Opera Notices

Q. Why is this opera written with so many "pants parts"? Was there a shortage of male singers at the time of Mozart's writing, or was he making some kind of political statement?

There was not a shortage of male singers when Mozart composed the opera, as far as we know. It was a matter of convention and personal choice by the composer.

For youthful male characters (boys and ardent young lovers), composers used male or female sopranos or, less typically, tenors. It might have been a special emotional underpinning that he was after, or a blending of voices throughout the cast, or both.

When Mozart sketched out the score for Clemenza, evidently he heard the part of Annio as a tenor, but when he arrived in Prague for rehearsals, he learned that the part had been given to a castrato. Endlessly resourceful, Mozart adapted to the change, and nowadays Annio and Sesto are both sung by mezzo-sopranos.

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