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.