La clemenza di Tito, K.621

This is an opera seria, a serious opera in Italian built from a string of solo arias joined by spoken-style recitative (sung dialogue that moves the plot along). Only a handful of ensembles and choruses break up the arias.

Act I. In ancient Rome, Vitellia, the daughter of a deposed emperor, wants revenge on the new emperor, Tito, who has not chosen her as his bride. She pressures Sesto, a young man devoted to her, to help. Sesto, who is also Tito's close friend, is torn, and his aria 'Parto, parto' pairs a singing voice with a lyrical clarinet line. A fire breaks out at the Capitol. The act ends with a large ensemble and chorus in the shadow of the blaze, as the plot seems to have worked.

Act II. Tito survives. Sesto confesses and is condemned. Tito wrestles with what mercy asks of him. He tears up the death warrant and forgives everyone, Vitellia included, who finally owns up. The opera ends with a chorus praising the emperor.

In the concert hall, orchestras most often play the overture, a short, festive piece in a bright key, or a single aria such as one of Sesto's. Listen for the clarinets, which Mozart prized and gave special parts in this score.

Mozart wrote La clemenza di Tito in 1791, in a rush, for the coronation of Emperor Leopold II as King of Bohemia in Prague. The libretto was based on an older text by Pietro Metastasio, reworked by Caterino Mazzolà. It was first performed in Prague in September 1791, just weeks before the premiere of The Magic Flute in Vienna. Mozart died that December. The opera fell out of fashion in the 1800s because it looked old-fashioned, then returned in the twentieth century and is now staged regularly around the world.