因航班停飞而不得不待在家里时，我通过视频对话，询问他芬兰人是怎样应对新冠疫情的。
“我们是一个内向的国家，”说这句话时他刻意地表现得很冷淡，“即便是平常时期，我们也都尽量保持着距离。如今的生活方式，是芬兰这个国家一直以来就期待的。”
因此，当我听说芬兰国家歌剧院搬演了《新冠皆如此》（Covid fan tutte）这部借用莫扎特的作品选段拼贴而成的讽刺歌剧时，立刻发了一封电邮给凯，想听听他的评论。“对白太啰唆”是他的回复。“他们对观众的信心不足，台词里说完一个笑话还要加上诸多的解释。所谓‘搞笑’的句子很多都不好笑。对于白人中产阶级的异性恋群体来说，都是一些浅薄的笑话而已。”
考虑到凯正是他口中所说群体之一，这可以说这是一个相当刻薄的评论。芬兰人真难讨好。
***
于8月底在赫尔辛基首演的芬兰国家歌剧院《新冠皆如此》，完全是一个应运而生的剧目。由于国际旅行危机导致演出取消的情况，其实屡见不鲜。当年“9·11”事件发生之后我正好在纽约，原本安排在那周跟纽约爱乐乐团一同演出的独奏家们都因航班禁令被困在欧洲，无法远渡越洋按原计划演出。突然间，音乐会曲目就改为了勃拉姆斯《安魂曲》，并找来了滞留在纽约的歌唱家[幸好纽约是一个文化大都会，找来的临时独唱是男中音托马斯·汉普森（Thomas Hampson）与女高音海蒂·格兰特·墨菲（Heidi Grant Murphy）]献演。
但是，芬兰的局势却完全朝着不同的方向发展。当芬兰最著名的指挥家与女高音发现自己本来安排好好的演出全都被取消时——这正是埃萨-佩卡·萨洛宁（Esa-Pekka Salonen）接任旧金山交响乐团音乐总监的首个乐季，而卡丽塔·玛蒂拉（Karita Mattila）原本在伦敦科文特花园皇家歌剧院排练的《耶努法》（Jen？fa），到了2月底终于叫停——两人决定回赫尔辛基避难，因为那儿的新冠疫情相对来讲不太严重。
到了春季末，芬兰最终还是跟世界各地一样，取消了所有的现场演出。但到了6月，芬兰已经局部重启公众活动，艺术机构也得以开始策划新的演出内容。芬兰国家歌剧院把原来选定的演出季开幕大戏《女武神》延迟至冬季，取而代之的是一套全新并保持社交距离的莫扎特的《女人皆如此》（Cosìfan tutte，又译《女人心》）。正因为有半年时间筹备这个新制作，歌剧院特别委约了芬兰当今著名的记者兼畅销犯罪小说家米娜·林德格伦（Minna Lindgren）撰写新的芬兰语版本歌词。
正如这个特别版本的标题《新冠皆如此》，大部分的音乐都忠于莫扎特，却对达·蓬特的原著大肆修改。该作品以瓦格纳《女武神》的开场作为序曲，随后就被歌剧院的一位“交流经理”（interface manager）打断，宣布即时换演莫扎特歌剧，准备出场的《女武神》演员贸然换挡演唱莫扎特。劇中的对白与唱词幽默讽刺，影射旅游限制、强制隔离、社交距离等衍生的政治与社会问题，间接批评芬兰政府无法协调一致地处理危机。不出所料，玛蒂拉扮演的角色是被困在赫尔辛基的国际歌剧大咖，因为局势所迫，唯有饰演女佣黛斯皮娜（Despina）一角，以及所有其他的角色！这套新歌剧更有舞者娜塔莎·卢米（Natasha Loomi）演绎剧中的主角——新冠病毒。
演出的音乐素材除了选自《女人皆如此》以外，也借用了《魔笛》与《唐乔瓦尼》的几首经典咏叹调。而发人深思的段落包括帕帕基诺被封住嘴的情节改为戴上口罩无法说话；还有报道新冠疫情死亡人数时套上莱波雷洛（Leporello）数尽唐乔瓦尼各国情人的咏叹调，例如“在西班牙，共一千零三人。”
***
从音乐上来看，这部歌剧哼哧哼哧地延续了100分钟的时长——没有讨厌的中场休息，观众也可降低因中场休息的社交而感染病毒的可能性。就算凯·安伯拉对于音乐演绎予以很高评价（萨洛宁更为该剧创作了新音乐以连接各个片段），但我还是同意凯对于剧情的劣评。虽然某些幽默的音乐风格细腻地展露出来——我们看到舞台上一班瓦格纳演员被迫适应莫扎特作品的规模制作，就像一队举重运动员突然要表演艺术体操一样违和——还有一些虽然令人捧腹大笑的场景，然而似乎感觉还缺少什么东西。
