Deh, per questo istante solo from La Clemenza di Tito K.621

Parto, parto comes from the first act of La Clemenza di Tito where, scolded by Vitellia for his failure to get on with the planned assassination of Titus, Sextus overcomes his reluctance to betray his friend and works himself into a mood to avange her. Similarly in construction to Deh, per questo istante solo, it is dinstinctively coloured by an obbligato part written specially for the the basset clarinet of the composer’s friend Anton Stadler. The virtuoso clarinet commentary in the closing Allegro assai section inspires similarly brilliant display of bravura from the soprano soloist.

Like Don Giovanni, Mozart’s last opera La Clemenza di Tito was written for the Prague National Theatre. Comissioned for the coronation of Emperor Leopold II as King of Bohemia in 1791, it is an elevated score which is about as different in style from Die Zauberflöte as two operas written by the same composer at much the same time could possibly be. It is based, in fact, on an opera seria libretto by Metastasio, a classic of its kind, which was already 50 years old but which, celebrating as it does the clemency of an emperor, was clearly appropriate to the occasion. Titus’s act of clemency, reserved until near the end of the work, is his generous bestowal of a pardon on his friend Sextus who had been goaded by Vitellia, the woman he loves, into leading an assassination plot against him. A significant factor in moderating Titus’s wrath is the aria Deh, per questo istante solo in which Sextus – a part originally written for a castrato soprano – begs Titus to remember their former friendship. It is a rondò aria with a pleading Adagio introduction, a passionate Allegro (beginning “Disperato vado e morte”) and a dramatic, still quicker coda.