About the work
La clemenza di Tito is an opera seria by Niccolò Jommelli after the libretto by Pietro Metastasio. The premiere of the first version took place on 30 August 1753 at the Herzogliches Theater in Stuttgart. The libretto had first been set by Antonio Caldara in Vienna in 1734 for Emperor Charles VI's name day and, with around fifty settings, is one of Metastasio's most popular texts.
Plot
Vitellia, daughter of the deposed emperor Vitellius, believes the Roman throne is rightfully hers and feels slighted by Emperor Tito, who initially favours the foreign princess Berenice. She persuades her admirer Sesto, a friend of Tito, to lead a conspiracy against the emperor. When Tito unexpectedly decides to marry Sesto's sister Servilia, who instead admits her love for Sesto's friend Annio, Tito magnanimously steps aside – while the uprising instigated by Vitellia is already under way.
Cultural significance
With the first version premiered in Stuttgart in 1753, Jommelli turned to one of opera seria's most popular subjects. The fact that the performance is recorded as a "first version" points to a later second setting of the material by Jommelli, showing his repeated engagement with the theme of a ruler's clemency.