或者这种观感是来源于代沟？我发消息给年轻的芬兰作曲家伊拉里·凯拉（Ilari Kaila），尽管他现在待在香港，我肯定他听说过这部歌剧。他告诉我各界对该作品的评价褒贬不一，甚至引述他自己“相当典型芬兰人”的父亲看了歌剧后“十分生气”，因为新冠疫情应该是一个“严肃的话题”。伊拉里自己也困惑不已。“我不明白，”他写道，“危机往往会引出喜剧，让大众调剂一下心情。也许他们所争论的，是现在开这种玩笑未免‘太早了吧’。” 太早了？當俄罗斯向全球公布研发新冠疫苗的新闻当天，网上就有人开起了玩笑，疯传一张带注射器的小伏特加酒瓶的图片。美国电视上的晚间“脱口秀”也在揶揄当天美国头条新闻的实时性。比起来，芬兰国家歌剧院起码有半年的时间来筹备这个制作。时间的早晚不是问题，我想问题是出在歌剧这种艺术形式的载体上。
当然，这并不是说幽默在歌剧中不存在——莫扎特与达·蓬特，还有很多富有创意的艺术家，都为此提供了不少佐证——但喜剧却是另一回事。幽默源自人物性格与情境——尤其当两者配合有所偏差时。相反地，喜剧需要铺排笑话、插科打诨、滑稽举动，更需要三者凑合紧密的节奏。综上所述，这部《新冠皆如此》更像《周六夜现场》（Saturday Night Live，美国一档于周六深夜时段直播的喜剧小品类综艺节目）中的一则喜剧小品，却被制作人像气球般打气，膨胀扩容至网飞（Netflix，会员订阅制的流媒体播放平台）上的喜剧系列剧集。莫扎特的音乐幸免于难，可是剧情中的笑点却完全不到位。
***
附注：芬兰国家歌剧院《新冠皆如此》首演后，美国有两家歌剧院也要搬演添加新冠疫情元素的《女人皆如此》，但这些制作之间都没有什么关联。匹兹堡歌剧院（Pittsburgh Opera）于10月搬演的版本把背景时间改为第一次世界大战期间，也就是1918年西班牙流感暴发的高峰，地点是一个弹药工厂。乐队减少至17人并在舞台区域以外演奏，演员则全都戴上口罩。（直至本文发稿当天，匹兹堡歌剧院的新闻稿中声称自己是“今天美国东岸唯一在户内场所举行演出的歌剧团体。”）
在美国西岸，太平洋歌剧项目（Pacific Opera Project）——这个艺术团体被迫于今年3月取消原定的《女人皆如此》计划——正紧锣密鼓地筹备一个颠覆性的改编版本，取名也是《新冠皆如此》。新剧本由导演乔希·肖（Josh Shaw）执笔，故事发生在疫情严峻的今天，地点是南加州一个高尔夫球场。这个制作将于11月在一个教堂的露天停车场中上演，观众必须留在自己的车内观赏演出。
When I first met Kai Amberla back in the 1990s， he was editor of the Finnish Music Quarterly. Soon after that， he became head of the Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestras. A few years later， he was running the Finnish Music Information Centre， representing pretty much all his country’s composers before and after Sibelius. Then he wound up as executive director of Finland Festivals， the government’s umbrella organization promoting hundreds of Finnish festivals around the world.
