He is of opinion that full maturity of taste is nowhere more finely displayed than in this opera (p. 105), which is also the best example of Mozart's admirable dramatic characterisation (p. 72). An article showing the shortcomings of Metastasio's libretto praises the excellence of the musical characterisation which endows Titus with the character of gentle amiability, Vitellia with force and dignified purity, and the friendship between Sextus and Annius with quite an ideal tenderness.[57] Schaul, on the contrary (Brief üb. d. Gesch-mack, p. 59), maintains that with the exception of a few pieces the opera is so dry and tiresome that it might rather be taken for the first attempt of budding talent than for the product of a mature mind. He quotes the criticism of an Italian, considered one of the best judges in Naples, that flashes of genius shone out here and there in the more serious airs, which showed what Mozart would have been capable of under happier guidance. "Titus" was criticised in Berlin, in 1796, with the greatest harshness and severity in two articles which excited indignation on account of their disrespectful tone, although the blame bestowed was not without foundation.[58] With a juster regard to circumstances Rochlitz says:[59]-- {DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.} (302) Being only human, he was constrained either to produce an altogether mediocre work, or one of which the principal movements were very good, and the minor ones light and easy, and suited to the taste of the multitude; with right judgment he chose the latter. It was perhaps this accommodation of the music to the taste of the public, and the concessions made to the popular love of gorgeous scenery and spectacular effects, which gained for "Titus" an enduring place on the German stage, although it was never received with the same favour as "Don Giovanni," "Figaro," and the "Zauberflöte." The opera was produced for the first time in London in 1806 for the benefit of Madame Billington, being the first of Mozart's operas performed in England;[60] it was given successfully in Paris in 1816,[61] and in Milan at the Teatro Rè in the following year.[62] FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XLII. [Footnote 1: Mus. Corresp., 1790, p. 30.] [Footnote 2: Mus. Wochenbl., p. 15. Cf. Lange, Selbstbiogr., p. 167.] [Footnote 3: Muller, Abschied, p. 286.] [Footnote 4: Da Ponte, Mem., I., 2, p. 114.] [Footnote 5: Mosel, Salieri, p. 138. Mus. Wochenbl., p. 62. Leopold's most severe remarks upon Salieri are quoted by Da Ponte (Mem., II., p. 135): "So tutte le sue cabale e so quelle della Cavalieri. É un egoista insopportabile, che non vorrebbe che piacessero nel mio teatro che le sue opere e la sua bella; egli non è solo nemico vostro, ma lo è di tutti i maestri di capella, di tutte le cantanti."]