WATCH: How listening to Mozart helps John Lithgow during the pandemic

“Soave sia il vento,” from Act I of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Così fan tutte,” is a farewell trio by the cynical Don Alfonso and two women whose fiancés have ostensibly been called to war. Unbeknownst to the women, their husbands-to-be are in fact pretending to leave as part of an elaborate scheme initiated by Don Alfonso that unravels during the opera.

The juxtaposition between the song’s sadness and the subsequent comedy has provided comfort for actor John Lithgow this year because it highlights that “there’s lightness in everything,” he said. “Mozart was a great poet of that duality.”

In a year of crisis, here are the songs that some artists have turned to to bring them comfort or joy. Listen to the Spotify playlist here

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