The Unsullied Face of Truth

A few scattered thoughts as I reconsider La clemenza di Tito

For a time, my favorite Mozart opera was La clemenza di Tito. It’s a left-field answer when the trio of works he wrote with Da Ponte are right there, but I was living in Rome at the time, a new recording featuring Magdalena Kožená had just been released, and I came from the generation of women turned queer thanks to the Salzburg production of the work starring Vesselina Kasarova in the cuntiest of white button-down shirts.