Given the amount of alcohol we’ve shared over the years， some of our history is fuzzy， but suffice it to say， whenever I need to know anything about Finland， Kai is my first call. Earlier this year， when I realized that Kai—one of the few people with more frequent flier miles in his account than I have—was also grounded at home， I asked him how he and his fellow Finns were dealing with the Covid-19 lockdown.
“We are a nation of introverts，” he exclaimed dryly. “Even in normal times we go out of our way to distance ourselves. This is the moment my country has always been waiting for.”
So when I first heard about Covid fan tutte， Finnish National Opera’s pastiche Mozart parody， I immediately reached out to Kai for his thoughts.“Too much talking，” he wrote back. “They don’t trust that we understand the jokes without explanation. Too many ‘funny’ lines that are not that funny. Just typical easy jokes for white middle-class heterosexuals.”
Considering that Kai himself squarely fits the target audience， it was a pretty chilly response. Finns are a tough crowd. ***
FNO’s production， which premiered in Helsinki at the end of August， was a project borne of necessity. Cancellations are hardly unknown during a travel crisis. I was in New York City in the aftermath of 9/11 when the New York Philharmonic’s guest soloists that week were stranded in Europe. Suddenly， the program shifted to Brahms’s Requiem with a couple of singers who were likewise stuck in town （New York being New York， they happened to be baritone Thomas Hampson and soprano Heidi Grant Murphy）.
The Finnish situation， though， veered in a different direction entirely. When the country’s preeminent conductor and operatic soprano both found themselves without work—Esa-Pekka Salonen was to open his first season as music director of the San Francisco Symphony， Karita Mattila had been rehearsing Jen？fa at Covent Garden when the production was pulled in late February—they decided to shelter in Helsinki， where the Covid situation was less severe.
Finland wound up cancelling performances along with the rest of the world， but by June the country had partially opened again and people began planning ahead. FNO immediately shifted its season-opening production of Die Walküre to midwinter， replacing it with a new， socially distanced production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. But since they were planning six months ahead， the company also bravely commissioned a new Finnish-language libretto by journalist and best-selling crime novelist Minna Lindgren.
Per its title， Covid fan tutte remains true to Mozart’s music， despite doing severe violence to Da Ponte’s text. The show opens with Wagner’s Walküre overture before being interrupted the company’s“interface manager” announcing that the company will now be performing Mozart. Much of the original Walküre cast shift gears into music from Così， with texts （both spoken and sung） shifting into a wideranging spoof of the politics and social realities of travel restrictions， quarantine， social distancing and general government inability to handle the situation coherently. Mattila plays， of course， an international opera diva suddenly stuck in Helsinki having to perform the role of Despina—a maid， of all things！—while dancer Natasha Loomi gets her star turn as the title character， Covid Virus.
It’s not just Così， though； the music dips a toe into The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni as well. In a couple of the show’s most inspired moments， the scene where Papageno is muffled by padlock morphs into a man trying to speak through a mask； in another， the Covid victim tally appears as a reworked version of Leporello’s Catalogue Aria. “In Spain， a thousand and three，” indeed. ***
Musically， the show chugs along for 100 uninterrupted minutes—no pesky intermission mingling to help spread the virus. Even Kai had nothing but praise for the performances （Salonen， for his part， also composed new musical tissue connecting the scenes）. But still， I had to agree with Kai. Despite some humorous stylistic subtleties— seeing a true Wagnerian cast transition to Mozart is rather like watching a team of weightlifters suddenly doing gymnastics—and a few broad topical laughs， something seemed to be missing.
