Nobody knows for certain whether Monteverdi wrote The Coronation of Poppea or merely supervised its composition among a circle of younger musicians. Opera North hedges its bets by crediting the piece to Monteverdi et al, though it might be fairer to say Monteverdi and Albery, given that director Tim Albery has devised a new performance version based on his own translation. The result – which has an immaculately tailored 1950s feel – suggests that the piece was a significant prototype for both kinds of opera, musical and soap.
Based on a salaciously exaggerated account of real-life Roman celebrities, The Coronation of Poppea’s slew of sex, ambition and corruption has become the staple of Hollywood television studios as much as the lyric stages of Europe. Set against the emperor Nero’s attempts to replace his empress with a younger model, it is an amoral piece in which every character relentlessly pursues their own prurient agenda, with the exception of the emperor’s chief advisor, Seneca, a philosophical pedant who is ordered to commit suicide for voicing a dissenting opinion. Yet it is all set to music of the most sensuous and exquisite beauty, culminating in the celebrated amorous duet where the ostinato figure descends like expensive silk pooling on the floor.
Albery reminds us that the plot is rigged as an allegorical three-way contest between the goddesses of Fortune, Virtue and Love, who introduce the action then settle down to enjoy the spectacle while sharing a large carton of popcorn. Hannah Clark’s tiled, sunken setting suggests an emptied swimming pool and provides plenty of wipe-clean surfaces for the sanguinous cocktails that are spilled over the course of the evening. Musical director Laurence Cummings is seated on stage with an outstanding small ensemble of continuo players, reinforcing the fact that the music and action are inseparable.
Monteverdi (or whoever) did not specify voice-types for the characters, though the casting of the charismatic counter-tenor James Laing as Nero creates a compelling disconnect between the purity of his voice and the impurity of what he is voicing. Sandra Piques Eddy’s magnificently sung Poppea has the feline presence of a young Sophia Loren. However, the most tender musical contribution comes from Fiona Kimm as Poppea’s nurse, whose sublime lullaby is the only number in the entire opera that does not seem to be motivated by naked self-interest.
• Repeat performances on 11, 24 and 30 October. Then touring. Box office: 0844 848 2700. Grand, Leeds.
