| Claudio Monteverdi |
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The composer Claudio Monteverdi, in addition to a large output of church music and madrigals, wrote prolifically for the stage throughout his career. He was one of the early exponents of the emergent genre of opera, and played a significant part in its development, during the first half of the 17th century, from a courtly entertainment to the principal form of public musical theatre. Monterverdi's first opera, L'Orfeo, written in 1607 for the Mantuan court which employed him, was a great success. He wrote around nine further operas—the genres of some of his stage works is debatable—but of these, only Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria and L'incoronazione di Poppea, written near the end of his life, have survived in complete musical form. Between L'Orfeo and L'incoronazione he composed seven more operas, in part or in whole, but with the exception of fragments the music for all these has been lost.
Most of the information relating to the lost operas has been deduced from contemporary documents. From these sources it is not always possible to determine how much of the music for individual works was written. L'Arianna, Andromeda, Proserpina rapita and Le nozze d'Enea in Lavinia were all completed and performed; Arianna's lament, and a trio from Proserpina, are the only certain fragments of music that survive from them. Commentators have particularly regretted the loss of these completed works. The other three were aborted before their completion, and it is not known how much of their music was written before their abandonment.
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Monteverdi's long creative life is largely contained in two phases: the 22 years (1590–1612) that he spent in the service of the Gonzaga court in Mantua, and the 30 years (1613–43) that he served as maestro di capella at St Mark's Basilica in Venice. This timespan of more than 50 years covers the period from the inception of opera as a form of music drama in the final decade of the 16th century, to a point towards the middle of the 17th century when the genre had achieved widespread acceptance as the principal form of musical theatre.[1] The Italian word "opera", short for opera in musica ("musical work"), was not applied generally before 1634. Before then, and even after, in Italy works were typically termed favola in musica (musical fable), dramma in musica (musical drama), or tragedia in musica ("musical tragedy");[2] Monteverdi used these and similar descriptions for many of his early operatic works.[3]
The new genre of opera, with its specific characteristics of a complete story told through characters, employing recitative, aria and arioso as well as choruses,[4] developed from older forms of musical theatre that had existed since the earliest years of the Italian Renaissance. Such forms included the maschera ("masque"), the ballo (a dance entertainment, often with sung passages), and particularly the intermedio or intermezzo, a short dramatic musical episodes inserted as a prologue or entr'acte between the acts of straight plays.[5][6] Another format in the later renaissance period was the torneo, or "tournament", a stylised dramatic spectacle in which the main singing was performed by a narrator.[7][8] The first works now acknowledged as "operas" are Jacopo Peri's Dafne of 1597, and Euridice (1600) for which both Peri and Giulio Caccini provided music. In each case Ottavio Rinuccini was the librettist.[9] Sub-operatic forms of dramatic music continued to thrive alongside the development of opera; Monterverdi often resorted to them. The similarities of some of these forms to opera, and the somewhat blurred boundaries that existed for many years, have led to disputes as to the correct classification of some works. For example, Monterverdi's torneo Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (1624) is a work whose precise genre has proved difficult to define, and it has often been termed an opera.[3][10]
Monteverdi composed, in all, 24 works for the stage. Of these, ten are usually classified as operas, of which the music for seven has been lost apart from a few fragments.[3][n 1] Most of what is known about the missing works comes from surviving librettos and other documentation, including Monteverdi's own extensive correspondence. Many of these works date from the 1610s and 1620s; Tim Carter, a leading Monteverdi scholar, argues that a significant aspect of their loss is that they may contain musical links between the composer's early Mantuan court operas and the public operas he wrote in Venice towards the end of his life. Carter also reflects on the intriguing possibility, however remote, that a discovery in an unexplored library might one day bring some of this missing music to light.[11]
(English: "Ariadne")
