Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea

Despite his great distance in time from us today, Claudio Monteverdi seems one of the most modern of the composers of the past, both in his musical language and — especially in his greatest operatic masterpiece, The Coronation of Poppea of 1642 — his vividly dramatic presentation of human beings in all their conflicting dimensions. “The full, unchanging gamut of human emotions — bewildering, passionate, uncomfortable, and sometimes uncontrollable — form the subtext of all of Monteverdi’s surviving musical dramas,” says conductor John Eliot Gardiner. “More often than not, he showed a deep empathy for his characters — including the less salubrious ones — just as his contemporary Shakespeare did.”

Born in 1567 in Cremona, the early center of violin and viol making, Monteverdi arrived at the north Italian court of Mantua around 1590 as a string player in Duke Vincenzo Gonazaga’s celebrated orchestra. By 1601, he had been named maestro di cappella, the court’s top musical position. His creative genius first flowered in a series of madrigals for both solo and multiple voices, which pioneered the vocal techniques and musical practices he would eventually transfer to his operas. In the late 1590s, Monteverdi scholar Tim Carter tells us, he became enmeshed in a dispute with the musical theorist Giovanni Maria Artusi over the daring harmonic practices and use of dissonance in his madrigals, which broke the rules of Renaissance music. Monteverdi argued his innovations were entirely “for the sake of truth”: to express words and the emotions they conveyed with maximum fidelity and power. For him, the text always reigned supreme in vocal music, and he carried this belief over into his operas.

Monteverdi’s first opera was L’Orfeo, written for the Mantuan court in 1607. Gradually, however, he became frustrated with his life at the Gonzaga court, and in 1613 he applied for the post of maestro di cappella at the glorious Basilica of San Marco in Venice. His demonstration piece, the magnificent Vespro della Beata Vergine of 1610, unanimously won him the post, and he lived on happily in Venice for the rest of his illustrious career until his death at age 76 in 1643. He summed up his contentment in Venice by saying simply that “service there was most sweet.”

Although Monteverdi apparently wrote many operas, only three have come down to us more or less intact: L’Orfeo, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, and Poppea. This partly explains the large gap between L’Orfeo (1607) and Ulisse (1640), though Monteverdi also devoted considerable portions of his career to sacred music for San Marco and his continued exploration of the madrigal form. Very late in life, however, developments in Venice lured him back to opera: specifically, the opening in 1637 of the first public opera house in Venice — indeed in Italy — designed for a paying audience. Monteverdi was intrigued by this opportunity to write for a new audience: not the courtiers of Mantua, but the rising Venetian merchant class and visitors to Venice from all over Europe. First he revised Arianna, an early opera for Mantua, for performances in the city, then wrote his two late Venetian operas, Ulisse and Poppea.  Poppea was premiered in the new Teatro SS. Giovanni e Paolo during the Carnival Season in the winter of 1643.

A Libretto Worthy of a Master

Like other early Italian operas, L’Orfeo and Ulisse drew their plots from classical Greek mythology. Poppea, however, was revolutionary in that it was based on actual events in Roman history in the first century CE during the reign of the infamous Emperor Nero (called Nerone in the opera), as related in the chronicles of Tacitus and Suetonius. It was also revolutionary in that it told a story in which ostensibly evil characters — Nerone and his lover, Poppea, whom he ultimately crowned as his new Empress in 62 CE — triumph over virtuous ones — such as Nerone’s legitimate first wife, Ottavia, and the famous philosopher Seneca.

Poppea’s librettist was Giovanni Francesco Busenello (1598–1659), a wealthy Venetian lawyer and poet, who was a leading member of Venice’s Accademia degli Incogniti, a society of intellectual free thinkers. Creatively using his ancient sources, Busenello devised a libretto that was worthy of Monteverdi’s music. It incorporated a vast range of characters from the Emperor and the Roman aristocrats down to their servants and soldiers, all of whom bring different perspectives on the story and the human condition as a whole. The high-flown rhetoric of Ottavia and Seneca is juxtaposed against the earthy utterances of Poppea’s nurse Arnalta and the grumblings of two Roman guards as tragedy grinds against comedy in true Shakespearean fashion. Its savage jibes against the decadence of the ancient Roman court also reflect the contemporary scorn of Venice — a proud “free” republic — for 17th-century-Rome, the home of then frequently corrupt popes.

