转载 《波佩阿的加冕》

蒙特威尔第在1643年写成了这一部歌剧，他是蒙氏三大歌剧的最后一部，但也是他成就最高的歌剧剧作。在这一部歌剧中，他不仅确立了歌剧的着重戏剧张力的方向，而扭转了歌剧创设时，以“诗剧”为尚的趋向，而且在这部歌剧里面，他采用了历史作为题材（以罗马暴

君尼禄王休了皇后，而娶了大臣之妻的史事），摆脱了当时歌剧采用神话为题材的风尚。另一重要的内涵意义上，就是：这是一部有着“只要我喜欢，有什么不可以”的“现代”意味的想法的剧作。为了爱情，尼禄王可以废掉旧人，另娶新人，神也祝福这种“为了爱，什么都可以去做”的行为；所以在皇后要人去刺杀新人波佩阿的时候，神托梦给波佩阿，使她免于被刺杀。这是一部反道德的歌剧，出于十七世纪，显得十分突兀。

剧情介绍

序幕

德行女神和幸运女神及爱神在争执谁的能力大？爱神表示牠才是世界一切事物的主宰，只要爱情一发威就能登时使世事变化。

第一幕

波佩阿的丈夫奥托内在清晨回家时，发现尼禄王的两个卫兵在他家门口打瞌睡。奥托内立即明白了，尼禄王和他妻子波佩阿在偷情，使他愤慨难当。那两个卫兵醒来后，抱怨着站卫兵的工作，而且悲叹着罗马帝国在尼禄王暴政统治之下的没落。

尼禄王和波佩阿上场，他们正在互相浓情蜜意地告别，而波佩阿强调自己对尼禄王的爱，要尼禄王早日娶她。波佩阿和乳母阿纳尔塔离去，阿纳尔塔向波佩阿表示如今皇后奥塔维亚已得知她和尼禄王的事，而要报仇，但波佩阿认为爱神必然与自己同在而不介意，阿纳尔塔则认为波佩阿简直是疯了。

在皇宫里，皇后奥塔维亚正在伤心尼禄王的变心，而她的乳母纽特里斯则劝她找一位情人来报复一下，但奥塔维亚表示要坚贞面对。皇后奥塔维亚对于由女侍长瓦勒托带上场来的尼禄王之师－－哲学家塞内加要他去劝告皇帝。在皇后奥塔维亚前往神殿去之后，塞内加一人独自思索着。这时候，雅典的Pallade神出现了，向塞内加警告他将面临一死，而塞内加则表示只要行得正，不畏一死。

尼禄王上场，对塞内加谈及要废掉皇后奥塔维亚而立波佩阿，塞内加反对，表示会使元老院及老百姓不悦，而惹怒了尼禄王，要他滚出去。在塞内加走后，波佩阿在尼禄王之前进谗言，说塞内加向旁人夸耀是他拥立尼禄王，尼禄王才登得了王位，使尼禄王大怒要杀塞内加。波佩阿的丈夫向奥托内抱怨她的出轨，而波佩阿则托词皇帝强力无法抵挡，而径自离去。而奥托内则久久不能平复。在恨意之中，奥托内向上场来而原本暗恋他的皇后奥塔维亚婢女德鲁希拉逢场作戏起来，表示他会比待波佩阿还要好地来善待她。

第二幕

塞内加在歌诵独居之乐之际，信使之神前来报信，警告他将面临死亡，而塞内加则甘之如饴。一个自由民奉尼禄王之命前来传令，限塞内加在当日自裁。而塞内加要他回话给尼禄王，会在黑夜来临前就死了而且也已埋葬了。塞内加赞美死的荣耀，而不理会友人的劝告依恋凡世的甜美，要下人准备他的沐浴以准备自尽。宫中的瓦勒托和达尼吉拉在调情。尼禄王和卢卡诺在宫中举行庆祝塞内加之死的宴会上欢饮及歌唱。而奥托内独自悲唱着波佩阿的绝望之爱。此时，皇后奥塔维亚上场，要奥托内去刺杀波佩阿，并且要胁说，如果他不肯，就要在尼禄王面前告他想强暴她，使奥托内只得听从。而一方面，皇后奥塔维亚婢女德鲁希拉唱着对奥托内的爱意，而奥塔维亚的奶娘则希望她是和德鲁希拉一样青春年华。奥托内告诉德鲁希拉真相，爱着他的德鲁希拉把衣服借给他。波佩阿和侍女在花园内，她向爱神祈祷能和尼禄王结合，而在花园中入睡。爱神护卫着波佩阿。奥托内穿着德鲁希拉的女装现身要杀波佩阿，而在爱神的唤醒下，她大声呼救，奥托内逃跑，众人追赶。爱神宣誓要波佩阿成为皇后的决心。

第三幕

德鲁希拉很高兴参与到刺杀波佩阿的事，但却以企图谋杀波佩阿而被捕。尼禄王对于自承认是凶手的德鲁希拉处以死刑。奥托内出面承认他才是企图刺杀波佩阿的凶手，由于德鲁希拉为了爱奥托内的作为，尼禄王处奥托内放逐，而也同意德鲁希拉随行。尼禄王与波佩阿终能偿所愿，名正言顺废掉皇后奥塔维亚而立波佩阿为皇后。奥塔维亚被处以任扁舟飘流之刑，行前悲叹从此离开了家园故土。波佩阿的乳母阿纳尔塔对于即将因波佩阿而贵而十分陶醉。尼禄王加冕波佩阿为皇后，众官同声欢腾。

L'incoronazione di Poppea

L'incoronazione di Poppea (SV 308, The Coronation of Poppea) is an Italian baroque opera comprising a prologue and three acts, first performed in Venice during the 1642–43 carnival season. The music, attributed to Claudio Monteverdi, is a setting of a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello. One of the first operas to use historical events and people rather than classical mythology, it adapts incidents from the writings of Tacitus, Suetonius and others to recount how Poppea, mistress of the Roman emperor Nerone (Nero), is able to achieve her ambition and be crowned empress. The opera was revived in Naples in 1651, but was then neglected until the rediscovery of the score in 1888, after which it became the subject of scholarly attention in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since the 1960s, the opera has been performed and recorded many times.

