This is an opera seria, the same kind of opera composed by Handel a half-century earlier and many others in the century before him. It was already very old-fashioned when Mozart took it up (on a royal commission, an offer he couldn't refuse), finishing it only a few months before his death. The plot is creaky: Vitellia, angry that Tito (the Emperor Titus) plans to marry another woman, coaxes Sesto (who is hopelessly in love with her) to assassinate Tito. While the plot inches forward (Sesto is very reluctant--Tito is such a good guy), Tito changes his mind and decides to marry Vitellia, who tries, unsuccessfully, to call the assassination off. Tito is stabbed but survives and forgives everybody. There are subplots. This unlikely story inspired some of the greatest music Mozart ever composed--music that breathed new life into the rickety opera seria form. Christopher Hogwood has assembled a superb array of specialists to perform with his period-instrument orchestra and do this underappreciated opera musical and stylistic justice. --Joe McLellan
