Soprano with obbligato Bb basset clarinet, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in Bb alto, and strings

Program Notes by Martin Pearlman

Commissioned for Leopold II's coronation as king of Bohemia, La clemenza di Tito received its premiere in Prague on September 6, 1791.  For the most part, the cast was hired from the local opera troupe, but the contract called specifically for the hiring of a prominent composer, a prima donna, and a well known musico (one of the common euphemisms for "castrato").  The preferred composer was Salieri, but he was busy with other work and declined the offer.  Mozart was the second choice.  He was popular in Prague after the enormous successes of Figaro and Don Giovanni and, needing the work, took time out from composing The Magic Flute to fulfill the new commission.  Some of his early sketches suggest that he may have originally thought that the role of Sesto would be given to a tenor, but the impresario instead assigned that role, rather than the title role of Tito, to the distinguished castrato required by the contract.  Domenico Bedini (1745-1795), for whom Mozart wrote Sesto's brilliant arias, was nearing the end of his career, and Niemetschek, one of Mozart's earliest biographers, complained that he sounded "wretched."  On the other hand, Mozart wrote to his wife following one performance that "Bedini sang better than ever." 

Leading up to Sesto's aria Parto, parto ma tu ben mio, the furious Vitellia has made him promise to lead an uprising against Tito.  As he leaves to fulfill his promise, Sesto asks Vitellia to calm herself and make peace with him again.  The aria progresses from a slow beginning through increasingly faster tempos and virtuosic music as Sesto's passion builds.  The solo clarinet shadows his voice throughout.

Playing in the orchestra for the opera was the virtuoso clarinettist Anton Stadler, for whom Mozart had written his "Kegelstatt" Trio and Clarinet Quintet and for whom, he would very soon write his Clarinet Concerto.  Stadler had recently collaborated in the invention of the basset clarinet, a clarinet with an extended lower range, which, according to a contemporary journal, had a compass of as much as four octaves and was played by Stadler with astonishing facility.  Mozart featured his friend and his new instrument in this aria for Sesto.  The virtuosic basset clarinet part is interwoven with the vocal line and extends from a low Bb up into the normal high clarinet range.  (The lowest notes are often transposed higher to fit the normal modern clarinet.)  Mozart wrote to his wife that "cries of 'Bravo' were shouted at [Stadler] from the parterre and even from the orchestra."

Boston Baroque Performances

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