L'arianna was was composed for the Mantua court, to form part of the festivities for the wedding of Francesco Gonzaga to Margherita of Savoy, in May 1608. Monteverdi received the commission following L'Orfeo's successful premiere at the court in February 1607.[12] The libretto for L'Arianna was by Ottavio Rinuccini, whose text for Peri's opera Euridice had impressed Duke Vincent.[13] The composition of L'Arianna was a fraught affair for Monteverdi, being only one of three works that the duke required from him for the wedding; he had also to compose a musical prologue for Battista Guarini's play L'idropica, and set the festive dance Ballo delle ingrate.[14] His work was hampered by the fatal illness of his wife Claudia; she died on 10 September 1607, but Monterverdi was given no respite by the duke.[12] L'Arianna was probably composed in the last two months of 1607,[15] an exertion which Monteverdi's biographer Hans Redlich describes as "superhuman".[16] Monterverdi complained bitterly about the lack of acknowledgement from the duke for his efforts;[17] nearly 20 years later, in a letter to the duke's secretary Alessandro Striggio,[n 2] he wrote that he had almost killed himself when writing L'Arianna in such a hurry.[22]
Rinuccini used numerous classical sources as the basis for his libretto, in particuar works of Ovid—the Heroides and the Metamorphoses—and poems from Catullus.[23] The work has been cited as the first "tragic" opera,[24] though in his biography of the composer Paolo Fabbri notes that the tragedy is diluted by a happy ending.[23] After a Prologue, the main action begins as Venus tells Cupid that Arianna and her lover Theseus, who have fled from Athens, will shortly arrive in Naxos. Theseus, she reports, will then abandon Arianna whom he considers unworthy to be queen of Athens. Venere plans to match her instead with the god Bacchus, and asks Cupid to arrange this. Theseus and Arianna arrive; Theseus agonises over his decision to abandon her, but is advised by his counsellor that he is wise to do so, and departs. In the morning Arianna, finding herself alone except for her companion Dorilla, goes to the seashore in search of Teseo. She sings her famous lament, after which a distant fanfare indicates an imminent arrival. Arianna hopes this is Theseus returning, but it is Bacchus, who woos Arianna. After Jupiter (mythology)Jupiter has spoken from the heavens, Bacchus promises Arianna immortality with the gods, and joyful celebrations follow.[25] The libretto, originally in five scenes, was extended during the rehearsals to seven scenes, after a nobleman, Carlo de' Rossi, complained to the duke that the music was in need of enrichment. Among the additional material were the early scene between Venus and Cupid, and Jupiter's blessing from heaven.[26][27]
Preparations for the opera's performance were disrupted when, in March 1608, the leading soprano Caterina Martinelli died of smallpox.[28] A replacement had to be found rapidly, and the title role fell to Virginia Andreidi, an actress-singer who used the stage name "La Florinda"; she reportedly learned the part in only six days.[12] In his analysis of Monteverdi's theatrical works, Tim Carter suggests that Arianna's lament may have been added to the work to make the most of Andreini's renowned acting and vocal abilities.[29] The premiere, on 28 May 1608, was staged in a specially-erected temporary theatre which allegedly could hold an audience of several thousands. The production was lavish; apparently, 300 men were employed to manipulate the stage machinery.[12] Frederico Follino, the Mantuan court's official reporter for the occasion, praised the beauty of the work, the magnificence of costumes and machinery, and the sweetness of the music.[30] Monteverdi's fellow-composer Marco da Gagliano was equally complementary, writing that the opera had "revived the greatness of early music, and in so doing had visibly moved the entire audience to tears."[31]
In 1614 the Medici court in Florence requested a copy of the L'Arianna score, perhaps with a view to staging it.[32] A revival in Mantua is implied in the Striggio–Monterverdi correspondence of March-April 1620, when Monteverdi sends Striggio a revised version of the score, commenting that if he had had more time, the revision would have been more thorough.[33] Otherwise there are no records of the opera's performance before the Venice revival of 1640, at the Teatro San Moisè. Gary Tomlinson, in his study of late renaissance opera, surmises that the work's enthusiastic reception in Venice was a significant factor in Monteverdi's decision to resume opera composition during his final years.[34]
All the music for L'Arianna is lost except for the lament, which survives because Monteverdi published it independently, in 1623. Before then, he had rearranged it into a version for five voices; he would later use it as the basis for a sacred Latin hymn. Other composers imitated and emulated the format;[35] Redlich asserts that the lament initiated a musical "type" that lasted to the end of the 17th century and beyond.[36] In more recent times, the composer Ottorino Respighi published an edition in 1910, and Carl Orff's tryptich Lamenti (1939–40) is inspired by Monteverdi's original.[37] In a poetic tribute to the composer published at the time of his death in 1643, the "Lamento d'Arianna" is the only one of his works mentioned by name. Outside its operatic context the piece has become a standard concert item, and has been recorded many times.[38]
