About the work
La clemenza di Tito is an opera seria by Christoph Willibald Gluck to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio. It premiered on 4 November 1752 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples — not to be confused with Mozart's later opera on the same libretto.
Plot
The young patrician Sesto is drawn by the ambitious Vitellia into a conspiracy against Emperor Titus, who considers him a friend. When the plot is uncovered, Titus nonetheless pardons all the conspirators.
Cultural significance
Sesto's aria 'Se mai senti' stands out for its independent, largely unornamented melodic line — a trait that would later become central to Gluck's reform operas such as 'Iphigénie en Tauride'. Metastasio's libretto was set by around 50 composers, including Mozart in 1791.