La Clemenza di Tito, Mozart's final Italian opera, was composed in a hurried 18 days for the coronation of Leopold II in September 1791. In presenting Leopold, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, with an opera about Titus, the Emperor of the Pagan Roman Empire, Mozart was not so subliminally advising the current Emperor to emulate the actions of the earlier Emperor, specifically, his clemency to his enemies. Since Titus became Emperor after suppressing the first Jewish Revolt by destroying Jerusalem, killing more than a ...
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La Clemenza di Tito, Mozart's final Italian opera, was composed in a hurried 18 days for the coronation of Leopold II in September 1791. In presenting Leopold, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, with an opera about Titus, the Emperor of the Pagan Roman Empire, Mozart was not so subliminally advising the current Emperor to emulate the actions of the earlier Emperor, specifically, his clemency to his enemies. Since Titus became Emperor after suppressing the first Jewish Revolt by destroying Jerusalem, killing more than a million Jews, enslaving more than a million more Jews, and dispersing most of the rest of Palestine's Jews throughout the Empire, his reputation for clemency is at first hard to fathom. As it turns out, Titus' reputation is based on having spared his best friend from death after an attempted assassination. Because Leopold II died in 1792, history does not record what form his clemency might have taken had the Austrians under his leadership succeeded in defeating the French in the...
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