(English: "The Marriage of Thetis")
After Duke Vincenzo I's death in February 1612, Monteverdi found himself out of favour at the Mantuan court. Vincenzo was briefly succeeded by his son Francesco, who had no high regard for Monteverdi and dismissed him from his post in July. On Francesco's sudden death in December 1612 the dukedom passed to his brother Ferdinando, but there was no return to the court for Monteverdi, who in August 1613 was appointed maestro della musica at St Mark's, Venice.[39][40]
Monteverdi remained in contact with Striggio and other highly-placed Gonzaga courtiers, through whom he was able to secure occasional commissions to compose theatrical works for the Gonzaga court.[41] Thus, late in 1616 Striggio asked him to set Scipione Agnelli's libretto Le nozze di Tetide, as part of the celebrations for Duke Ferdinando's forthcoming marriage to Catherine de' Medici. Agnelli's story, based on the wedding of the mythical Greek hero Peleus to the sea-goddess Thetis,[42] was familiar to the Mantuan court. In 1608, Monteverdi's near-contemporary Jacopo Peri had offered a version of this story, based on a libretto by Francesco Cini,[43] for the wedding of Francesco Gonzaga, but Peri's work had been turned down in favour of Arianna.[44]
Initially, Monteverdi had little enthusiasm for Le nozze di Tetide, and sought ways of avoiding or delaying work on it. He would accept the commission, he informed Striggio on 9 December 1616, because it was the wish of his feudal lord the duke. However, the verses he was to set were not, he felt, conducive to beautiful music. He found the tale difficult to understand, and did not think he could be inspired by it.[45][46] Monteverdi was in no hurry to begin composing, and was anyway occupied for most of December in writing a Christmas Eve mass for St Mark's. On 29 December, possibly hoping that the commission would be withdrawn, he told Striggio that he was ready to begin work on Le Nozze di Tetide "if you tell me to do so".[47][48] By 6 January 1617 his reluctance had turned to enthusiasm, after he learned that the work was not, as he had assumed, to be a full-scale opera, but a series of intermezzi. He informed Striggio that what he had first considered a rather monotonous piece he now thought fully appropriate to the occasion.[49][50] He began work on the recitative sections, but before he could start setting the more expressive numbers, the duke had a sudden change of heart and cancelled Monteverdi's commission.[51] Le nozze di Tetide was abandoned; its libretto and fragmentary music have disappeared.[52]
Monteverdi's next commission from Mantua came early in 1618, when he was asked to provide the music for Andromeda, an opera based on the ancient Greek myth of the princess chained to a rock. The libretto was written by Duke Ferdinando's chancellor, Ercole Marigliani, and the project was sponsored by duke's younger brother, Don Vincenzo Gonzaga.[53][54] It appears that the work was originally intended for the Mantua Carnival of March 1618, but as Carter records, Monteverdi's approach to his Mantua commissions was often dilatory and half-hearted;[55] his inability or unwillingness to work on Andromeda delayed its performance, first to 1619 and then to 1620.[56]
Monteverdi's letters during the 1618–20 period, mainly to Striggio but occasionally to Don Vincenzo or Marigliani, offer various excuses for his lack of progress on Andromeda, including his duties at St Mark's, his health, and his obligations to provide ceremonial music for the Doge (ruler) of Venice.[57][58] In February 1619 Monteverdi had started work on another Mantuan project, a ballo to Striggio's libretto entitled Apollo.[59] On 9 January 1620, still with 400 lines of the Andromeda libretto to set, Monteverdi proposed to Striggio that the entire opera project be abandoned and the ballo substituted.[60] This idea was rapidly quashed; Don Vincenzo ordered that the remaining Andromeda music be sent to him forthwith.[61] The final segment of Andromeda, an eight-part song, was delivered to Marigliani on 15 February 1620.[62]
None of Monteverdi's music for Andromeda has survived. The libretto was although thought to have been lost, until a manuscript was discovered in 1984. As was customary at the time, the document makes no mention of the composer's name; librettos were often the subject of numerous settings by different composers. The frontispiece confirms that the work was performed during Manua's Carnival, 1–3 March 1620.[56] The libretto remains in private hands and has not been published,[55] but an analysis of its contents by Albi Rosenthal has revealed that Marigliani was influenced by Rinuccini's libretto for Arianna. The prologues for the two works are of identical metre and length, and the two cast lists have common characters; a "Coro di Pescatori", a "Coro di Soldati" a "Nunzio Primo" and a "Nunzio Secondo".[56]
