At the beginning of the eighteenth century starts to develop a type of opera uniquely based on comic characters. It was a consequence of Zeno’s reform which separated the comic scenes within an opera, from all the rest. Two types of performances started then to take shape, marking a turning point in the history of opera. They were the interludes or intermezzi and a music comedy in Neapolitan dialect, called Commedeja pee Mmuseca.
Bellini met in Milan an artist who will be fundamental in his career: the librettist Felice Romani, the greatest theatrical poet of his time. Their cooperation lasted for 6 years and Romani, who wrote something like 90 librettos, created for and with Bellini some of his best ones. Bellini was actively involved not only in shaping the subjects but also in writing the verses, to insure the effective delivery of his idea through word and music simultaneously.In Milan Bellini met an artist who was going to be fundamental in his career, the greatest theatrical poet of his time: librettist Felice Romani. Their cooperation lasted for 6 years. Romani, who wrote something like 90 librettos, created for and with Bellini some of his best ones. The first opera produced through this collaboration was Il Pirata The Pirate, an opera that completely electrified the audience in Milan on October 27th 1827, night of the premiere. The newspapers titled “the start of Italian Romantic opera”.
The libretto for Monteverdi’s Opera L’Incoronazione di Poppea was mainly drawn from the roman historians Tacitus. Its leading character is Poppea, the beautiful mistress who became wife to the Roman Emperor Nero, one of the most loved and, at the same time, hated emperor of the ancient Rome. Nero after the great fire of Rome, built on the Colle Oppio, the most lavish and vast villa of the ancient Rome, the Domus Aurea.
The house has an unbeatable location. Situated halfway up the hill that gradually becomes mountain, the San Bartolo – the only high stretch of coast on the Adriatic sea along with Trieste and Ancona – it faces a large bay. A lush vegetation surrounds the white building from early spring to late autumn. During summer it provides a shelter from the heat of the blazing sun and also from the curious eyes of the bathers crowding the beach – mainly locals as this is not a trendy beach; it’s simply a nice place -. Vegetation could not, however, shield the sounds. So, in the years gone by, it was quite common for people lying on the beach – including me – to hear the Maestro’s powerful voice singing a piece or some musical charade. It was quite something!