Organization

Singer

Soprano

Danielle de Niese

Poppea

Countertenor

Philippe Jaroussky

Nero

Anna Bonitatibus

Octavia

Max Emanuel Cencic

Otho

Ana Quintans

Drusilla

Contralto

José Lemos

Octavia's Nurse

Robert Burt

Arnalta

Tenor

Terry Wey

Lucan

Mathias Vidal

Bass

Damian Whiteley

Mercury

Conductor

William Christie

Stage director

Pier Luigi Pizzi

Set designer

Costume designer

Lighting designer

Sergio Rossi

Claire Debono

Fortune

Katherine Watson

Virtue

Hanna Bayodi-Hirt

Love

Antonio Abete

Seneca

Suzana Ograjenšek

The valet

Pallas

Venus

Damsel

Andreas Wolf

Liberto

Juan Sancho

Two soldiers

David Webb

Lictor

Friends of Seneca

Tribuno

Consoli

Choreographer

Roberto Maria Pizzuto

Teatro Real de Madrid

Others

Les Arts Florissants

L'incoronazione di Poppea -  (The Coronation of Poppea)

Madrid

Spain

Teatro Real

Virtue, Fortune and Love compete for superiority over mankind in the prologue to the most erotic opera of the 17th century, L’incoronazione di Poppea. Composed by Claudio Monteverdi at the age of 75, it was first performed in 1642 at the Teatro dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo, in Venice.

This dialectical confrontation between Virtue and Fortune gives rise to overpowering passions, embodied by characters such as Nerone (unrestrained desire), Poppea (the lust for power) and Ottavia (the drive for vengeance) and opposed by the Stoic morality of the philosopher Seneca and the sincere love of Ottone. 35 years after his experimental Orfeo, Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea presents the innovations of mid-17th century Venetian opera: the absence of dances and choruses, a smaller orchestra, and the exaltation of vocal melody. A vocal continuum, ranging from recitative to ariosi, strophic arias and ensembles, made use of all the then current resources of vocal language; human emotions are expressed in sound with an unknown level of characterisation and psychological refinement up to that time.

This was the first opera about historical figures, real people, rather than portraying characters who embody emotional states. L’incoronazione di Poppea attempts to perceive and hear how these emotions appear and evolve, how they seduce and move us, how they invite us to enter the unstable and decentralised space of the Baroque world: the always subtle shift from recitative to arioso and cantabile, from cool intellect to hot blood, from reason to ecstasy, shapes a musical drama of human relationships, where the map is the geometry of the soul in movement.

L'incoronazione di Poppea by C.Monteverdi, from Teatro Real, 2010. Directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi, conductor William Christie, starring Danielle de Niese, Philippe Jaroussky, Katherine Watson, Robert Burt, Ana Quintans, Antonio Abete, Max Emanuel Cencic, Anna Bonitatibus, Claire Debono, Damigella, José Lemos, Hanna Bayodi-Hirt and Suzana Ograjenšek. Performed in Italian and subtitled in English, German, Spanish, French and Italian.

L'Incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi is the last Opera of the Monteverdi trilogy filmed by the Italian label and producer Dynamic at the Teatro Real, Madrid.

L'incoronazione di Poppea Monteverdi

The Coronation of Poppea

Approved

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