Monteverdi recorded no apparent interest in the performance of Andromeda after the 1620 Carnival; the long letter that he wrote to Striggio on 13 March 1620 makes no reference to the event and is chiefly concerned with financial matters. It seems that the Gonzaga court was trying to persuade Monteverdi to return to Mantua; in courtly language Monteverdi evades the issue, while comparing the relative generosity of his current employers with the parsimony of the Gonzaga court.[63][64]
After Andromeda there then followed a period of several years in which Mantua made little use of Monteverdi's services. Duke Ferdinando of Mantua died on 26 October 1626 and was succeeded by Don Vincenzo, who became Duke Vincenzo II. Early in 1627 Striggio approached Monteverdi with a request for theatrical music, possibly for the festivities that would celebrate Vincenzo's accession.[65] In reply, Monteverdi offered three options: first, Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda ("The Battle of Tancred and Clorinda"), a setting from Torquato Tasso's epic poem Gerusalemme liberata ("Jerusalem Delivered"), which had been performed at the 1642 Venice Carnival;[n 3] secondly, a setting from another part of Tasso's poem, covering the story of the sorceress Armida and her abandonment by the Christian hero Rinaldo; finally, he could set the words of a new play by Giulio Strozzi, called Licori finta pazza inamorata d'Aminta about a women who feigns madness for the sake of love.[67][68] Monteverdi sent Striggio a copy of Strozzi's play on 7 May 1627; Striggio liked the work, and encouraged Monterverdi to begin the music.[69]
(English: "The feigned madwoman Licori")
Giulio Strozzi was a Venetian, born in 1583, whose literary works included plays and poetry as well as opera libretti; Monteverdi had first met him in 1621.[70][71] Strozzi knew Monteverdi's music, and had developed a strong appreciation of the composer's innovatory style.[72] Striggio required the play to be increased in scale; on 20 June 1627 Monteverdi informed him that Strozzi has expanded and arranged the text into five acts, under the new title La finta pazza Licori.[68] The plot, the first known attempt at comic opera,[73] concerns a woman, Licori, who disguises herself initially as a man, then as a woman, and feigns madness, all to win the heart of her lover, Armanti.[74] Pretended madness was a standard theme in commedia dell'arte which had established itself in Italian theatre in the 16th century.[51]
Monteverdi was, at least initially, much taken with the potential of the plot, and the opportunities that Strozzi's libretto would provide for a variety of musical effects.[75] Monteverdi stressed to Striggio the importance of finding a singer with real acting ability to play the role of Licori, someone capable of playing a man and a woman with appropriate emotions and gestures.[76] Later he enthused about the chance to write a ballet for each of the five acts, all in different styles.[77][78] Monteverdi's letters continued throughout the summer, but his attitude slowly changed, from one of evident commitment to frustration at the delays in getting the libretto copied. Gary Tomlinson, in his analysis of the opera's genesis, suggests that Monteverdi may in fact have been stalling.[79] In September Striggio, having received, read and presumably not liked the expanded libretto, abruptly cancelled the commission and the work is heard of no more. Monteverdi's attention was redirected to the Armida setting.[80][81]
For many years it was assumed that Monteverdi had written all or most of the music for Licori before its sudden cancellation; Redlich dates its completion precisely to 10 September 1627. Thus the work's rejection and subsequent disappearance have been attributed to Striggio's heartlessness.[82] However, Tomlinson's reading of the correspondence suggests a different conclusion: Monteverdi, in his view, "did not even come close to completing the score" and may have written very little of the music. It is likely that he stopped composing at the end of July, having become suspicious of Striggio's true commitment to the work. Mindful of Mantua's earlier cancellation of Le nozze di Tetide, Monteverdi had avoided extending himself on the new project, while maintaining a diplomatic impression of activity. Tomlinson writes: "[I]t would hardly be surprising if Monteverdi were preternaturally sensitive to signs of Mantuan vacillation [and] if, at the first such signs in 1627, he decided to move cautiously in the composition of Licori."[79] Strozzi's libretto has vanished along with whatever music Monteverdi managed to write, but Strozzi wrote a second libretto, under the same name, which was set by Paulo Sacrati and produced in Venice in 1641.[83]
(English: "Armida abandoned")
