La clemenza di Tito
- Tito Vespasian (Titus ), ruler of Rome, tenor
- Vitellia, daughter of the previous emperor Vitellius, soprano
- Sesto, friend of Titus, lovers of Vitellia, mezzo-soprano
- Servilia, sister of Sesto, lover of Annio, soprano
- Annio, friend of Sesto, lovers of Servilia, mezzo-soprano
- Publio, captain of the Praetorian Guard, Bass
- Choir
La Clemenza di Tito ( German: The mildness [ also: generosity ] of Titus, formerly often under the title Titus ) is an opera ( K. 621 ) in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Genesis, classification and reception
After Antonio Salieri had turned down the offer of delivery delays from Prague impresario Domenico Guardasoni to write an opera for the coronation of Emperor Leopold II as King of Bohemia, was issued the order of Bohemian estates to his colleague Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Under severe time constraints wrote this opera seria La Clemenza di Tito, it was his last operatic work. Still in the touring car on the way from Vienna to Prague, he was busy with work at the opera; in the composition of the secco recitatives assisted him probably his pupil Süssmayr.
Pietro Metastasio's vaunted libretto from 1734 has been set to music more than 40 times, including by Antonio Caldara (1734 ) and Christoph Willibald Gluck ( 1752). From the Electoral Saxon court poet Caterino Mazzolà revised (1745-1806) in Mozart's mind, it was also served up for the Prague coronation. Mozart commented on Mazzola's libretto that La Clemenza di Tito was a " cause opera" has become.
The content is programmatic: Amid malicious intrigues and even the betrayal by his childhood friend Sesto insists the Roman emperor - and not in keeping with the history - on the sovereign virtue of generosity (Latin clementia " Mild ", ital Clemenza " generosity ", " forgiveness "). Music and Libretto consistently keep a high level of emotional tension without a break of the act or rambling interludes upright.
The image of the noble, prepare for the remission of Emperor Leopold II should be held with targeted stylistic recourse to long since become rare form of opera seria as a model in mind. La Clemenza di Tito was premiered on September 6, 1791 in the Estates Theatre in Prague.
On the occasion of the premiere of the Empress to have called very derogatory said about this opera and this as Una porcheria tedesca ( " a German mess "). However, there is no contemporary evidence for this statement, the oldest evidence is found in the Scriptures published in 1871 Rococo images: for records of my grandfather Alfred Meissner, a collection of anecdotes from the cultural and political life in Prague in the late 18th and early 19th century.
In the 19th century Titus was most frequently performed opera The Magic Flute Mozart's next, in the 20th century, the work was performed much less frequently.
Voices and orchestra
The roles of Sesto and Annio were originally intended for Kastratenstimmen.
Orchestra: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 1 basset clarinet, basset horn 1, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings. In two arias Mozart is in the orchestra, a solo instrument: in Sesto's aria Parto ma tu ben mio (No. 9) a clarinet, in Vitellia aria Non più di fiori (No. 23), a basset horn.
Importance and music
La Clemenza di Tito was at the beginning of the 19th century Mozart's most popular opera, but soon lost the favor of the audience, because the opera was attributed to the deprecated prestigious type of courtly representative opera seria. In fact, however, the profound processing of the libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, including the addition of many ensemble movements, led to La Clemenza di Tito, no longer corresponds to the image of the traditional opera seria, in substantially the only aria to aria will be ranked. Mozart himself has noted in his handwritten catalog of works that Mazzolà La Clemenza di Tito had to arrange opera, a true opera, made . In the recent time, La Clemenza di Tito pleased again the increased popularity, the audience.