La clemenza di Tito

« In La clemenza di Tito, Mozart gives us a work where love isn’t the end goal – it’s a lever, a driving force behind political intrigues and shattered lives. We encounter characters of exceptional integrity, like Tito and Annio, but also lost souls like Sesto, manipulated by the formidable Vitellia. The deep friendship between Sesto and Annio adds a layer of intense emotion, while Servilia’s sincere, pure love stands in stark contrast to Vitellia’s insatiable ambitions.
This is one of my favourite Mozarts, though it’s often overlooked in favour of The Marriage of Figaro or Così fan tutte. For me, La clemenza di Tito is a musical testament – his final opera, a return to the opera seria genre, which was deemed outdated but grants an unmatched nobility and depth to the characters. Here, we are in the realm of pure tragedy, with that monumental final act of forgiveness which defines the opera, echoing the ideal of the 18th-century enlightened monarch.
What moves me most is the solitude that inhabits each character, even in the most glorious ensembles. With Mozart, there’s always this infinite tenderness, this heart-wrenching humanism. From the very first bars of the overture, the music grips me… And there’s something profoundly beautiful about experiencing his work this way – juxtaposing one of his earliest operas with his last. »

– Christophe Rousset