SFA students stage Mozart's dark and enlightened Clemenza

By Judith Sandler

Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito is not as well-known or frequently performed today as are his Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, and Così fan tutte. But for several decades after its composition, quite the reverse was true.

La Clemenza di Tito became so popular after its 1791 premiere "it was used as a model for early 19th-century opera," explains Mozart scholar Roye Wates, a CAS music professor. In contrast to Mozart's earlier opera buffa (comic opera) filled with melodic filigree, the opera seria (serious opera) style of Tito is greatly toned down, subdued and quieter. "It exemplifies the new musical style Mozart was evolving during his last year," she says. "As always, his music is ravishingly beautiful."

Sesto, played by Sandra Eddy (SFA'00) pleads to her emperor Tito, played by Harold Gray Meers (SFA'01) for clemency in the School for the Arts Opera Programs' production of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito. Photo by Fred Sway

Tito, which promotes the Enlightenment values of generosity, wisdom, and clemency, was Mozart's most frequently performed opera until around 1830. When the Romantic era subsequently swept away Enlightenment ideals, the opera fell from fashion, says Wates. The opera remained relatively obscure until recent reconsideration resulted in an increase in popularity and number of performances.

Coming on the heels of the New York City Opera's production, Boston University's School For the Arts Opera Programs will present Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito at the Boston University Theatre on Friday, April 21, through Monday, April 24. The opera, stage directed by Sharon Daniels and conducted by William Lumpkin, will be sung in Italian, with English surtitles.

The opera was written in 1791 to celebrate the coronation of Leopold II at Prague, as king of Bohemia, and was intended to glorify and impress the new ruler. The title role was based on the first-century Roman emperor Titus who, like Leopold, was a much-beloved ruler.

Wates says that Mozart's Tito is the embodiment of spiritual wisdom and beneficence (clemenza) -- he calmly rises above a plot to assassinate him by magnanimously forgiving everyone involved.

Mozart wrote La Clemenza di Tito during a flurry of activity in the final months of his life. Though already committed to three commissions, including The Magic Flute, he accepted this fourth commission, which had already been turned down several times by Antonio Salieri.

With less than two months remaining before the coronation, Mozart engaged an assistant, possibly Franz Xaver Süsmayr, to write the opera's recitatives -- the text that is accompanied only by keyboard and cello, and sometimes by bassoon, that provides narration and dialogue between the more tuneful arias, choruses, and ensembles. "In musical comedy, they would be spoken," says Wates. "But in opera, everything is sung." Recitatives are "almost formulaic," she continues. "Their purpose is expository rather than expressive."

Yet, SFA Assistant Professor William Lumpkin explains that these recitatives are the play. "They're where the drama unfolds, where the action is, where the plot progresses," he says. "In all of Mozart's other operas, where he himself composed the recitatives, they build the drama and lead harmonically to the next aria or ensemble." But Mozart's assistant was not as gifted; his harmonic transitions from the recitative into the next piece are sometimes awkward. So Lumpkin "changed the ends of some of the recitatives so the harmonies allowed us to drive into the next piece."

SFA Assistant Professor Sharon Daniels explains that because of the dramatic importance of the recitatives, "we're pushing the singers to a level of honesty in their acting that they didn't think they could achieve."

Tito is full of deceit and complex emotional struggles, according to SFA Assistant Professor Allison Voth, the principal coach for SFA's opera productions. "Yet in order to successfully portray these struggles, the singers have to approach it in a very simple, honest, straightforward, and deeply heartfelt way," she says. "When the recitatives are compelling, gorgeous ensembles emerge out of them, and your heart opens and gives in to the beauty of the emotion."

For Alison Tupay (SFA'00), who shares the role of Sesto with Sandra Eddy (SFA'00), singing some of the extended recitatives "feels like second nature now, but it felt really foreign to me at first. The great coaches here have made it a lot easier."

Daniels says that it's difficult for the performers to have visceral contact with the text when they're learning how to act in a foreign language. "We asked the singers to begin by paraphrasing the text in their native language to know what their objectives are --sometimes resulting in unexpected combinations of Armenian, Portuguese, and Korean," she says. "And after then speaking the text in Italian, when we finally sang the recitative as written, the diction and the music fell into place. Even though this process takes more time, it's more honest, because now the singers know what they're going for. We've tried to teach the singers to be honest and clear enough in their acting so the audience will know what's going on without staring at the surtitles.

Harold Gray Meers (SFA'01), who alternates the role of Tito with Yeghishe Manucharyan (SFA'00), says that this exercise helped the dramatic process. "During rehearsal, you could watch the scene grow," he says. "The result of that slow and careful process will be very obvious when people come to the performance. What some people might have thought is a boring opera is actually going to be very exciting."

All of the roles in La Clemenza di Tito "are technically challenging and vocally taxing," says Daniels. "But the beauty of the music itself, the choral singing, the vocal lines, the gorgeous melodies, and the texture of the music are absolutely inspiring and uplifting."

Lumpkin says that he "adored working on this opera, because every number seems more beautiful than the one before."

The SFA Opera Programs present Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito at the Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue, April 21, 22, and 24 at 8 p.m., and April 23 at 5 p.m. Sharon Daniels is the stage director and William Lumpkin is the conductor. Admission is $10, $5 for seniors, Boston University alumni, and special groups, and free for Boston University students, faculty, and staff. For tickets and further information, call 266-0800.