Despite its broad canvass, the libretto is set within traditional classical time constraints: everything takes place during one 12-hour period between dawn and dusk of a single day. And the libretto’s effectiveness owed as much to Monteverdi’s keen dramatic intincts as it did to Busenello’s. The differences between Busenello’s published libretto and Monteverdi’s score reveal that the composer was extremely active in re-shaping Busenello’s words to intensify the drama and pacing of scenes. With his malleable musical language, switching freely back and forth between speech-like recitative and more lyrically shaped arioso or even full-blown aria, Monteverdi could capture the natural flow of human speech in his vocal lines and focus maximum attention on the words and their emotional impact. In Poppea, he demonstrated a mastery of setting dialogue between characters that would seldom again be matched in opera.

A Closer Listen

Prologue

Though in the Prologue Monteverdi and Busenello adopt the old mythological paraphernalia of using two goddesses, Fortuna and Virtù, and the infant god of love, Amore (Cupid)  to introduce the story — and in the case of Amore later to significantly interfere with it — these three are hardly treated in a god-like fashion. Their lines may be embroidered with the florid ornaments given to divine figures in this era, but they are as bitchy as mortals in putting each other down and proclaiming their own superiority.  

Act I

The love-sick Ottone, Poppea’s husband or lover (the libretto is ambiguous about this), returns after a long absence to his beloved at daybreak. Here is an extended scene displaying the flexible mixture of recitative and aria Monteverdi devised to convey the emotional nuances expressed by his characters. Ottone is an especially mellifluous, melancholy character, but, as Carter comments: “His cause is lost from the outset, not only because he is being cuckolded by the Emperor of Rome, but also because his musical language is entirely inappropriate for anyone aspiring to be a man of action.”

Ottone’s refined lamentation segues seamlessly into the dialogue of Nerone’s two soldiers on guard duty outside Poppea’s house, where the Emperor has spent the night. They immediately bring us down to earth with their scathing comments on their royal employer and the real-world perils surrounding the oblivious lovers. Monteverdi’s musical treatment of their conversation is masterful in its realism and wit. 

In the next scene, we meet the two lovers parting at dawn. Poppea’s seductive wiles are on full display in her sensuously chromatic lines as she pleads with Nerone not to leave. But soon she reveals the iron beneath the silk as she prods him to pledge to renounce Ottavia, and, when he makes that promise, breaks into ecstatic song urging him to depart. Nerone is putty in her hands, and it is she who dismisses him once she has achieved her goals. Carter points out that throughout the opera Poppea is given the most songful, intensely melodic vocal style, which allows her to dominate every scene she is in.

Ottavia has two great monologues that sear her tragic nobility and her suffering on listeners’ hearts. The first is “Disperazzata regina” (“Despised Queen”), designed to display the expressive force of one of the most celebrated sopranos of the day, Anna Renzi. However, Ottavia is no passive victim, and in Act II she will be transformed into a remorseless avenger as she forces Ottone to attempt to kill Poppea. Here we encounter Monteverdi’s genius for revealing all the conflicting elements of a complex human being with music using a strikingly modern freedom of harmony and dissonance.

Moving far ahead in the plot to Act III, Ottavia’s “A Dio, Roma!” is equally potent as the now-banished Empress stutters her grief-choked farewell to her homeland. Her utter desolation is unforgettably captured in the line “Navigo disperata i sordi mari”: “I sail the heedless seas devoid of hope.”

Later in Act I, we experience the fraught relationship between Nerone and his teacher Seneca in the dialogue “Son risoluto insomma,” in which Nerone discloses his determination to wed Poppea and Seneca sternly counsels against it. Monteverdi’s petulant recitative for Nerone brilliantly captures the language of a spoiled brat, accustomed to always having his own way. 

The second scene between Poppea and Nerone, “Come dolci, Signor,” is a love duet of unparalleled eroticism, especially in Poppea’s aria “Signor, le tue parole son si dolci.” At age 75, Monteverdi had not forgotten the fires of youth. Having gotten Nerone once again under her power, Poppea reveals her claws, as she denounces Seneca and drives the Emperor to call for his immediate death.

Act II

One of the opera’s greatest scenes, the death of Seneca leads off Act II and focuses on a new vocal sonority: Monteverdi casts the philosopher as a deep, solemn bass with a penchant for sepulchral low notes. Disturbed in his prized “Solitudine amata” at home, he is informed by both the god Mercury and then one of Nerone’s servants, that by the Emperor’s command he must prepare to die. Stoic philosopher that he is, Seneca receives this news with equanimity, even joy. Eloquently, he preaches his last sermon to his trio of followers, but they respond as simple human beings who cling to life. Their layered, chromatically ascending phrases of “Non morir” rise in increasingly dissonant contrapuntal anguish, followed by a lyrical paean to the joys of life in dancing triple meter.

