In his traversal of the Mozart operas with librettos by Da Ponte, René Jacobs has championed an approach which “contrasts above all with the style that began to determine our listening habits in the first half of the twentieth century... I am convinced that we must first of all eliminate, or at least clean up, the retouching applied in the nineteenth century in order to allow the original colours to reemerge,” as he explained at the time of the release of Così fan tutte. Whether in terms of his choice of instruments, recitative delivery, or vocal ornamentation, his readings aim to restore to opera buffa and to dramma giocoso their very essence: namely, their theatricality. Box set includes nine CDs plus a data disc featuring PDFs and a realm of additional information.