# Why is Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito ignored?



## Aurelian (Sep 9, 2011)

I do not even recall hearing any music from it.

I also not recall hearing about a performance.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Mozart wrote it as a commission. It certainly contains a lot of beautiful music but it is a return to the opera seria that he had abandoned with Idonemeo. He was working on Zauberflote at the same time and it's tempting to think that, with all his genius, he only had his mind half on the job. The other things are that the secco recitatives are not by Mozart but by a pupil, possibly Sussmayr as Mozart did not have time to write them. So a bit of a rush job which has never really caught on with the public as the story is pathetic too - an emperor marries three women in a day in which Rome burns down.

Having said that, just listen to this. You will not hear anything more beautiful!


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

La Clemenza is by no means ignored , just not done as often as the other 6 fully mature Mozart operas . The Met has a production from many years ago which it revives periodically , and James Levine has conducted most of the performances there , and there are several DVDs , including ones from Salzburg conducted by Harnoncourt and from Drottningholm , Sweden , both of which I've seen .
The Salzburg production was part of the project to perform all 22 Mozart operas back in 2006 ,
and the Swedish one uses period instruments, and even the conductor and orchestra wear 18th century costumes including wigs ! 
There are recordings on CD with Istvan kertesz, Karl Boehm, Sir Colin Davis , Harnoncourt , Gardiner and other eminent conducts with many outstanding singers . 
La Clemenza is an old fashioned Italian opera seria , but contains some wonderful music and was the last of Mozart's operas . By all means get any of these CDs or DVDs. You won't regret it .


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I have watched five different productions of "La Clemenza" live in the theater. 

It's not ignored, far from it.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

Operabase reports 302 performances in 65 different runs over 2015/16. It ranks 69th overall, and 6th among Mozart operas (just ahead of Idomeneo, which had 276 performances).

Other operas with 250 to 350 performances in 2015/16 include Elektra, Romeo et Juliette (Gounod), Prince Igor, Giulio Cesare, Alcina, Pelleas et Melisande, La forza del destino, The Rake's Progress, The Turn of the Screw, Peter Grimes, all four operas of the Ring cycle, and two of Il Tritico (Gianni Schicchi is up at 502).

The issue is, of course, that the 5 Mozart operas that are more popular are hugely popular. Five on the above list was that composer's most frequently produced opera (if you're going to talk about a Debussy opera, it's typically Pelleas). Mozart performances for 2015/16:

Die Zauberflote: 3,310
Le nozze di Figaro: 2,483
Don Giovanni: 2,299
Cosi fan tutte: 1,538
Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail: 855

So I agree with the other responses. It is performed frequently for an opera. It isn't talked about as much because there's several more well-known Mozart operas to talk about. And even if you're looking to discuss (or produce, or attend, or listen to) a more rare Mozart opera, there are quite a few other options.

In addition to Idomeneo, Operabase reports more than 100 products of La finta giardiniera and Der Schauspieldirektor. And of course out of 22,700 performances, 302 (or 108) isn't that much.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

superhorn said:


> La Clemenza is an old fashioned Italian opera seria , but contains some wonderful music and was the last of Mozart's operas . By all means get any of these CDs or DVDs. You won't regret it .


Do get it on CD (Jacobs) or DVD (Ponnelle film) as it contains some marvellous music.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

DavidA said:


> Do get it on CD (Jacobs) or DVD (Ponnelle film) as it contains some marvellous music.


With an outstanding Tatiana Troyanos.


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## Eddy Rodgers K (Feb 12, 2017)

DavidA said:


> Having said that, just listen to this. You will not hear anything more beautiful!


Mozart was a special, special man.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Eddy Rodgers K said:


> Mozart was a special, special man.


Very, very special I might add.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

La Clemenza di Tito was composed as an opera seria, a bit more tedious style than his more sparkling opera buffas such as The Marriage of Figaro and Cosí fan tutte.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

hpowders said:


> La Clemenza di Tito was composed as an opera seria, a bit more tedious style than his more sparkling opera buffas such as The Marriage of Figaro and Cosí fan tutte.


Yes. This is just like how Richard Strauss returned to a series of so-so opera (including Arabella, Die ägyptische Helena, Friedenstag, Daphne etc) after the" breakthroughs" with Salome, Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier. Not that they are boring ( Daphne and Capriccio are certainly interesting), just that they are fossils.

However, I do enjoy La Clemenza di Tito.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

silentio said:


> Yes. This is just like how Richard Strauss returned to a series of so-so opera (including Arabella, Die ägyptische Helena, Friedenstag, Daphne etc) after the" breakthroughs" with Salome, Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier. Not that they are boring ( Daphne and Capriccio are certainly interesting), just that they are fossils.
> 
> However, I do enjoy La Clemenza di Tito.


 I too, especially "Parto...parto...." with that glorious clarinet obbligato!


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Not ignored, but underrated. For a long period, conventional critical wisdom held that it was boring and old-fashioned, because it was opera seria. I've seen a few productions, and think it's great; it's one of the most humane and moving of Mozart's operas.

Simoneau singing "Se all'impero"





The Act II finale:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

> Not ignored, but underrated. For a long period, conventional critical wisdom held that it was boring and old-fashioned, because it was opera seria. I've seen a few productions, and think it's great; it's one of the most humane and moving of Mozart's operas.


I like your thinking, not a groupie as such, just going your own way,_ bravo_.


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Pugg said:


> I like your thinking, not a groupie as such, just going your own way,_ bravo_.


I'm a rebel!
+3 chars


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

SimonTemplar said:


> I'm a rebel!
> +3 chars


As long as your heart is in the right place......


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

hpowders said:


> La Clemenza di Tito was composed as an opera seria, a bit more tedious style than his more sparkling opera buffas such as The Marriage of Figaro and Cosí fan tutte.


The problem was that it was commissioned for a set libretto that was in the opera seria style the purpose of which was to show how wonderful the emperors then (and now) were. It is certainly a step back from what Mozart did before but Mozart not quite at his best beats most of the competition anyway!


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Pugg said:


> As long as your heart is in the right place......


Grafted onto my left knee.


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## gellio (Nov 7, 2013)

Clemenza enjoyed more popularity in the immediate years following Mozart's death. It is a great work. I don't buy the argument that Mozart rushed it. It is quite wonderful. I love this work.


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## gellio (Nov 7, 2013)

The Davis recording is my absolute favorite.


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