Next, Monteverdi and Busenello daringly interpose a scene of comic lightness between the servants: the enchanting, hormone-fueled wooing by the adolescent Valletto of the slightly older Damigella. A more jolting comic scene follows: Nerone’s debauched celebration of Seneca’s death with his friend the poet Lucano. Monteverdi crafts a virtuoso duet overflowing with elaborate early-Baroque fioritura that charts the progressive inebriation of the two men as they slaver over Poppea’s beauties.

One more superb moment in Act II requires attention: “Oblivion soave,” sung by Poppea’s nurse Arnalta as she sings her mistress to sleep before Ottone’s murder attempt. Using a narrow range exploiting the warm depths of the alto voice, this is one of the most beautiful lullabies in all music. 

Act III

In Act III, we see a very different side of Arnalta as she exults in her newfound eminence now that Poppea has become Empress. Here Monteverdi perfectly captures the humor and earthy wisdom of this richly Shakespearean character. 

Evidence suggests that the music of the Coronation Scene with the splendid pomp of its chorus of consuls and tribunes was most likely not written by Monteverdi. Though it certainly bears his earmarks, there has been some debate, too, about the gorgeously sensuous duet, “Pur ti miro,” between Poppea and Nerone that closes the opera. The intimate simplicity of this music and the ravishing manner in which the two voices caress each other, however, is surely worthy of this immortal master of vocal drama.

— Janet E. Bedell 

Janet E. Bedell is a program annotator and feature writer who writes for Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Cal Performances at the University of California-Berkeley, and other music organizations.

Cappella Mediterranea was founded in 2005 by the Swiss-Argentinian conductor Leonardo García-Alarcón, originally to serve Latin Baroque music. Ten years on, its repertoire has diversified: with over 50concerts a year, the ensemble explores madrigal, polyphonic motet and opera. In just a few years, the ensemble has made a name for itself with the rediscovery of previously unpublished works such as Michelangelo Falvetti’s Il Diluvio universale and Nabucco, as well as with new versions of works from the repertoire such as Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Bach’s Mass in B minor. 

In residence at the Opéra de Dijon between 2018 and 2020, the ensemble has produced a series of rediscoveries of works such as Draghi’s El Prometeo, Sacrati’s La Finta pazza in 2019 and Rossi’s Il Palazzo incantato in 2020. The ensemble takes part in the triumph of Rameau’s Indes Galantes at the Opéra Bastille, recognized as the best production of 2019 by Forumopéra and the New York Times. In 2022, Cappella Mediterranea makes a name for itself with two successful opera productions: Lully’s Atys in Geneva and Versailles, staged by Angelin Preljocaj, and Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea staged by Ted Huffman at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and subsequently revived in Versailles, Valence and Toulon. In 2024, the ensemble takes part in its first Mozart opera, Idomeneo, at Grand Théâtre de Genève, before an audacious rereading of Bach’s St John Passion, choreographed by Sasha Waltz, in Salzburg, Dijon and in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. 

Cappella Mediterranea’s discography includes over thirty critically acclaimed recordings. Recent releases include Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (Alpha classic, 2021) and Sacrati’s La Finta pazza (Château de Versailles Spectacles, 2022). In 2024 is published Amore Siciliano (Alpha) and in 2025 Philippe d’Orléans’ La Jérusalem délivrée before Lully’s Atys (Château de Versailles Spectacles). 

Cappella Mediterranea is supported by the Ministry of Culture – DRAC Auvergne Rhône Alpes, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, the City of Geneva, a Swiss family foundation, a Geneva private foundation, Brigitte Lescure, and by its Circle of Friends and its Circle of Entrepreneurs with Diot-Siac, Chatillon Architects, Synapsys and 400 Partners 

Cappella Mediterranea is a member of the Fevis (Federation of Specialized Vocal and Instrumental Ensembles) and CNM (National Center of Music). 

For more information about Cappella Mediterranea, please visit their website.

