# OH 04.04.2015 - La clemenza di Tito



## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

Welcome to our first "Opera Hour" thread!

In case you haven't seen this thread, we will be listening to an opera every two weeks in a similar vein to the "Saturday Symphonies" facilitated by forum member realdealblues. The purpose of these threads is three-fold:

1. To encourage those of us who would like to spend more time with opera, but don't have the motivation to do so on a regular basis.

2. To promote the spread of information about operas, their history, performance practices, and live and recorded experiences.

3. To facilitate discussion of specific operas and allow those of us with more experience to share their knowledge and benefit from a variety of perspectives.

Ok, a couple of ground rules. It isn't TC without any rules, right? 

#1. Strive to be positive. Encourage those who are, perhaps, experiencing the opera for the first time - help them onto their feet and refrain from negativity.

#2. Let's encourage diversity. If you have a favorite video/audio recording, listen to one that you haven't seen/heard before. We can also discuss live performances. If you've been to one recently, let us know!

#3. And first and foremost, have fun! We are going to be working through 272 operas, so it may be some time before we get to hear your favorite one. Be patient and you'll learn something. I know I will.

All right, without further ado...our first opera:

*Mozart - La clemenza di Tito*

In case you're wondering, I used this number generator to determine which opera we would start with. I will use this program for all subsequent entries in the "Opera Hour" series. _La clemenza di Tito_ is #81 on the list.

Well, there it is! Happy listening!


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

Also, I will use a European date format for each entry: DD.MM.YY

More of you may be accustomed to this. It didn't matter this time, of course (April 4th), but we'll use that format from now on for all you Europeans.


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

Ah! The first one _would_ have to be something that I've neverseen that has breeches roles. (Sorry, I have never been able to suspend my disbelief and it always seems to get in the way of my enjoyment.)

Fortunately, the first thing that pops up on Youtube is a nontraditional production. Excellent! If I have to take women playing men, I'll take it avant-garde.

I'll be back...


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Not only breeches roles, but predominantly modern recordings- and we have to 'refrain from negativity'?!!! :lol: I feel like I've literally been gagged!  

We'll see what your random number generator comes up with next, and I'll be back. In the meantime, have fun with La Clemenza di Tito. :tiphat:


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

I'm committed to the randomness of this project! I *will* watch this opera.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

For a moment, I wondered where _La Clemenza di Tito_ was being performed in Ohio on 4 April! :lol:


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

It will be my first time listening to this opera. I choose Colin Davis with the Royal Opera House:









A little history behind the opera:

_La clemenza_ was commissioned as part of the coronation ceremony of Leopold II, king of Bohemia. Its premiere took place on September 6, 1791 in Prague. It appears to have been moderately successful, but because it didn't have the measure of charm and wit to be found in the da Ponte operas, it eventually fell into neglect and isn't as often performed today as the late comedies. Some see _La clemenza_ as proof that Mozart couldn't pull off an opera seria as well as buffo, but recent proponents such as Rene Jacobs have fiercely defended its darker qualities and are striving for better representation of the opera in modern repertoire.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I posted this on TC some while back:

I've been listening to Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito c. 1955 conducted by Joseph Keilberth. This is a true odd-ball among Mozart's oeuvre. It was the last opera Mozart began, although he completed it and premiered it before The Magic Flute. It was commissioned to honor the coronation of Leopold II after the death of his brother, Joseph II, as King of Bohemia. The deadline for completion was so short that Salieri turned it down, and Mozart was ultimately offered double his usual sum. Unable to find a new libretto on such short notice, he turned to the text by Metastasio that had been set numerous times by other composers. The theme, the clemency or benevolence of Titus was seen as ideal for the occasion.

La Clemenza di Tito was written as an opera seria, it broke from the usual model (and the original libretto) in eliminating the da capo arias and adding ensemble scenes and large modern arias.
The recitatives were originally "farmed out" and set to music... quite likely by Mozart's "pupil", Franz Xaver Süssmayr (who traveled with Mozart and his wife, Constanze, to Prague, for the coronation as well as the premier of La Clemenza di Tito, and The Magic Flute, as well as a performance of Don Giovanni.. The arias, duets, etc... were all set by Mozart and include some of his most marvelous music. His scoring for clarinets is especially delicious. The premier was a flop with the wife of Leopold supposedly making an off the cuff comment about typical German swinishness, yet Mozart would live long enough to hear of reports of the popularity and success of both La Clemenza... and Die Zauberflöte.

La Clemenza di Tito faded rapidly from view following Mozart's death... much like his other great late opera, Cosi fan tutte. Where Cosi... was berated by Beethoven and Wagner as an immoral waste of Mozart's divine talent, La Clemenza di Tito was criticized for the excessive use of recitatives. The thrilling overture is immediately follwed by a three minute narrative recitative. The classical theatrical form, in which most of the action takes place off stage and is conveyed by the narrator is also strange for an opera by Mozart... or any composer after Mozart. Nevertheless, the opera was "rediscovered" and "rehabilitated" in the mid-20th century and today it is recognized as ranking among Mozart's greatest achievements. While it may not stand up in comparison to Don Giovanni or Die Zauberflöte, in all likelihood, it would be recognized as a major achievement by any other composer. In 2011 and 2012 (up to the present) there have been 89 performances of La Clemenza...










This recording, conducted by Joseph Keilberth with the Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchestera recorded in 1955 is true "old school" Mozart... the orchestra of full-blooded Beethovian scale... and yet the recitatives have been stripped down... translated into German, Süssmayr's musical accompaniments are dispensed with the result sounding something closer to the "Singspiel" model of Die Zauberflöte. It is hard to tell whether this approach... eliminating all but Mozart's music... or retaining the whole of the original score is the better approach. The elimination of Süssmayr's settings of the recitatives speeds things along and does away with everything that isn't by Mozart himself... yet at a cost of a flow in the drama which Gluck and Mozart had worked so hard to establish in opera. Rene Jacobs, makes an argument for retaining the entire recitatives as originally written. As opposed to mere narration, Jacob's singers employ decorative and expressive ornamentation and well-crafted declamation to plumb the emotional depths of Metastasio's elegant poetry. John Eliot Gardiner takes a middle road... cutting more than a few minutes from the recitatives and pushing the drama.

Whichever route you take, this is an important opera by Mozart that certainly deserves to be heard... and discussed more than it is.

I'm giving the Keilberth recording another listen... although I have a copy of the Renée Jacobs recording on order. Although I have multiple recordings of almost all of Mozart's major operas, I have only this one recording of La Clemenza. The Harnoncourt recording looked promising with Anne Murray and Lucia Popp, yet the single review on Amazon suggests that Phillip Langridge as Tito is virtually unlistenable. The Gardiner set has some good reviews as well, but the set that I am most intrigued with is that of Kertesz with Teresa Berganza, Brigitte Fassbaender, & Lucia Popp. Unfortunately this is difficult to find outside of overpriced used copies. I'll give Spotify a look later.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

I love this opera, despite the fact it was composed in a hurry and has provoked so many invidious comparisons with the other late operatic masterpieces. Mozart seems to have enjoyed finding comedy in a person being merciful to those in his power (as he also did at the end of Abduction from the Seraglio and elsewhere). Such a peculiar plot--with such lovely music.

I'll try this live performance from 2003, conducted by Harnoncourt:


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

That's the one I'm watching


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Sounds like a fun plan! I'll try to take part regularly provided I already own the opera (I've plenty of owned-but-not-heard operas!) or my library does. I've listened to Clemenza once or twice but don't know it well.

By take part I mainly mean listening along. I'll enjoy the discussion too but probably won't have a lot to add in comparison


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