Word: poppea
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Ottone, a Roman nobleman, came home one night to discover his mistress, Poppea, in the arms of the notorious Emperor Nero. The Emperor finds time to dally with his male friend Lucano when Poppea or his Empress Ottavia is not around. Seneca, Nero's wise old mentor, advises him against marriage to Poppea and, for his counsel, is forced to commit suicide. Ottavia, whose crime is wanting to keep her husband and her throne, is exiled-set adrift alone at sea. Meanwhile, Ottone, who has tried to murder Poppea in her sleep, is banished. When Poppea finally marries Nero...
...sequel to I, Claudius? Part 2 of Caligula? No, an opera: Claudio Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea, first performed in 1642 in Venice. History's first great opera, Poppea is infrequently performed not because of the plot, which set a high standard of treachery and lubricity, but because of the special demands of Baroque convention, which included the casting of castrati in principal roles. Further, the musical idiom of early 17th century opera sounds strange to audiences accustomed to the ripe lyricism of Bellini, Verdi and Puccini...
...Poppea can still hold the stage -for all of its nearly four-hour length. Last week the Banchetto Musicale and the Boston Lyric Opera joined forces on a production that was as faithful to both the spirit and the notation of Monteverdi's score as one is likely to find. The opera was the high point of the Boston Early Music Festival and Exhibition, which brought musicologists, performers and instrument makers to the city for a week-long conference on the proper performance of medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music. Abandoned now is the practice of booming Bach...
Along with City Opera's problems, however, Sills will inherit a healthy, adventurous tradition. Under Rudel, the company staged early operas like Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea and such rarities as Janacek's The Mahropou-los Affair and Rimsky-Korsakov's Le Coq d 'Or. It has nurtured young singers, mostly American?including, on their way up. Sills, Sherrill Milnes, Donald Gramm and Placido Domingo. "Rudel did interesting operas and developed interesting singers," says Anthony Bliss, executive director of the Met. "It is no mean achievement...
...year reign, young General Director David Gockley, 33, has turned the company into one of the seven best in the U.S. The forthcoming season opens with Rigoletto (Oct. 15) but includes such attractions as Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes (Jan. 28) and Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea (March 25). Gockley's innovations include the creation of the touring Texas Opera Theater, which has successfully made a home in Texas and five nearby states; next month, for instance, Sousa's saucy operetta El Capitan again takes to the road. Gockley is perhaps most proud...