Synopsis

The action takes place in Imperial Rome around AD 60, in and around Poppea's villa and in various locations within the imperial palace.

Prologue

The goddesses of Fortune and Virtue dispute which of them has most power over humankind. They are interrupted by the god of Love, who claims greater power than either: "I tell the virtues what to do, I govern the fortunes of men." When they have heard his story, he says, they will admit his superior powers.

Act 1

Ottone arrives at Poppea's villa, intent on pursuing his love. Seeing the house guarded by the Emperor Nerone's soldiers he realises he has been supplanted, and his love song turns to a lament: "Ah, ah, perfidious Poppea!" He leaves, and the waiting soldiers gossip about their master's amorous affairs, his neglect of matters of state and his treatment of the Empress Ottavia. Nerone and Poppea enter and exchange words of love before Nerone departs. Poppea is warned by her nurse, Arnalta, to be careful of the empress's wrath and to distrust Nerone's apparent love for her, but Poppea is confident: "I fear no setback at all."

The scene switches to the palace, where Ottavia bemoans her lot; "Despised queen, wretched consort of the emperor!" Her nurse suggests she take a lover of her own, advice which Ottavia angrily rejects. Seneca, Nerone's former tutor, addresses the empress with flattering words, and is mocked by Ottavia's page, Valleto, who threatens to set fire to the old man's beard. Left alone, Seneca receives a warning from the goddess Pallade that his life is in danger. Nerone enters and confides that he intends to displace Ottavia and marry Poppea. Seneca demurs; such a move would be divisive and unpopular. "I care nothing for the senate and the people," replies Nero, and when the sage persists he is furiously dismissed. Poppea joins Nerone, and tells him that Seneca claims to be the power behind the imperial throne. This so angers Nerone that he instructs his guards to order Seneca to commit suicide.

After Nero leaves, Ottone steps forward and after failing to persuade Poppea to reinstate him in her affections, privately resolves to kill her. He is then comforted by a noblewoman, Drusilla; realising that he can never regain Poppea he offers to marry Drusilla, who joyfully accepts him. But Ottone admits to himself: "Drusilla is on my lips, Poppea is in my heart."

Act 2

In his garden, Seneca learns from the god Mercurio that he is soon to die. The order duly arrives from Nerone, and Seneca instructs his friends to prepare a suicide bath. His followers try to persuade him to remain alive, but he rejects their pleading. "The warm current of my guiltless blood shall carpet with royal purple my road to death." At the palace Ottavia's page flirts with a lady-in-waiting, while Nerone and the poet Lucano celebrate the death of Seneca in a drunken, cavorting song contest, and compose love songs in honour of Poppea. Elsewhere in the palace Ottone, in a long soliloquy, ponders how he could have thought to kill Poppea with whom he remains hopelessly in love. He is interrupted by a summons from Ottavia, who to his dismay orders him to kill Poppea. Threatening to denounce him to Nerone unless he complies, she suggests that he disguise himself as a woman to commit the deed. Ottone agrees to do as she bids, privately calling on the gods to relieve him of his life. He then persuades Drusilla to lend him her clothes.

In the garden of Poppea's villa, Arnalta sings her mistress to sleep while the god of Love looks on. Ottone, now disguised as Drusilla, enters the garden and raises his sword to kill Poppea. Before he can do so, Love strikes the sword from his hand, and he runs away. His fleeing figure is seen by Arnalta and the now awakened Poppea, who believe that he is Drusilla. They call on their servants to give chase, while Love sings triumphantly "I protected her!"

Act 3

Drusilla muses on the life of happiness before her, when Arnalta arrives with a lictor. Arnalta accuses Drusilla of being Poppea's assailant, and she is arrested. As Nerone enters, Arnalta denounces Drusilla, who protests her innocence. Threatened with torture unless she names her accomplices, Drusilla decides to protect Ottone by confessing her own guilt. Nerone commands her to suffer a painful death, at which point Ottone rushes in and reveals the truth: that he had acted alone, at the command of the Empress Ottavia, and that Drusilla was innocent of complicity. Nerone is impressed by Drusilla's fortitude, and in an act of clemency spares Ottone's life, ordering him banished. Drusilla chooses exile with him. Nerone now feels entitled to act against Ottavia and she is exiled, too. This leaves the way open for him to marry Poppea, who is overjoyed: "No delay, no obstacle can come between us now."

Ottavia bids a quiet farewell to Rome, while in the throne room of the palace the coronation ceremony for Poppea is prepared. The Consuls and Tribunes enter, and after a brief eulogy place the crown on Poppea's head. Watching over the proceedings is the god of Love with his mother, Venere and a divine chorus. Nerone and Poppea sing a rapturous love duet ("I gaze at you, I possess you") as the opera ends.