L’incoronazione di Poppea, Claudio Monteverdi’s final opera, had a formative impact on the evolution of this genre. Yet its convoluted source situation makes it one of music history’s great enigmas. There are practically no references to the original version that Monteverdi performed in Venice in 1643, as the score has not survived.

To celebrate the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi’s birth, this operatic masterpiece is appearing in an edition close to the presumed original. The new edition is ...