Video clip: L'incoronazione di Poppea
Back towards the very beginning of opera today. The first known opera-like composition is by the amazing Hildegard of Bingen in the twelfth century but opera in a form something like we know it today has its origins in Florence from the end of the 16th century.
The first really great opera composer was Claudio Monteverdi largely based in Venice and from whom we have three surviving operas, the last of which, L'incoronazione di Poppea, first performed in Venice in 1643, is his greatest opera and is a great opera by any standards.
Incoronazione tells a story of Nero's extra-marital affair with Poppea to the chagrin of Nero's wife Ottavia. Poppea is very ambitious to be empress in Ottavia's place. Ottavia solicits Ottone who also loves Poppea to kill her, which he attempts by dressing up as Drusilla, a noble woman who is in love with Ottone. The god of love intervenes to prevent the murder, Drusilla is arrested and is ordered to be put to a horrible death by Nero, but her heroism in not betraying Ottone is then revealed and rewarded by Nero by commuting her death sentence. Ottone, Drusilla and Ottavia are then sent into exile. This frees Nero to marry Poppea and their love for one another is celebrated in the opera's most famous duet "Pur ti miro, Pur ti godo".
Incoronazione is not exactly an uplifting moral tale. The denouement sees Nero's cruelty somewhat blunted as Poppea achieves her ambition of becoming empress at the expense of Nero's wife. The opera also includes the story of Seneca being forced to commit suicide at the behest of Poppea and Nero. These themes were and are hardly in line with the teachings of the Roman Catholic church! But the theme of love, or rather some love, conquering all plays a somewhat redemptive role with deeply flawed characters. Variations on this theme of the importance of romantic love run through a lot of the operas that followed.
In the link below Nero is the fabulous countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, whom I had the enormous good fortune to see singing baroque arias with Emőke Bárath at the Palace of Music in Budapest a few months ago, and Poppea the fabulous baroque lyric soprano Danielle De Niese.
Baroque opera, which includes for example the many operas of Handel, is not everyone's cup of tea in the first instance. I think one can fairly say it's an acquired taste. But, imho, it's a taste well worth acquiring.