- George Frideric Handel. Dramma per musica in three acts. 1709.
- Libretto by Vincenzo Grimani.
- First performance at the Teatro S Giovanni Grisostomo, 26th December 1709.
CHARACTERS
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| Claudio (Claudius), Roman Emperor | bass |
| Agrippina, the Emperor's wife | soprano |
| Nerone (Nero), her son | male soprano |
| Pallante (Pallas), follower & lover of Agrippina | bass |
| Narciso (Narcissus), follower & lover of Agrippina | male alto |
| Lesbo (Lesbus), servant of Claudio | bass |
| Ottone (Otho), appointed heir to Claudio | male alto |
| Poppea (Poppaea), a courtesan | soprano |
| Giunone (Juno) | contralto |
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In the absence of the Emperor Claudius, presumed dead in Britain, his wife Agrippina seeks to
make her son by an earlier marriage, Nero, Emperor, helped by her freedmen Pallas and Narcissus.
Claudius, however, has been saved from death by Otho, now proclaimed as his heir on his return to
Rome. Matters are complicated by the fact that Claudius, Otho and Nero are all in love with
Poppaea, who tries to expose the machinations of the last, and of Agrippina, by arranging that all
three should visit her house, each unknown to the other. Claudius seeks to put matters right by
keeping Otho as his heir and allowing Nero to have Poppaea, but when this proves unacceptable, he
defers to Agrippina, leaving the Empire to Nero and giving Poppaea to Otho. Juno finally blesses
their marriage.
Handel's Agrippina was successfully staged in 1709 in Venice, where he was welcomed with
cries of Viva il caro Sassone (Long live the beloved Saxon). In his score Handel used again music
from earlier works as well as from an opera on a similar subject by Reinhard Keiser, under whom he
had worked in Hamburg, before moving to Italy.
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