La Clemenza di Tito

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Puget Sound Concert Opera presents Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito. A fascinating tale of deception, political intrigue, and a devious assassination plot, culminating in the magnanimous gesture of the great Roman emperor, Titus.

Performed concert style with piano.

Thursday, October 23, 2008 ~ 7:00pm
Lake Sammamish Foursquare Church
14434 NE 8th Street
Bellevue, WA
Saturday, October 25, 2008 ~ 2:00pm
Friday Harbor Presbyterian Church
425 Spring Street
Friday Harbor, Washington

Sunday, October 26, 2008 ~ 2:00 pm
Gethsemane Lutheran Church
911 Stewart Street
Seattle, Washington

Suggested donation: $15 general, $10 student/senior

Cast and Characters

Sesto (Sextus), a young Roman patrician ...... Sharon Annette Lancaster
Vitellia, daugher of the Roman Emperor Vitellius ...... Regina Thomas
Tito (Titus), the Roman Emperor ...... Nicholas Larson
Pubblio, captain of the Praetorian guard ...... David Barela
Annio (Annius), a young Roman patrician ...... Corinne Stevens
Servilia, sister of Sextus ...... Kimberly Monzón
Pianist ...... Glenda Williams
Conductor / Pianist ...... Susan McDaniel

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The Story

The story is dominated by two considerations: the determination of the deposed Emperor's daughter, Vitellia, herself in love with current emperor Tito, to have revenge on him when he seems about to marry another; and the inclination of Tito to show clemency, no matter what the provocation.

Vitellia knows of Tito's plan to marry Berenice, daughter of Agrippa I of Judea. She urges Sesto, who is in love with her, to lead a conspiracy against the Emperor. He reluctantly agrees. Annio enters and asks his friend, Sesto, to intercede on his behalf with Tito regarding his desire to marry Sesto's sister, Servilia, but Sesto is forestalled when he discovers that Tito has decided to marry Servilia himself. Upon receiving this news, Servilia declares her love for Annio to Tito. The Emperor then renounces her and decides to marry Vitellia instead. Vitellia, who has no knowledge of this, sends Sesto off to set fire to the Capitol and murder Tito only to hear, a moment after Sesto leaves, that the Emperor has decided to make her Empress. Sesto succeeds in setting fire to the Capitol, but mistakenly murders another man wearing Tito's mantle. Act I ends in confusion.

Act II begins with the knowledge that Tito has escaped with his life and the details of the plot have been revealed to him. Annio advises Sesto to throw himself at the Emperor's mercy, but Vitellia, anxious to conceal her participation, urges him to flee the country. Before Sesto can make a decision, Pubblio arrives to arrest him. Sesto is tried by the Senate and condemned to death. Tito confronts Sesto and in the end, tears up the death sentence. After a firm lecture from Servilia, Vitellia is filled with remorse and confesses her part of the plot to Tito. The Emperor, in a great and magnanimous gesture, also offers her clemency.

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About the Opera

La Clemenza di Tito was written towards the end of Mozart's life. Most of the music was written in a hurry, by a man exhausted by illness and overwork. In fact, Mozart did not survive to complete Tito. He wrote or sketched all the musical numbers, but it was left to his student to write the recitatives (the "dialogue" between musical numbers), a fact that is clear to a discerning listener. The arias and ensembles show much of the brilliance Mozart had shown in Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cosi Fan Tutte but the recitatives are can be extremely awkward. To preserve the gloriousness that was Mozart and decrease the awkwardness, PSCO has trimmed the recitatives extensively, leaving the musical numbers fully intact.

The opera was written as an opera seria, an older style than was popular at the time of Mozart. The libretto, written by Metastsio, has a very static drama and is very solo/monologue oriented, as opposed to having more interaction between characters. Mozart actually improved upon the libretto by including a number of wonderful duets, trios and large ensembles. The style and overall structure of the opera is much different than anything else Mozart wrote, but is a fine example of the opera seria style.

A particularly fine recording of La Clemenza di Tito is that of Covent Garden in 1974. Dame Janet Baker sings Vitellia with Yvonne Minton as Sesto and Eric Tappy as Tito.

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Learn More

Opera America's recommened reading and listening information for children and their families

Information about Mozart: About the real Emperor Titus: About La Clemenza di Tito, and sample YouTube Clips:

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