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Programme Note

BRIEF SYNOPSIS

Nero, enamoured of Poppea, who was the wife of Otho, sent the latter, under the pretext of embassy, to Lusitania, so that he could take his pleasure with her – this according to Cornelius Tacitus. But here we represent these actions differently. Otho, desperate at seeing himself deprived of Poppea, gives himself over to frenzy and exclamations. Octavia, wife of Nero, orders Otho to kill Poppea. Otho promises to do it; but lacking the spirit to deprive his adored Poppea of life, he dresses in the clothes of Drusilla, who was in love with him. Thus disguised, he enters the garden of Poppea. Love intervenes, however and prevents that death. Nero repudiates Octavia against Seneca’s advice and marries Poppea. Seneca dies and Octavia is exiled.