Monteverdi's Last Operas: A Venetian Trilogy

Claudio Monteverdi (1567—1643) was the first important composer of opera. This innovative study by one of the foremost experts on Monteverdi and seventeenth—century opera examines the composer's celebrated final works—Il ritorno d'Ulisse (1640) and L'incoronazione di Poppea (1642)—from a new perspective. Ellen Rosand considers these works as not merely a pair but constituents of a trio, a Venetian trilogy that, Rosand argues, properly includes a third opera, Le nozze d'Enea (1641). Although...