After the rejection of Licori, Monteverdi did not immediately turn his attention to Armida. Instead, he went to Parma, to work on a commission to provide musical entertainments for the marriage celebrations of the youthful Duke Odoardo Farnese of Parma and Margherita de' Medici.[79][84] He spent several weeks in Parma working on these; nevertheless, on 18 December 1627 he was able to tell Striggio that the music for Armida had been completed, and was currently being copied.[85][86] In the relevant section of Tasso's poem, the enchantress Armida lures the noble Rinaldo to her enchanted island. Two knights arrive to persuade Rinaldo to return to his duty, while Armida pleads with him to stay, or if he must depart, to allow her to be at his side in battle. When he refuses and abandons her, Armida curses him before falling insensible. There are obvious structural similarities to Il combattimento; both works require three voices, one of which acts as a narrator.[87] In spite of these similarities Armida abbandonata, unlike the earlier work, is generally considered by scholars of Monteverdi to be an opera, although Denis Stevens, translator of Monteverdi's letters, has termed it a "parergon" (subsidiary work) to Il Combattimento.[88]
Plans for Armida's performance were, however, cancelled when Duke Vincenzo died at the end of December 1627.[80] On 4 February 1628, Striggio was still asking for a copy of Armida, perhaps to use in connection with the next duke's coronation.[89] Monteverdi promised to send him one, but there is no confirmation that he did so.[90] No trace of the music has been found, though the musicologist Gary Tomlinson has surmised from the correspondence that Monteverdi made extensive use of the stile concitato in the score.[91] Although there is no record that Armida was ever performed in Mantua., Stevens has introduced the possibility that it may have been staged in Venice 1n 1627 or 1628, since Monteverdi's 4 February letter refers to the work as being in the hands of Signor Mocenigo, at whose house Il combattimento had been performed in 1624.[88]
Licori and Armida were Monteverdi's final theatrical works for the Mantuan court. The death of Vincenzo II brought an end to the main Gonzaga line; the dukedom was inherited by a distant relative, Charles of Nevers, and Mantua was rapidly engulfed in a series of conflicts which by 1630 had reduced much of the city to ruins. Monteverdi's last known letter to Striggio is dated 8 July 1628;[92] Striggio died in Venice on 8 June 1630, while on a mission seeking aid against the armies that were encircling Mantua.[93]
(English: "The Rape of Proserpine")
Proserpina rapita was the first of the theatrical works that Monteverdi wrote specifically for Venice. It was commissioned by Girolamo Mocenigo, a wealthy patron of the arts, for the wedding celebrations of his daughter Giustiniana. Mocenigo's palace—the building is now Venice's Hotel Danieli—had been the venue for the initial performance of Monteverdi's Il combattimento in 1624.[94][95]
The Proserpina libretto, by Strozzi, is based on the ancient Greek myth of Pluto and Proserpine. Symbolic rape was a common theme in wedding entertainments designed for Italian courts, intended in Carter's words "both to proclaim the power of love and to set proper bounds on female behaviour".[96] In Strozzi's version of the story, an amorous shepherd Pachino invokes the aid of Pluto, ruler of the underworld, to cure his unrequited obsession with Proserpine. Pluto obliges by turning Pachino into a mountain, though promising his soul a place in Elysium. After being struck by a love-dart fired by Cupid, Pluto falls for Proserpine and claims her as his queen. Initially she resists him, but when Ciane her protector is turned by Pluto into a spring of water, she is overcome. Submissively, she vows obedience; the strength of her beauty is such that Pluto softens, and pledges that in future he will treat lovers less harshly.[96]
Strozzi's libretto was published in 1630, in Venice, by Evangelista Deuchino. Surviving copies indicate that the scenery was created by Giuseppe Albardi, and that dances were choreographed by Girolamo Scolari.[96] The opera was staged on 16 April 1630, in a salon of the Mocenigo palace. Carter is sceptical that, in such a restricted venue, the performance could have incorporated all the special effects stipulated by the libretto.[97] Nevertheless, an account by one of those present shows that the occasion provided considerable spectacle: "After the meal ... in the evening with torches there was acted and represented in music (something the like of which had never been seen) the Rape of Proserpina with most perfect voices and instruments, with aerial apparitions, scene changes and other things, to the astonishment and wonder of all present".[98]
One small fragment of the music for Proserpina rapia survives, a canzonetta for three voices: "Come dolce oggi l'auretta". This was published posthumously in Monteverdi's Ninth Book of Madrigals (1651).[98] Otherwise, some indication of the musical character of the work is discernible from the libretto which, Fabbri suggests, may not have been sung throughout.[99] There were at least two sung balli,[100], one of which concluded the opera with words that provided a thinly disguised tribute to the composer: "Quanto nel chiaro mondo / su verdi arcadi monti / di te si cantari?" ("How much in the clear world / on green Arcadian mountains / will be sung of you?").[99] More information about the nature of the music and the instumentation is included in notes within the published libretto.[101]
