Even today, the story of The Coronation of Poppea can shock by its startling and cynical dramatic realism. Poppea, mistress of the notorious Roman emperor Nero, schemes to get his wife, Ottavia, deposed and his eminent adviser, Seneca, put to death. She succeeds in both. In a counterplot, Ottavia blackmails Ottone, Poppea’s rejected lover, into an attempt on Poppea’s life. Ottone tries but fails. The counterplotters are all exiled. As an added cynical touch, Poppea’s ruthless maneuvering to be crowned empress of Rome is shown to be aided by the God of Love and the Goddess of Fortune.

After a prologue sung by the mythological characters, Act I begins with Ottone arriving at Poppea’s house at daybreak, and retreating in dismay after he sees Nero’s guards outside it. In an ironic alba (see page 50), the guards curse military life and gossip about Poppea’s scheming. This is a vivid prelude to the first of the opera’s several steamy love scenes.

Recitative Enter Nero and Poppea, who tries to wheedle Nero into staying with her. Delaying his departure as long as possible, she makes him promise to return. Accompanied by a lute as continuo instrument — a voluptuous sound, in this context — she repeats the question “Tornerai?” (“Won’t you return?”) in increasingly seductive accents until Nero stops evading the issue and agrees: “Tornerò” (“I will return”). The vocal line does not form itself into real melodies, but goes up or down or speeds or slows, following the words in speechlike fragments. This is characteristic of the recitative style.

Nero’s most extended evasion is a short aria-like fragment, called an arioso. Then the recitative resumes. On the final addios — some of them melting, others breathless — the singers say good-bye, improvising delicate vocal ornaments.

Aria As soon as Nero leaves, Poppea shows her true colors in a jubilant aria, a sort of victory dance. Accompanied by a small orchestra, it contains three short sections. The first is an orchestral tune (strings and recorder) to which Poppea sings her first two lines of text:

Note that a moment of uncertainty (“a mantle that is . . . illusory”) is marked by a momentary lapse into recitative. Her mood becomes harder and more determined in the aria’s second section. Finally, in section 3, she sings lighthearted, fast military fanfares — this is word painting in the madrigal tradition — as she exults that the gods are fighting on her behalf.

Mercurial, manipulative, fearless, dangerously sensual: Poppea has been characterized unforgettably by Monteverdi’s music in this scene.