I took my wife Lisamarie to the Vancouver Opera's production of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito last night (early Valentine's). Wonderful. This morning, while researching some of the historicity of the story in the opera, I was amazed at all the connections within Europe that come together in a production like this. The music was written by Mozart, famous Austrian composer from Salzburg (we will be visiting the cathedral where he played organ as a child), and the words were written by Metastasio, an Italian librettist. It is about the Roman Emperor Titus (aka Tito), who was known by the citizens of Rome for his kindness and mercy (and for finishing work on the Flavian Ampitheatre - the Coloseum in Rome). History is full of different perspectives though, and Titus is remembered by the Jewish historians of the day as the destroyer of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. When Mozart was commissioned to compose an opera for the coronation of King Leopold in Bohemia (capital - Prague, where we spent 2 days last year) in 1791, he chose the already written libretto about Titus because Leopold, while he was the Duke of Tuscany (capital Florence - where we spend our last two days) was, like Titus, known for his progressive policies and treating his citizens with respect (for example, he outlawed the use of torture in interrogations). The opera is a blatant tribute to the idea of a benign king or emperor, and was very timely for the monarchs of Europe, as the French Revolution and it's anti-monarchist stance was spreading fear amongst the nobility and perhaps giving the common people in other parts of Europe ideas. On another side note - Leopold's little sister, Marie-Antoinette, had, of course, married into the French monarchy and was a primary target of the revolution in France, eventually losing her life to the national razor. We will visit her palace as well as the spot where she lost her head in Paris. And the name Tito itself was adopted, in recognition of the beloved Roman Emperor, by Josep Broz, communist leader of the now defunct Yugoslavia from 1953 - 1980 (we will visit his favourite vacation spot, Lake Bled, in Slovenia, a former province of Yugoslavia). So many connections!
Above, from Vancouver Opera's La Clemenza di Tito: Emperor Tito in the background, deciding to show mercy to Sesto, who has been caught in a plot against him. The real Emperor Titus in fact did show clemency to his brother Domitian who had been discovered orchestrating a scheme to overthrow him - which may have been his downfall, as Titus died under mysterious circumstances (poison?) at the age of 41, uttering the final words "I have made but one mistake." Domitian became the new emperor...
