Opera (Dramma per musica) in 3 acts and a Prologue
Libretto: Giovanni Francesco Busenello
First performance: carnevale 1643, Teatro SS. Giovanni e Paolo - Grimani, Venezia
Recorded: Glyndebourne Festival Opera
"L'incoronazione di Poppea" was Monteverdi's last opera, written when he was 75, and is often consided to be his best. It was first performed in Venice in 1642, and a manuscript with the composers own marings survives there to this day.
The opera tells the amoral story of the Roman Emperor Nero's love affair with the scheming and seductive Poppea, here voluptuously portrayed by Maria Ewing, with ecil triumphing over good, while the allegorical figures from the Prolgue - Fortune, Virtue and Love - look on.
This sparkling production by Sir Peter Hall is conducted by Raymond Leppard, the celebrated authority on Baroque music, who made this modern edition of the opera, which he has conducted in many major opera houses worldwide.
Poooea - Maria Ewing
Nero - Dennis Bailey
Octavia - Cynthia Clarey
Seneca - Robert Lloyd
Drusilla - Elizabeth Gale
Ottone - Dale Duesing
Directed for Video - Peter Hall and Robin Lough
1 Act I 91:51
2 Act II 57:08 |
[ NTSC ]