Mozart's last Da Ponte opera was given its première on 26 January 1790. Written during the final months of the reign of Joseph II, Così fan tutte has come to symbolise the end of the brilliant era of the Enlightenment in Vienna. Rosselli described it as ‘the fine flower of the old regime at its point of dissolution’. Considering the opera's significance, the documentary legacy of its commission, composition, rehearsal and first performance is a meagre one. Legends that grew up subsequently, such as the idea that Joseph II himself suggested the libretto to Mozart, or that the story was based on an incident that actually occurred in Vienna, are now largely discredited. In the absence of firm evidence to the contrary, it is usually assumed that the award of a commission for a new opera was a direct result of the successful revival of Figaro in the summer of 1789.

An improved understanding of the context in which Mozart came to work on Così fan tutte has been made possible by Rice's discovery of a short-lived attempt by Salieri to set this libretto. The little that he managed to complete is in an autograph manuscript in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna (S.m.4531). It consists of the two opening trios ‘La mia Dorabella’ and ‘È la fede delle fem[m]ine’, separated by the first recitative on a text substantially different from the one set by Mozart. Literary and allusive in character, the libretto was well suited to Salieri's tastes, and it might well have been written for him specifically as a follow-up to his earlier success La scuola de’ gelosi. It is not at all clear why he abandoned work on it so soon.

One reference to Salieri's interest in this libretto has long been known. In interviews given to the Novellos in 1829, Constanze confirmed that her husband’s rival had attempted to set Così. She stated: ‘Salieri's enmity arose from Mozart's setting the Così fan tutte which he had originally commenced and given up as unworthy [of ] musical invention.’