La clemenza di Tito, K. 621

In 1791, Leopold of Habsburg-Lorraine was crowned King of Bohemia. For the sumptuous festivities, it was decided that a serious work should be commissioned, and legend has it that the most fashionable composer in Austria at the time was hired for the job: none other than... the Venetian master Antonio Salieri! However, he is said to have declined the offer, and the choice then fell on Mozart. Whether the legend is true or not, it is La clemenza di Tito, an opera in two acts with a libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, based on the eponymous drama by Metastasio, that was performed in honor of the new King of Bohemia!

The story follows the events of a plot against the Roman Emperor Titus, who, having escaped assassination, condemns the conspirators. However, in a dramatic twist announced by the title of the work, he shows great clemency and pardons them all! La clemenza di Tito thus seems to be a clever propaganda operation on the part of the King of Bohemia... Nevertheless, Mozart's creative genius did not fail to offer us some of the most beautiful arias in the history of opera singing!