from Act II of the Italian opera
La Clemenza di Tito by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto: Pietro Metastasio
Role: Vitellia, daughter of the former Emperor Vitellius
Voice Part: soprano Fach: dramatic coloratura
Setting: The Imperial garden
Synopsis: Vitellia is in love with Emperor Titus. He loves another, so she induces Sextus, a friend of Emperor Titus who is in love with her, to murder Titus. Sextus does not succeed and is imprisoned, and she realizes that she must tell the emperor that she asked him to commit the crime, since Sextus is prepared to die for her if she does not. She realizes that she must abandon her hopes for the throne and marriage to Titus by telling the truth.