Perhaps it was a generational thing. I reached out to composer Ilari Kaila， a younger Finn who would certainly know about the production despite being sheltered in Hong Kong. Ilari had already heard several mixed reviews， not least from his “quite Finnish” father， who was “very offended” and wrote“Serious matter！” to the befuddlement of his son. “I don’t get it，” Ilari said. “There’s always been comedy at times of crisis. But I guess there’s always the ‘too soon’ argument.”
Too soon？ The very day that Russia announced the development of their Covid vaccine someone jokingly sent me a picture of a small vodka bottle with a syringe. Late-night television hosts spoof US headlines practically in real time. The Finnish National Opera worked on this for six months. No， the problem I think was with the medium.
It’s not that humor can’t exist in opera—Mozart and Da Ponte， among others， have proved that—but comedy is another matter entirely. Humor emerges from character and situation， particularly when the two are improperly matched. Comedy， by contrast， is a matter of verbal jokes， sight gags and physicality that essentially need a rhythm of their own. Covid fan tutte was like a reasonable funny Saturday Night Live sketch puffed up into a Netflix series. Mozart’s music survived quite well， but it was setting up an entirely different punch line.
*** Note： Since Finnish National Opera’s outing， two US opera companies have launched unrelated productions of Così fan tutte laced with pandemic references. The first， which ran in October at the Pittsburgh Opera， set Mozart’s score and Da Ponte’s text in a munitions factory during the First World War and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918， with a 17-piece orchestra playing offstage and the entire cast wearing masks throughout the performance. （As we went to press， Pittsburgh Opera claims to be “the only opera company on the East Coast currently doing live indoor performances.”）
Across the country， Pacific Opera Project—which cancelled their Così fan tutte in March 2020—will soon launch a radically revised production entitled， yes， Covid fan tutte with a new libretto by director Josh Shaw set in a Southern California golf resort during the current pandemic. The production， scheduled for November， will be performed in a church parking lot， with audiences to remain in their cars for the duration of the show.
