Clemency and Conversion: Theological Reflections on Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito

This essay suggests that Mozart's serious opera La clemenza di Tito encapsulates both a political philosophy and a theological anthropology, which reflect the composer's dual commitments to the late Enlightenment and Catholicism. I argue that the opera advocates for the rule of law and specifically for a renewed (Beccarian) understanding of clemency as general lenience in punishing rather than as the absolute ruler's extraordinary use of pardons based in his liberum arbitrium. At the same time, Mozart's Clemenza offers the audience a Christian account of the journey from concupiscence and sin to salvation, caused by mercy, love, and suffering.