L'incoronazione di Poppea - Book Report/Review Example

It must be assumed that some changes had been made. There are a large number of closed forms in this opera. There are arias and instrumental pieces that break up the recitative flow. The composer uses instrumental ritornelli and musical motives to bind together the different forms into larger units that hold together. The characters in the opera also differ in style and temperament. There is a comic couple, there is the scheming Ottavia who is angry because Nero rejected her, and there is Seneca, a noble philosopher who has to die for his beliefs.

There is also the lovesick Otho, who is weak and has been rejected by Poppea. Finally, there are Nero and Poppea, the anti-hero and heroine. Both the librettist Busenello and Monteverdi skillfully describe each character's psychology through the music and verse. The flirtations of Ottavia and Seneca are bluntly contrasted with the passion of Nero and Poppea. The sad resignation of Otho makes a clear counterpart for the jealous vengefulness of Ottavia. Monteverdi casts each role in a particular vocal range.

In his day, usually the male lead would have been played by a castrato, making Nero and Poppea both sopranos. Ottavia, by contrast, is a mezzo-soprano, and the nurse, the protector of Poppea, is a dark contralto. The part of Seneca is intended for a noble bass voice. Also, the instrumentation shifts accordingly. Nero is accompanied by the harpsichord or similar regal backing, and Poppea by the lighter lute. Seneca's weighty voice sings to the accompaniment of the organ, and the assembled divinities to an ethereal harp.

The primary relationship in the opera is that of Nero and Poppea. And Act 1, Scene 3 consists of dialogue between Nero and Poppea. The dialogue is essentially split into two parts, dramatically, musically and psychologically. Those parts recapitulate the struggle between longing and control backgrounded by the political intrigues and power games that mark this era of the Empire. This scene features the first meeting between these two characters and the tension of primal forces are brought into further tension by the splitting of lines of dialogues which distinguishes Monteverdi's version of the libretto to Busenello's.

This effect also allows Monteverdi to emphasize Poppea's role in the manipulation of Nero's speaking of Octavia's renunciation as he is constantly interrupted by her. Though in this portion of the scene the key of d is confirmed there are modulations to F, which add a note of hesitancy to Nero's portions. The erotic and languid tone that dominates the first two thirds of the scene as evidenced by her first solo which recapitulates the "farewell" motive: the interval of a fourth between a dominant and supertonic.

This compositional format appears in his "A Dio, Florida Bella," and thus Monteverdi's madrigal lineage is apparent. During the phrase "Poppea, allow me to go" the shift to an F-major is in stark contradistinction to Poppea's lingering d-minor inflected style further heightening her sexual power over him but not insignificantly his lack of power over her. At this point in the scene Poppea's eroticism and penchant for flattery is heightened as the farewell motive is transposed up a fourth and refers to Nero as, "my sun incarnate, my palpable light and the amorous day of light.

" Poppea means to explain that she is