我们两人这些年来把酒言欢，尝过不少佳酿，这也让我们之间很多次谈话的细节都变得模糊了。但只要我想收集关于芬兰的资料，必定会先向凯这位老朋友打听打听。今年年初，当我知道凯——这位比我累积更多飞行里数的音乐同行之一——跟我同病相怜，因航班停飞而不得不待在家里时，我通过视频对话，询问他芬兰人是怎样应对新冠疫情的。
“我们是一个内向的国家，”说这句话时他刻意地表现得很冷淡，“即便是平常时期，我们也都尽量保持着距离。如今的生活方式，是芬兰这个国家一直以来就期待的。”
因此，当我听说芬兰国家歌剧院搬演了《新冠皆如此》（Covid fan tutte）这部借用莫扎特的作品选段拼贴而成的讽刺歌剧时，立刻发了一封电邮给凯，想听听他的评论。“对白太啰唆”是他的回复。“他们对观众的信心不足，台词里说完一个笑话还要加上诸多的解释。所谓‘搞笑’的句子很多都不好笑。对于白人中产阶级的异性恋群体来说，都是一些浅薄的笑话而已。”
考虑到凯正是他口中所说群体之一，这可以说这是一个相当刻薄的评论。芬兰人真难讨好。
***
于8月底在赫尔辛基首演的芬兰国家歌剧院《新冠皆如此》，完全是一个应运而生的剧目。由于国际旅行危机导致演出取消的情况，其实屡见不鲜。当年“9·11”事件发生之后我正好在纽约，原本安排在那周跟纽约爱乐乐团一同演出的独奏家们都因航班禁令被困在欧洲，无法远渡越洋按原计划演出。突然间，音乐会曲目就改为了勃拉姆斯《安魂曲》，并找来了滞留在纽约的歌唱家[幸好纽约是一个文化大都会，找来的临时独唱是男中音托马斯·汉普森（Thomas Hampson）与女高音海蒂·格兰特·墨菲（Heidi Grant Murphy）]献演。
但是，芬兰的局势却完全朝着不同的方向发展。当芬兰最著名的指挥家与女高音发现自己本来安排好好的演出全都被取消时——这正是埃萨-佩卡·萨洛宁（Esa-Pekka Salonen）接任旧金山交响乐团音乐总监的首个乐季，而卡丽塔·玛蒂拉（Karita Mattila）原本在伦敦科文特花园皇家歌剧院排练的《耶努法》（Jen？fa），到了2月底终于叫停——两人决定回赫尔辛基避难，因为那儿的新冠疫情相对来讲不太严重。
到了春季末，芬兰最终还是跟世界各地一样，取消了所有的现场演出。但到了6月，芬兰已经局部重启公众活动，艺术机构也得以开始策划新的演出内容。芬兰国家歌剧院把原来选定的演出季开幕大戏《女武神》延迟至冬季，取而代之的是一套全新并保持社交距离的莫扎特的《女人皆如此》（Cosìfan tutte，又译《女人心》）。正因为有半年时间筹备这个新制作，歌剧院特别委约了芬兰当今著名的记者兼畅销犯罪小说家米娜·林德格伦（Minna Lindgren）撰写新的芬兰语版本歌词。
正如这个特别版本的标题《新冠皆如此》，大部分的音乐都忠于莫扎特，却对达·蓬特的原著大肆修改。该作品以瓦格纳《女武神》的开场作为序曲，随后就被歌剧院的一位“交流经理”（interface manager）打断，宣布即时换演莫扎特歌剧，准备出场的《女武神》演员贸然换挡演唱莫扎特。劇中的对白与唱词幽默讽刺，影射旅游限制、强制隔离、社交距离等衍生的政治与社会问题，间接批评芬兰政府无法协调一致地处理危机。不出所料，玛蒂拉扮演的角色是被困在赫尔辛基的国际歌剧大咖，因为局势所迫，唯有饰演女佣黛斯皮娜（Despina）一角，以及所有其他的角色！这套新歌剧更有舞者娜塔莎·卢米（Natasha Loomi）演绎剧中的主角——新冠病毒。
演出的音乐素材除了选自《女人皆如此》以外，也借用了《魔笛》与《唐乔瓦尼》的几首经典咏叹调。而发人深思的段落包括帕帕基诺被封住嘴的情节改为戴上口罩无法说话；还有报道新冠疫情死亡人数时套上莱波雷洛（Leporello）数尽唐乔瓦尼各国情人的咏叹调，例如“在西班牙，共一千零三人。”
***
从音乐上来看，这部歌剧哼哧哼哧地延续了100分钟的时长——没有讨厌的中场休息，观众也可降低因中场休息的社交而感染病毒的可能性。就算凯·安伯拉对于音乐演绎予以很高评价（萨洛宁更为该剧创作了新音乐以连接各个片段），但我还是同意凯对于剧情的劣评。虽然某些幽默的音乐风格细腻地展露出来——我们看到舞台上一班瓦格纳演员被迫适应莫扎特作品的规模制作，就像一队举重运动员突然要表演艺术体操一样违和——还有一些虽然令人捧腹大笑的场景，然而似乎感觉还缺少什么东西。
或者这种观感是来源于代沟？我发消息给年轻的芬兰作曲家伊拉里·凯拉（Ilari Kaila），尽管他现在待在香港，我肯定他听说过这部歌剧。他告诉我各界对该作品的评价褒贬不一，甚至引述他自己“相当典型芬兰人”的父亲看了歌剧后“十分生气”，因为新冠疫情应该是一个“严肃的话题”。伊拉里自己也困惑不已。“我不明白，”他写道，“危机往往会引出喜剧，让大众调剂一下心情。也许他们所争论的，是现在开这种玩笑未免‘太早了吧’。” 太早了？當俄罗斯向全球公布研发新冠疫苗的新闻当天，网上就有人开起了玩笑，疯传一张带注射器的小伏特加酒瓶的图片。美国电视上的晚间“脱口秀”也在揶揄当天美国头条新闻的实时性。比起来，芬兰国家歌剧院起码有半年的时间来筹备这个制作。时间的早晚不是问题，我想问题是出在歌剧这种艺术形式的载体上。
当然，这并不是说幽默在歌剧中不存在——莫扎特与达·蓬特，还有很多富有创意的艺术家，都为此提供了不少佐证——但喜剧却是另一回事。幽默源自人物性格与情境——尤其当两者配合有所偏差时。相反地，喜剧需要铺排笑话、插科打诨、滑稽举动，更需要三者凑合紧密的节奏。综上所述，这部《新冠皆如此》更像《周六夜现场》（Saturday Night Live，美国一档于周六深夜时段直播的喜剧小品类综艺节目）中的一则喜剧小品，却被制作人像气球般打气，膨胀扩容至网飞（Netflix，会员订阅制的流媒体播放平台）上的喜剧系列剧集。莫扎特的音乐幸免于难，可是剧情中的笑点却完全不到位。
