Which opera by Claudio Monteverdi is based on the Roman emperor Nero and Poppea?

Claudio Monteverdi’s opera about the Roman emperor Nero and Poppea is L’incoronazione di Poppea.

L’incoronazione di Poppea, or The Coronation of Poppea, was first performed in Venice during the 1642–1643 carnival season. The libretto was written by Giovanni Francesco Busenello and draws on Tacitus, Suetonius, and other historical sources. Its plot dramatizes Nero’s determination to make Poppea empress, despite political opposition and the removal of his wife Octavia.

The work is significant because it treats historical figures with psychological complexity rather than presenting only gods or legendary heroes. Its music includes the closing duet “Pur ti miro,” although scholars debate whether every part of the surviving score is by Monteverdi himself. The opera survives in manuscripts associated with Naples and Venice, and its exact original performing version is not completely certain.

Monteverdi was a major transitional figure between Renaissance and Baroque music. His earlier Orfeo, first performed in 1607, is a foundational early opera, but it is not the work about Nero and Poppea. The Coronation of Poppea remains one of the oldest operas still regularly staged.