What is L'incoronazione di Poppea?
{{italictitle}} [[File:Claudio Monteverdi.jpg|thumb|Monteverdi]] '''''L'incoronazione di Poppea''''' ({{lang-en|The Coronation of Poppea}}) is an [[opera]] in three acts by [[Claudio Monteverdi]]. The [[libretto]] is by Giovanni Francesco Busenello. The first performance was in the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo, [[Venice]] in [[1643]]. It was the last opera that Monteverdi composed. Most operas in the early [[17th century]] were about [[mythological]] stories or stories from the [[Christian]] religion. This story, however, is about something that happened in the history of ancient [[Rome]]. It is about the evil emperor [[Nero]] and how he married [[Poppea]]. The gods still play a part in the opera, especially [[Cupid]]. Although the opera is called ''The Coronation of Poppea'' we do not actually see any [[coronation]] ceremony. Monteverdi was an experienced [[composer]] when he wrote this and the opera has some of his best music. The orchestra is only a small group of instruments: [[string instruments|strings]], [[recorder]]s, [[cornett]]s (an old kind of [[trumpet]]), [[percussion]], [[harp]], [[lute]]s and [[viola da gamba|gambas]]. The music does not divide sharply between [[recitative]] (narrating music) and [[aria]] (set songs), but flows gently from one type to the other. When listening to this opera it is important to remember that in the [[17th century]] men often sang women’s parts and women sang men’s parts. A part such as Nero would have been sung by a [[castrato]]. Nowadays it can either be sung by a [[countertenor]] (a man) or a [[mezzo-soprano]] (a woman). There are scenes in this opera where the actors disguise themselves as the opposite sex. In the 17th century opera audiences did not find anything unusual about a man pretending to be a woman pretending to be a man or the other way round. The duet between Nero and Poppea at the end of the opera may have been written by another composer. ==The story of the opera== ===Prologue=== The [[goddesses]] Fortune and Virtue are having an