Photo credit: Kathy Wittman, Ball Square Films
Scene from L’Incoronazione di Poppea presented by the Florentine Opera
It was with great joy that I received an invitation from a friend inviting me to the Florentine Opera’s current production of Claudio Monteverdi’s historical fantasy about Nero and his consorts, L’Incoronazione di Poppea. As a Baroque opera buff, I’ve been looking forward to this since the Florentine announced its 2018-19 season. The last time I had the pleasure was over a dozen years ago in Los Angeles (with Susan Graham as Poppea, Frederica von Stade as Ottavia and Kurt Streit singing Nerone) in 2006.
First staged in 1643 for the Venice Carnival season, Monteverdi’s Poppea seems to have had a successful enough run to revive it just five years later (unlike our contemporary programming’s reliance on constant reruns, period operas rarely saw stage lights again after the premiere). It would remain dormant for two-and-a-half centuries. But those late revivals were updated, rewritten and modernized. With the renaissance of early music performance practice, Baroque operas returned to their original sound and settings. Our local run, too, is played accordingly.
Besides which, the Florentine Opera’s production is timely. Although a little late, it’s close enough to Carnival season, but more so, like many an opera’s original intent, its not-so-subliminal message is one worth pondering. The curtain rises with Fortune and Virtue arguing which of them has the most power over humankind. Cupid enters and insists he trumps both and will prove it. The tale he tells is of Nerone, the corrupt Roman Emperor (Guard: “Our prince robs everyone to line the pockets of a few”), who is married to Ottavia. Her rival, Melania (oops, sorry) Poppea, is intent upon marrying Nerone to become empress. In her wake, palace intrigue ensues: The sage Seneca, Nerone’s advisor, is forced to commit suicide for his opposition to Poppea, a plot to assassinate her is foiled, hearts are broken and corruption prevails.
Apart from an otherwise incredible performance, the LA Opera’s Poppea took a compelling turn. After all the mayhem, the opera ends with the coronation of Poppea and the work’s most famous musical moment, the exquisitely beautiful love duet between the newly crowned empress and Nerone. Typically performed as one might expect, the lovers melting vocally (and physically) into each other, the LA Opera version was sung icily, the voices blending as they should, but the characters detached, Poppea’s fait accompli fulfilling her hollow ambition, and the narcissistic Nerone now possessing his latest trophy. Other modern productions conclude even more explicitly, some with lots of blood and gore, in case you didn’t get the message. It will be interesting to see whether the Florentine stages this scene safely as a celebration of lovers finally united or as a powerful political statement. (I’m not reading reviews, so no spoilers, please.)
The performance is timely, with a Wisconsin Supreme Court judge’s election in the offing, L’Incoronazione di Melania (damn it…) Poppea should remind us to vote on April 2. Our choice is between fortune (read Nero-ic right wing machinations, misogyny and homophobia) and virtue (as in justice and equality). In other words, vote for Lisa Neubauer.
