La Clemenza di Tito, Opéra de Monte-Carlo
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Opera seria in two acts K. 621
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Libretto by Caterino Mazzolà based on Métastase and The Lives of the Twelve Caesars by Suetonius
Premiere: Prague, Stavovské divadlo [State Theater], 6 september 1791, to celebrate the coronation of Leopold II, King of Bohemia
As part of the Mozart à Monaco festival organized by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. New production, in coproduction with the Royal Danish Opera and Hamburg Staatsoper.
Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito premiered in Prague where Austria’s Emperor Leopold II was crowned King of Bohemia. After an early success, it became saddled with a fusty image. Undoubtedly, the reason must be attributed to the libretto, which was considered outdated at a time when theatregoers had begun to share the views of the uprising bourgeois society, rather than those of the decadent nobility. La clemenza di Tito glorifies absolutism and the benevolent ruler. Such a subject matter would have seemed reactionary even at the opera’s world premiere in 1791, two years after the French revolution.
Today, this work fascinates us for the way in which Mozart broke free from the formal constraints of opera seria and wrote music of a poignancy which is indistinguishable from the rest of the glorious output at the end of his short life. This is a rare chance to see Cecilia Bartoli perform the part of Sesto on stage, where she is surrounded by a cast of equally passionate champions of Mozart’s wonderful music.
Tuesday, January 28th | 8pm
Opéra de Monte-Carlo
Members : €126
https://www.opera.mc/en/seasons/24-25/la-clemenza-di-tito