Monteverdi's Last Operas: A Venetian Trilogy

“That Ellen Rosand's understanding of seventeenth-century Venetian opera is encyclopedic has long been recognized. By focusing her attention now on all three of the last operas of Claudio Monteverdi, however, she has met a formidable challenge: this book demonstrates how to put philology at the service of interpretation and interpretation at the service of philology. All those who care about these operas, fundamental to the development of the genre itself, and about scholarship in the Humanities, will profit from her masterful achievement.”—Philip Gossett, the Robert W. Reneker Distinguished Service Professor at The University of Chicago and author of Divas and Scholars: Performing Italian Opera

“Ellen Rosand's monumental study is so much more than a meticulous exploration and explanation of all the surviving material and its many literary and musical sources. She presents ingenious, utterly convincing solutions to the problems posed by this material, offering therefore countless new insights into Monteverdi's last two surviving operas, the great Poppea and Ulisse, while also reeling in to this forensic examination the tantalisingly lost score of Le nozze de Enea. Her feel for the music is inspiring, and her theatrical instinct exemplary. This is a book of phenomenal clarity and great passion, and an indispensable addition to our understanding of this great composer.”—Jane Glover, Conductor and Music Director for Chicago's Music of the Baroque.