***
附注：芬兰国家歌剧院《新冠皆如此》首演后，美国有两家歌剧院也要搬演添加新冠疫情元素的《女人皆如此》，但这些制作之间都没有什么关联。匹兹堡歌剧院（Pittsburgh Opera）于10月搬演的版本把背景时间改为第一次世界大战期间，也就是1918年西班牙流感暴发的高峰，地点是一个弹药工厂。乐队减少至17人并在舞台区域以外演奏，演员则全都戴上口罩。（直至本文发稿当天，匹兹堡歌剧院的新闻稿中声称自己是“今天美国东岸唯一在户内场所举行演出的歌剧团体。”）
在美国西岸，太平洋歌剧项目（Pacific Opera Project）——这个艺术团体被迫于今年3月取消原定的《女人皆如此》计划——正紧锣密鼓地筹备一个颠覆性的改编版本，取名也是《新冠皆如此》。新剧本由导演乔希·肖（Josh Shaw）执笔，故事发生在疫情严峻的今天，地点是南加州一个高尔夫球场。这个制作将于11月在一个教堂的露天停车场中上演，观众必须留在自己的车内观赏演出。
When I first met Kai Amberla back in the 1990s， he was editor of the Finnish Music Quarterly. Soon after that， he became head of the Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestras. A few years later， he was running the Finnish Music Information Centre， representing pretty much all his country’s composers before and after Sibelius. Then he wound up as executive director of Finland Festivals， the government’s umbrella organization promoting hundreds of Finnish festivals around the world.
Given the amount of alcohol we’ve shared over the years， some of our history is fuzzy， but suffice it to say， whenever I need to know anything about Finland， Kai is my first call. Earlier this year， when I realized that Kai—one of the few people with more frequent flier miles in his account than I have—was also grounded at home， I asked him how he and his fellow Finns were dealing with the Covid-19 lockdown.
“We are a nation of introverts，” he exclaimed dryly. “Even in normal times we go out of our way to distance ourselves. This is the moment my country has always been waiting for.”
So when I first heard about Covid fan tutte， Finnish National Opera’s pastiche Mozart parody， I immediately reached out to Kai for his thoughts.“Too much talking，” he wrote back. “They don’t trust that we understand the jokes without explanation. Too many ‘funny’ lines that are not that funny. Just typical easy jokes for white middle-class heterosexuals.”
Considering that Kai himself squarely fits the target audience， it was a pretty chilly response. Finns are a tough crowd. ***
FNO’s production， which premiered in Helsinki at the end of August， was a project borne of necessity. Cancellations are hardly unknown during a travel crisis. I was in New York City in the aftermath of 9/11 when the New York Philharmonic’s guest soloists that week were stranded in Europe. Suddenly， the program shifted to Brahms’s Requiem with a couple of singers who were likewise stuck in town （New York being New York， they happened to be baritone Thomas Hampson and soprano Heidi Grant Murphy）.