According to Carter, Proserpina rapita is a transitional work. With its emphasis on dance, and in terms of its subject-matter, it represents the courtly traditions of the early 17th century. At the same time, in terms of characterisation it looks forward to Monteverdi's trio of late operas, specifically to L'incoronazione di Poppea. By her temperament, Proserpina anticipates Poppea; Pachino is a forerunner for Ottone; some of the discourses have the rhetorical flavour of Nerone and Seneca.[102] In 1644, the year following Monteverdi's death, Proserpina rapita was added to the repertory of Venice's Teatro San Moisè.[103]
(English: "The Marriage of Aeneas to Lavinia")
In the three years before his death in 1643 Monteverdi composed a trilogy of operas for the nascent Venetian opera scene, which had begun in 1637 with the opening of the Teatro San Cassiano.[104] Two of these three operas survive in complete, performable versions: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1640), to a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro, and L'incoronazione di Poppea (1643) for which Giovanni Francesco Busenello provided the text.[105] Between these, Monteverdi composed a third opera, Le nozze d'Enea in Lavinia; the libretto survives in manuscript form, though no trace of the music has been found.[106] In her analysis of Monteverdi's late works, Ellen Rosand links the three works together: "[The] ghost opera joins with the two survivors to form a coherent body of works that attests to Monteverdi's position within the world of Venetian opera". The trilogy encompasses an historical trajectory that, through Troy, the birth of Rome and the decline of the Roman Empire, points forward to the foundation and glory of the Republic of Venice.[107] The theme of the mythical powers of love, at first beneficial but later destructive, is the binding thread that runs through the three works.[108]
For many years the librettist for Le nozze was unknown. Because of textual and structural similiarities between Ulisse and Le nozze, it was sometimes suggested that Badoaro had written both librettos.[109] However, Rosand's researches reveal the Le nozze librettist to be a close friend of Badoaro's, Michelangelo Torcigliani.[110] The basis of his story is Virgil's epic Aeneid, in particular the marriage of Aeneas and Lavinia which, Torcigliani explains in his preface, is presented as a tragedio di lieto fine (tragedy with a happy ending).[111] Torcigliani acknowleges that he has taken numerous liberties with the original story, including the introduction of a comic character, "Numanus", to match that of the popular "Iro" in Ulisse: "I knew the dispositions of many theatregoers".[112] The text had been written to meet Monteverdi's requirements for emotional variety, thus enabling him, said Torcigliani, to better demonstrate the range of his musical genius.[113]
In the story, the Trojan hero Aeneas and his followers arrive in the Kingdom of Latium and encamp on the banks of the Tiber. King Latino welcomes Aeneas's envoys, and offers Aeneas the hand of his daughter Lavinia in marriage. This harmony between Trojans and Latinos displeases the goddess Juno (mythology)Juno, who is at odds with Aeneas's mother, Venus. Juno summons a spirit from the underworld to create discord between Latins and Trojans, which ignites when a Trojan hunting party wounds a deer and kills the Latin shepherd Elminio. However, Latino rejects the demands of his subjects for war with the Trojans and retreats to his city. Aeneas, resting by the Tiber, is unaware of these developments but receives a warning of imminent danger. This presents itself in the person of Turnus, King of the Rutuli, whose love Lavinia has rejected. Trojans and Latins fight, and Aeneas kills Turnus. Latino invites Aeneas to come to the city and to marry Lavinia, who is delighted to accept him. In the light of Aeneas's bravery, Juno forgets her former enmity. She joins with Venus and Hymen to bless the marriage; the opera ends with the trio's predictions of the greatness of Rome and the future glories of Venice.[114]
Le nozze d'Enea in Lavinia was performed during the Venice Carnival of 1640–41, at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo where it alternated with a revival of Ulisse.[115][116] According to Carter the work was fairly undemanding in terms of its staging, the action taking place mainly on the banks of the Tiber with few changes of set.[117] There is no record of the Venetian public's response to the opera which, Rosand asserts, was clearly aimed at their patriotic impulses, with its final scene a celebration of "the birth and marvels of the city of Venice".[118] Of the music, Torcigliani's preface refers to "the sweetness of the music of the never-enough praised Monteverde", but provides no specific guides.[119] Ringer records with regret that "[t]he words are all that remain of this Virgilian opera, offering faint hints of lost melodies".[120]