Seneca and the Interpretation of L'Incoronazione di Poppea

Abstract

FEW ACKNOWLEDGED MASTERPIECES in the history of opera raise as many questions of interpretation as L'incoronazione di Poppea. Perhaps only Don Giovanni, its meanings still in debate after nearly two centuries of critical scrutiny and exegesis, looms as large an enigma. Monteverdi's opera, like Mozart's, challenges the interpreter by complicating aesthetic issues with moral uncertainties. In Poppea, however, those uncertainties resonate on a large historical scale; personal choice is charged with the obligations of state and empire. As a historical libretto-the first in the history of opera-Poppea assumes a special gravity and responsibility beyond any fiction of plot. For this libretto sets up particular expectations of verisimilitude. Its characters, unlike their mythological or pastoral counterparts, demand to be measured against reality. This demand in itself makes special claims upon the audience, requiring judgment and moral engagement on their part. The dilemmas of its characters become those of the audience; its ambivalences become theirs.