(c) Daniel Escalé Gran Teatre del Liceu: La Clemenza Di Tito
Barcelona, Gran Teatre del Liceu — Sala Principal
About the Event
Experience opera like never before in this astonishing performance of masterworks by Mozart at Barcelona's remarkable Gran Teatre del Liceu.
La clemenza di Tito is an opera of intense passions, woven through love, betrayal, and forgiveness. David McVicar’s production at the Festival d’Aix‐en‐Provence stands out for its visual power and for its profound psychological portrait of the characters. At the helm, maestro Jordi Savall brings a reading of exceptional elegance and poetic depth. With a transparent, incisive, and richly coloured direction, Savall reveals the full dramatic modernity of Mozart and rekindles the moral energy that runs through this work.
Composed in just six weeks for the coronation of Leopold II in Prague in 1791, La clemenza di Tito presents a solitary emperor, wounded by the betrayal of those around him, yet capable of responding with a clemency that makes him a symbol of a higher political ethic. The contrast with Vitellia’s manipulative darkness and with Sesto’s torment, torn between loyalty and desire, creates a drama of exceptional intensity.
Its musical architecture heightens this depth: Tito’s noble arias stand in contrast to Sesto’s inner turmoil —such as the virtuosic Parto, parto— and to the penitential tension of Deh, per questo istante solo. Mozart moves between turbulence and elevation, between human weakness and moral strength.
Premiered three months before the composer’s death, the opera fascinated the nineteenth century and remains a dramatic miracle in which sex, power, and political ambition are combined with a radical commitment to mercy. With a first‐rate cast —Jack Swanson (Tito), Marianne Crebassa (Sesto), and Karine Deshayes (Vitellia)—, McVicar’s reading emerges with a contemporary intensity that reinforces the message.
If the Enlightenment places its faith in reconciliation, Mozart sublimates it in a work that raises forgiveness into a transformative force. A luminous and visionary ending that anticipates Beethoven and consecrates Mozart’s last opera seria as a moral and theatrical triumph.
Opera seria in two acts
Libretto by Pietro Metastasio and Caterino Mazzolà
World premiere: September 6, 1791 at the National Theatre in Prague
Barcelona premiere: December 14, 1963 at the Gran Teatre del Liceu (in German)
Last performance at the Liceu: February 27, 2020
Total performances at the Liceu: 31
Program
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – La Clemenza di Tito
Cast / Production
Tito Vespasiano
Jack Swanson
Vitellia
Karine Deshayes
Sesto
Marianne Crebassa
Servilia
Lina Johnson
Annio
Marianne Beate Kielland
Publio
Božidar Smiljanić
Address
Gran Teatre del Liceu, La Rambla, 51‐59, Barcelona, Spain — Google Maps
