This analytical study explains how Mozart's music for Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Cos ? fan tutte 'sounds' the intentions of Da Ponte's characters and their relationships with one another. Mozart did not merely interpret Da Ponte's characterisations but lent them temporal, musical forms. Charles Ford's analysis presents a new method by which to relate the music of the operas to the thinking of the European Enlightenment, involving close readings...