“Tornerai” from Act 1, Scene 3 of L’incoronazione di Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi [1642] performed by Danielle Borst and Guillemette Laurens with René Jacobs and Concerto Vocale [1990]

Random Music History Song of the Day

Claudio Monteverdi was the man who first put all the pieces together that make up what we know as opera: virtuoso individual singing, characters who could convey real human emotions, and music that complimented and reinforced those emotions. L’incoronazione di Poppea, based on the historical account of the Roman Emperor Nero and his mistress Poppea, was 75-year-old Monteverdi’s last opera. Due to his age, the opera was was almost certainly written in collaboration with at least one other composer. Still, created some 35 years after his L’Orfeo first showed how powerful opera could be, Poppea might just have been his masterpiece. Though many questions remain about the original score, the premiere performance in Venice, and even the libretto itself, it is clear that Monteverdi had developed the genre significantly from its origins at the turn of the 17th century.

I mentioned the genre’s unique capacity for conveying the human experience. The excerpt posted above exemplifies that point. We’ve all experienced it. After a wonderful first date (or in this case a first forbidden romp) you worry anxiously, full of uncertainty about whether the other person wants to see you again. Once you get affirmation, you are both hesitant about saying goodbye, neither wanting the moment to end.

The characters Poppea and Nerone play out that episode in Scene 3 of Act 1 of Poppea. After sleeping together for the first time, Poppea butters up Nero, and they eventually profess their love for each other. The excerpt posted above is the end of the scene as the couple says goodbye. Poppea repeatedly asks “Will you return [to me]?” (“Tornerai”), until she hears the right answer from Nero. After he succumbs to his feelings and declares his love, the two reluctantly bid farewell. (See if you can follow that just from the vocals and supporting music.) 

This plot involving both a Roman emperor and opera, you know the story isn’t quite that simple. Poppea was really after the title Empress rather than the emperor himself.

A final note about the performance posted above… You’re probably wondering why the singers are both sopranos when one is supposed to be Nero. The role of Nerone was originally cast for a castrato - a man who had been castrated before puberty. From the mid 16th century well into the 18th century castratos usually performed the roles of heroic lead males in Italian opera. For a time, castratos even replaced boys choirs in many European churches. Since our modern society lacks a fresh supply of castrated young men, either women now play those roles or the music is arranged/transposed for a tenor voice (since the tenor became the new heroic male when castratos disappeared).