L'incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppaea / 1642 Monteverdi / Busenello), opera (music & libretto), Venice premiere (cast)
L'incoronazione di Poppea <Italian> / The Coronation of Poppea (1642) is an opera, set to music by Claudio Monteverdi.
~ Original libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello.
Abstract
Monteverdi's opera played an important role in shaping the figure of Nero on the stage. Based on Octavia of the Pseudo-Seneca, it does not include any reference to early Christianity.
Cast (Venice premiere)
- Anna di Valerio = Poppea (soprano)
- Anna Renzi = Octavia (soprano)
- Stefano Costa = Ottone, cavaliero principalissimo (contralto)
- Baldassarre Ferri = Nero (soprano)
- Giacinto Zucchi = Seneca (bass)
Editions
<Libretto> Published in Venice, Italy: Gio. Pietro Pinelli, 1643.
<Score> First published (ed. Hugo Goldschmidt) in Leipzig, Germany: Breitkpf & Härtel, 1904.
Performance history
Premiered in Venice, Italy: Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Carnival 1642.
After a revival in Naples in 1651, there are no records of the work's performance for more than 250 years. The score was rediscovered at the end of the 19th century and staged in Paris, France: Théâtre des Arts, 5 February 1913. Ever since the opera have been more and more frequently performed in Europe and the United States. It is now available also in audio and video recordings.