a little thief"). Fiordiligi, upset by this development, decides to go to the army and find her betrothed. Before she can leave, though, Ferrando arrives and continues his attempted seduction. Fiordiligi finally succumbs and falls into his arms (duet: "Fra gli amplessi"—"In the embraces"). Guglielmo is distraught while Ferrando turns Guglielmo's earlier gloating back on him. Alfonso, winner of the wager, tells the men to forgive their fiancées. After all: "Così fan tutte"—"All women are like that". Scene 4 The scene begins as a double wedding for the sisters and their "Albanian" grooms. Despina, in disguise as a notary, presents the marriage contract, which only the ladies sign. (The men, of course, realise that this wedding is a sham, and are only playing along with it in order to teach their unfaithful lovers a lesson.) Directly thereafter, military music is heard in the distance, indicating the return of the officers. Alfonso confirms the sisters' fears: Ferrando and Guglielmo are on their way to the house. The "Albanians" hurry off to hide (actually, to change out of their disguises). They return as the officers, professing their love. Alfonso drops the marriage contract in front of the officers, and, when they read it, they become enraged. They then depart and return moments later, half in Albanian disguise, half as officers. Despina has been revealed to be the notary, and the sisters realize they have been duped. All is ultimately forgiven, as the entire group praises the ability to accept life's unavoidable good times and bad times. Recordings See also List of operas by Mozart Coronation Mass in C major (Così fan tutte pasticcio), setting of the Mass using reworked music from Così fan tutte Così, a 1992 play by Louis Nowra, based on the staging of Così fan tutte in a psychiatric hospital References Notes Citations Sources Also here, academia.edu . Further reading Whitfield, Sarah (2011), "Così fan tutte: Brilliance or Buffoonery?", Musical Offerings, vol. 2, no. 2, article 1. External links Libretto, critical editions, diplomatic editions, source evaluation (German only), links to online DME recordings; Digital Mozart Edition Complete libretto, scores, opera-guide.ch Full score, dlib.indiana.edu "Mozart at the Met", Time, 7 January 1952 Così fan tutte at the Internet Movie Database Opera guide and synopsis, opera-inside.com Così fan tutte = So machen's Alle : komische Oper in 2 Akten, 1898 publication, Italian and German, digitized by BYU on archive.org Italian-language operas