Andromeda
Opera based on the Greek myth of Andromeda, the princess chained to a rock. The libretto survived after the score was lost.
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Opera based on the Greek myth of Andromeda, the princess chained to a rock. The libretto survived after the score was lost.
Venus and Cupid ask Pluto, ruler of the Underworld, to bring up women who rejected love so they may serve as a warning. The women enter and dance in pairs as Pluto admonishes the audience; one regrets having to return to the Underworld.
Christian knight Tancredi and Saracen Clorinda, who are lovers, meet in battle without recognizing one another because their faces are covered by armor. Tancredi mortally wounds Clorinda and learns her identity only after removing her helmet. He baptizes her before she dies, and she sees Heaven open. A narrator recounts most of the action, while the combatants also act.
After the Trojan War, Ulisse returns to Ithaca, where Penelope remains beset by suitors. With Minerva’s help he disguises himself, reunites with his son Telemaco, defeats the suitors, and at last convinces Penelope of his identity.
At their wedding in Thrace, Orfeo and Euridice celebrate their love. A messenger arrives with news that Euridice has died from a snakebite. Orfeo descends to the Underworld and persuades Pluto to release her, on the condition that he not look back as they return. Doubt overcomes Orfeo and he turns to look; Euridice vanishes. In the ending used in Monteverdi’s 1609 score, Apollo descends and invites Orfeo to join him in the heavens, where he may see Euridice among the stars. The original 1607 libretto instead ends with Bacchantes threatening Orfeo, leaving his fate uncertain.
In Rome around AD 60, Poppea’s affair with Emperor Nerone displaces both his wife Ottavia and her former lover Ottone. Seneca warns Nerone against divorcing Ottavia and marrying Poppea, so Nerone orders Seneca to commit suicide. Ottavia then orders Ottone to kill Poppea, but Cupid prevents the attempt. When Ottone confesses and takes the blame to protect Drusilla, Nerone spares them but banishes them and Ottavia. Nerone crowns Poppea empress, and they celebrate their union in a duet.
Unfinished comic opera about Licori, who disguises herself first as a man and then as a woman and feigns madness to win her lover Aminta.
Juno seeks to prevent the Trojan Aeneas from marrying Lavinia and provokes conflict between Trojans and Latins. After a Trojan hunting party kills a Latin shepherd, King Latino resists calls for war, but Turnus leads the Latins into battle. Aeneas kills Turnus, and Latino offers Lavinia’s hand to Aeneas; Juno abandons her hostility and joins Venus and Hymen in blessing the marriage.
Abandoned theatrical project based on the marriage of Peleus and the sea-goddess Thetis. Monteverdi initially described it as a favola marittima; it was later projected as a sequence of intermedi before the commission was cancelled.
After helping Theseus escape Crete, Ariadne accompanies him to Naxos, where he abandons her. She waits for his return and sings a lament before Bacchus arrives. Venus and Cupid arrange the union of Ariadne and Bacchus, who promises her immortality and a crown of stars.
At the request of an enamored shepherd, Pluto turns Pachino into a mountain and promises him a place in Elysium. Cupid’s arrow then makes Pluto fall for Proserpine, whom he claims as queen. When her protector Ciane is transformed into a spring, Proserpine submits; Pluto is softened by her beauty and promises to treat lovers less harshly.
Opera based on the Greek myth of Andromeda, the princess chained to a rock. The libretto survived after the score was lost.
Venus and Cupid ask Pluto, ruler of the Underworld, to bring up women who rejected love so they may serve as a warning. The women enter and dance in pairs as Pluto admonishes the audience; one regrets having to return to the Underworld.
Christian knight Tancredi and Saracen Clorinda, who are lovers, meet in battle without recognizing one another because their faces are covered by armor. Tancredi mortally wounds Clorinda and learns her identity only after removing her helmet. He baptizes her before she dies, and she sees Heaven open. A narrator recounts most of the action, while the combatants also act.
After the Trojan War, Ulisse returns to Ithaca, where Penelope remains beset by suitors. With Minerva’s help he disguises himself, reunites with his son Telemaco, defeats the suitors, and at last convinces Penelope of his identity.
At their wedding in Thrace, Orfeo and Euridice celebrate their love. A messenger arrives with news that Euridice has died from a snakebite. Orfeo descends to the Underworld and persuades Pluto to release her, on the condition that he not look back as they return. Doubt overcomes Orfeo and he turns to look; Euridice vanishes. In the ending used in Monteverdi’s 1609 score, Apollo descends and invites Orfeo to join him in the heavens, where he may see Euridice among the stars. The original 1607 libretto instead ends with Bacchantes threatening Orfeo, leaving his fate uncertain.
In Rome around AD 60, Poppea’s affair with Emperor Nerone displaces both his wife Ottavia and her former lover Ottone. Seneca warns Nerone against divorcing Ottavia and marrying Poppea, so Nerone orders Seneca to commit suicide. Ottavia then orders Ottone to kill Poppea, but Cupid prevents the attempt. When Ottone confesses and takes the blame to protect Drusilla, Nerone spares them but banishes them and Ottavia. Nerone crowns Poppea empress, and they celebrate their union in a duet.
Unfinished comic opera about Licori, who disguises herself first as a man and then as a woman and feigns madness to win her lover Aminta.
Juno seeks to prevent the Trojan Aeneas from marrying Lavinia and provokes conflict between Trojans and Latins. After a Trojan hunting party kills a Latin shepherd, King Latino resists calls for war, but Turnus leads the Latins into battle. Aeneas kills Turnus, and Latino offers Lavinia’s hand to Aeneas; Juno abandons her hostility and joins Venus and Hymen in blessing the marriage.
Abandoned theatrical project based on the marriage of Peleus and the sea-goddess Thetis. Monteverdi initially described it as a favola marittima; it was later projected as a sequence of intermedi before the commission was cancelled.
After helping Theseus escape Crete, Ariadne accompanies him to Naxos, where he abandons her. She waits for his return and sings a lament before Bacchus arrives. Venus and Cupid arrange the union of Ariadne and Bacchus, who promises her immortality and a crown of stars.
At the request of an enamored shepherd, Pluto turns Pachino into a mountain and promises him a place in Elysium. Cupid’s arrow then makes Pluto fall for Proserpine, whom he claims as queen. When her protector Ciane is transformed into a spring, Proserpine submits; Pluto is softened by her beauty and promises to treat lovers less harshly.