Mozart La clemenza di Tito

Mr Mozart – La clemenza di Tito and Don Giovanni: two totally contrasting operas? 

Indeed. The first is a stately affair with one of the most widely used opera seria libretti, whereas the other is a dramma giocoso which draws on a bawdy farce we had all seen in suburban playhouses or on fairgrounds. 

So what do they have in common? 

Prague! There has always been a competitive relationship between the Bohemian capital and Vienna, in my days the centre of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to which Bohemia was subjected. But music education and music in general flourished there for centuries, whereas in Vienna, much of it remained within aristocratic circles and the Imperial Court. And as you will know, most of these people were not particularly well disposed towards my work. Prague was different, and many excellent theatres there run by private companies. One of them invited me to oversee a run of my Figaro. Its tremendous success made them order a new opera from me directly. I chose Don Giovanni, a subject which of course raised eyebrows at the conservative Viennese Court. In Prague, on the other hand, everyone loved it and was delighted that I had been willing to compose an opera for them. And thus, another commission from Prague arrived four years later, this time from the Bohemian Estates and for the celebration of the coronation of the Austrian Emperor Leopold II as King of Bohemia. 

On the first night, the imperial couple arrived at the theatre one hour late. No wonder there was a restrained response from the audience… In the early 19th century, however, La clemenza di Tito became one of my most frequently performed operas! Later, it lost its following because the subject matter was considered outdated. Don Giovanni took the lead, together with The Magic Flute, which I composed at the same time as my Clemenza.

What about their music and style? 

In Don Giovanni, I developed my ideas about structure and style further. The dramatic flow of the story determines everything, the music propels the action forward, underlines and controls what happens with the characters. The words, which are very natural, often funny or lewd, helped me a lot. I have the fantastic Lorenzo Da Ponte to thank for this. 

But remember that in La clemenza di Tito, my librettist Caterino Mazzolà did a great job at tightening Metastasio’s plot and making the characters real. This story belongs to a forlorn age but I broke up the traditionally rigid succession of da capo arias to write more ensembles, bring in emotions, make it modern. 

I’d never claim that I preferred one of them to the other, though: both are my children, and each of them beloved in its own right!