Mozart's final opera: emperor, betrayal, and a woman scorned with a knife.
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s dramatic production brings ancient Rome to life for this gripping tale of revenge, terror, and attempted murder. Giuseppe Filianoti is the Emperor Tito who chooses Servilia to be his Empress. But when she tells him she is already in love with Annio he decides to wed Vitellia instead. Unaware of the honor about to be bestowed on her, Vitelllia, daughter of the deposed emperor, is determined to seek revenge on Tito and ensnares her lover Sesto in her dark plot. Early music specialist Harry Bicket conducts.
Acting
Barbara Frittoli's Vitellia: entitled rage in human form.
Direction
Ponnelle's stark Roman architecture amplifies isolation.
Score
Mozart's final opera: economical, brutal, unforgiving.
Director
Barbara Willis Sweete
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mozart dashed this off in 18 days for a coronation, barely finishing the overture in time. The musicians reportedly sight-read it.
Ponnelle's 1984 production design — all marble and shadow — deliberately evokes Fascist-era spectacle to question how power stages itself.
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