The Finnish situation， though， veered in a different direction entirely. When the country’s preeminent conductor and operatic soprano both found themselves without work—Esa-Pekka Salonen was to open his first season as music director of the San Francisco Symphony， Karita Mattila had been rehearsing Jen？fa at Covent Garden when the production was pulled in late February—they decided to shelter in Helsinki， where the Covid situation was less severe.
Finland wound up cancelling performances along with the rest of the world， but by June the country had partially opened again and people began planning ahead. FNO immediately shifted its season-opening production of Die Walküre to midwinter， replacing it with a new， socially distanced production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. But since they were planning six months ahead， the company also bravely commissioned a new Finnish-language libretto by journalist and best-selling crime novelist Minna Lindgren.
Per its title， Covid fan tutte remains true to Mozart’s music， despite doing severe violence to Da Ponte’s text. The show opens with Wagner’s Walküre overture before being interrupted the company’s“interface manager” announcing that the company will now be performing Mozart. Much of the original Walküre cast shift gears into music from Così， with texts （both spoken and sung） shifting into a wideranging spoof of the politics and social realities of travel restrictions， quarantine， social distancing and general government inability to handle the situation coherently. Mattila plays， of course， an international opera diva suddenly stuck in Helsinki having to perform the role of Despina—a maid， of all things！—while dancer Natasha Loomi gets her star turn as the title character， Covid Virus.
It’s not just Così， though； the music dips a toe into The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni as well. In a couple of the show’s most inspired moments， the scene where Papageno is muffled by padlock morphs into a man trying to speak through a mask； in another， the Covid victim tally appears as a reworked version of Leporello’s Catalogue Aria. “In Spain， a thousand and three，” indeed. ***
Musically， the show chugs along for 100 uninterrupted minutes—no pesky intermission mingling to help spread the virus. Even Kai had nothing but praise for the performances （Salonen， for his part， also composed new musical tissue connecting the scenes）. But still， I had to agree with Kai. Despite some humorous stylistic subtleties— seeing a true Wagnerian cast transition to Mozart is rather like watching a team of weightlifters suddenly doing gymnastics—and a few broad topical laughs， something seemed to be missing.
Perhaps it was a generational thing. I reached out to composer Ilari Kaila， a younger Finn who would certainly know about the production despite being sheltered in Hong Kong. Ilari had already heard several mixed reviews， not least from his “quite Finnish” father， who was “very offended” and wrote“Serious matter！” to the befuddlement of his son. “I don’t get it，” Ilari said. “There’s always been comedy at times of crisis. But I guess there’s always the ‘too soon’ argument.”
Too soon？ The very day that Russia announced the development of their Covid vaccine someone jokingly sent me a picture of a small vodka bottle with a syringe. Late-night television hosts spoof US headlines practically in real time. The Finnish National Opera worked on this for six months. No， the problem I think was with the medium.
It’s not that humor can’t exist in opera—Mozart and Da Ponte， among others， have proved that—but comedy is another matter entirely. Humor emerges from character and situation， particularly when the two are improperly matched. Comedy， by contrast， is a matter of verbal jokes， sight gags and physicality that essentially need a rhythm of their own. Covid fan tutte was like a reasonable funny Saturday Night Live sketch puffed up into a Netflix series. Mozart’s music survived quite well， but it was setting up an entirely different punch line.
*** Note： Since Finnish National Opera’s outing， two US opera companies have launched unrelated productions of Così fan tutte laced with pandemic references. The first， which ran in October at the Pittsburgh Opera， set Mozart’s score and Da Ponte’s text in a munitions factory during the First World War and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918， with a 17-piece orchestra playing offstage and the entire cast wearing masks throughout the performance. （As we went to press， Pittsburgh Opera claims to be “the only opera company on the East Coast currently doing live indoor performances.”）
Across the country， Pacific Opera Project—which cancelled their Così fan tutte in March 2020—will soon launch a radically revised production entitled， yes， Covid fan tutte with a new libretto by director Josh Shaw set in a Southern California golf resort during the current pandemic. The production， scheduled for November， will be performed in a church parking lot， with audiences to remain in their cars for the duration of the show.