After studying piano in Argentina, Leonardo García-Alarcón moved to Europe in 1997 and joined the Geneva Conservatoire in the class of harpsichordist Christiane Jaccottet. In 2005, he founded his own ensemble, Cappella Mediterranea, before taking over the direction of the Chœur de chambre de Namur in 2010. He quickly became a highly acclaimed conductor, thanks to his concert creations at Ambronay and his rediscoveries of little-known works by Sacrati, Cavalli, Draghi, Falvetti and D’India. As a conductor and harpsichordist, he is sought after by the greatest musical and operatic institutions: Opéra de Paris, La Zarzuela de Madrid, Le Grand Théâtre de Genève, Staatsoper Berlin and others. He is a regular guest with Les Violons du Roy in Canada, the Radio France orchestra and the Gulbenkian Orchestra. After his triumphant direction of Rameau’s Indes Galantes at the Opéra Bastille, he was named best conductor in Forum Opéra’s 2019 awards. His most recent successful productions include Lully’s Atys, directed by Angelin Preljocaj (Geneva and Versailles 2022), Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea directed by Ted Huffman (Aix-en-Provence 2022). The last few years have been marked by major international successes, including a Monteverdi program, The 7 Deadly Sins, at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Berlin Philharmonic in November 2023, as well as new collaborations with choreographers: W. A. Mozart’s Idomeneo, re di Creta in February 2024 at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, directed and choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and J. S. Bach’s St John Passion choreographed by Sasha Waltz, performed in 2024 at the Salzburg Easter Festival, the Opéra de Dijon and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. 

In September 2022, a new chapter opens in his career with the premiere of his oratorio Pasión Argentina, his first major contemporary composition. 

Leonardo García-Alarcón is director of La Cité Bleue, a 300-seat concert hall, which opened in 2024.  

Leonardo García-Alarcón is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. 

An acclaimed soprano celebrated for her vivid interpretations of Baroque and Classical repertoire, Sophia Junker has worked with renowned conductors and has strong ties with Opéra Royal de Liège Wallonie and Angers-Nantes Opéra. Her major roles have included Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), and the title roles in Handel’s Theodora and Giulio Cesare. Junker appears regularly in concert with ensembles such as Concerto Copenhagen, Vox Luminis, and La Nuova Musica. A frequent collaborator with Leonardo García Alarcón, she headlines L’Incoronazione di Poppea and Handel’s Siroe this season. Her discography includes Sacrifices (Harmonia Mundi), Esther (Accent), La Francesina (Aparté), and Gismondo (Parnassus), the latter winning an International Classical Music Award.   

Italian countertenor Nicolò Balducci is rapidly earning acclaim on the international stage. The 2024-25 season features key debuts: Ulisses in Porpora’s Iphigenia in Aulis (Bayreuth Baroque Festival) and Arbace in Mozart’s Mitridate (Opéra de Lausanne, Opéra de Montpellier). In addition to Nerone in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, he will perform Vivaldi’s Arsilda (Arzane) in Amsterdam and Madrid with La Cetra and Andrea Marcon. Additional highlights include appearances at the Haendel Festspiele Halle, Vienna’s Festival Resonanzen, and the Ravenna Festival. Balducci made his operatic debut in 2021 as Oberto in Alcina (Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza), followed by standout performances in Cavalli’s Xerse (Festival della Valle d’Itria) and Pärt’s Stabat Mater on tour with La Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini. A BIS Records exclusive artist, he collaborates with recorder virtuoso Dan Laurin and Anna Paradiso. 

 Mariana Flores is equally captivating in Baroque and Mozartian repertoire as she is in the popular music of Argentina and Latin America. A native of Argentina, Flores has performed the roles of goddesses, witches, and heroines in leading opera houses and concert halls across Europe, the Americas, and Australia. Recent highlights include her celebrated portrayal of the title role in Sacrati’s La Finta Pazza at the Opéra Royal de Versailles and a captivating Canadian tour featuring the tangos of Astor Piazzolla. Her extensive discography includes Alfonsina (2023), a deeply personal album of Argentine folk songs recorded with Quito Gato. In 2024, she starred as Amore and Minerva in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and she enjoyed international performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor in Canada and Brazil.

Countertenor Christopher Lowrey regularly collaborates with prestigious ensembles and companies worldwide, including the Royal Opera House, Carnegie Hall, Academy of Ancient Music, and Philharmonie de Paris. Operatic highlights include Handel’s Giulio Cesare (title role) at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Theodora (Didymus) at Theater an der Wien, and Orlando (Medoro) at Oper Frankfurt. His extensive discography includes Handel’s Arminio, Vivaldi’s Bajazet, and a solo album of Handel arias. In 2024-25, Lowry debuts as Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lausanne Opera) and as Roberto in Vivaldi’s Griselda (Royal Danish Opera). Lowry directs Ensemble Altera, a chamber choir praised for innovative choral programming. 

 A recipient of numerous accolades including the Ricordi Opera Prize, British tenor Samuel Boden has become a sought-after soloist across opera and concert platforms. His early opera highlights include The Fairy Queen (Theater St. Gallen, Glyndebourne), Anfinomo in The Return of Ulysses (English National Opera at the Young Vic), The Indian Queen (Opéra Théâtre de Metz), and the title role in Cavalli’s L’Ormindo (Royal Opera/Shakespeare’s Globe). A keen linguist with a special love for French Baroque music, Boden has excelled in the haute-contre repertoire, performing many title roles such as in Charpentier’s Actéon (Opéra de Dijon, Opéra de Lille). Upcoming engagements include the title role in Rameau’s Platée (Garsington Opera), his Carnegie Hall debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and projects with Collegium Vocale Gent and The English Concert. 

British bass-baritone Edward Grint is celebrated for his commanding presence and versatility in baroque and operatic repertoire. Engagements include Abner in Handel’s Athalia at the Halle Händelfestspiele, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Banquet Céleste, and Bach concerts with the Netherlands Bach Society. He will make his debut with The English Concert under Harry Bicket at Wigmore Hall and perform Handel’s Messiah with The King’s Consort and the London Handel Festival. Further engagements include Billy Budd (Ratcliffe) at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest and tours with Les Arts Florissants and Collegium Vocale Gent, featuring Gesualdo Madrigals, Bach Cantatas, and Carissimi works. Grint is a prizewinner of the Cesti Competition Innsbruck and the London Handel Competition. 

Spanish soprano Lucía Martín-Cartón is celebrated for her captivating performances in early music and opera. First-prize winner in the 2015 Renata Tebaldi International Voice Competition for Ancient and Baroque Repertoire, she has performed at prestigious venues and festivals worldwide, including the Philharmonie de Paris, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Barbican Centre London, and Salzburger Festspiele. Collaborating with renowned conductors, her operatic roles have included Amore (Orfeo ed Euridice), Morgana (Alcina), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), and Teofane (Ottone). Recent highlights include Morganaat Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teofane at the Karlsruhe Handel Festival, and Amour (Orphée et Eurydice) at the Salzburger Festspiele. She has recorded for Brilliant Classics, Alia Vox, and Ricercar, and broadcast on Radio France and Musiq’3. 

 Awarded “Most Promising Lyrical Artist” at the 2024 Victoires de la Musique Classique, soprano Juliette Mey is a rising star in the world of classical music. A prizewinner at the prestigious 2023 Queen Elisabeth Competition and Voix Nouvelles Competition, she has quickly gained recognition for her exceptional artistry. A member of the 11^th Académie du Jardin des Voix with Les Arts Florissants under William Christie and Paul Agnew, she is also a laureate of the Académie du Festival d’Aix (2022) and a member of Génération Opéra (2022). Her career includes performances as the title role in La Cenerentola (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Opéra de Rouen) and her Opéra de Paris debut in Mayerling. Mey is represented by RSB Artists. 

Tenor Valerio Contaldo is celebrated for his artistry in both opera and oratorio. He has graced leading stages and festivals worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, and Aix-en-Provence, and opera houses such as Opéra de Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and Teatro La Fenice. His acclaimed operatic  performances include the title role in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Concerto Italiano and Cappella Mediterranea, touring Europe, Asia, and South America. He recently performed the roles in Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (Aix-en-Provence) and Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria (Versailles). His discography includes Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (Alpha), Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria (CVS), and Bach’s B Minor Mass (Claves), to widespread acclaim.

Since the 2024-25 season, tenor Riccardo Romeo has been a member of the solo ensemble at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. Romeo’s early roles inlcuded the little shepherd in Puccini’s Tosca and performances in children’s operas at the Komödie Augsburg. Career highlights include Monostatos (The Magic Flute) at Escales Lyriques de l’Île d’Yeu, Basilio (Le Nozze di Figaro) in Gießen, and Prince Ramiro (Cendrillon by Isouard) at the Opéra de Saint-Étienne. Further engagements include Gastone (La Traviata) at Zénith d’Orléans and roles at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. From 2021 to 2024, Romeo was a soloist at the Staatsoperette Dresden, where he excelled in operetta and musical comedy, performing roles such as Sigismund Sülzheimer (Im Weißen Rössl) and Tobias Ragg (Sweeney Todd). 

On the operatic stage, Yannis François has performed an array of roles, including the title role in Don Giovanni (Mozart), Curio in Giulio Cesare, Peter Quince in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Melisso in Handel’s Alcina. His performances also include Isacius in Telemann’s Richardus Primus under Michael Hofstetter, Seneca in L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Plutone in Monteverdi’s Orfeo with Leonardo García Alarcón, and Le Chef des Matelots in Marais’ Alcione with Jordi Savall. In concert, François has collaborated with esteemed conductors including Václav Luks, Ottavio Dantone, and Sébastien Daucé. A passionate advocate for rediscovered repertoire, François curates CD programs for leading artists and is also the founder of Éditions Charybde & Scylla.