Monteverdi in the garden: L'Incoronazione di Poppea in Fascist Florence

Abstract

On June 3, 1937, in the amphitheatre of the Boboli Gardens in Florence, L’incoronazione di Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi was performed by an ensemble of remarkable artists. It was the first stage performance of the opera in Italy in modern times. This article aims to reconstruct the historical context and details of this performance, which can be considered emblematic in many ways of the reception of ancient music in Italy in those years. In the first part I will discuss this performance in the context of Fascist Florence, showing how it served to celebrate Florence’s cultural primacy. In the second part, I will deal with L'incoronazione's prior performances in Italy and abroad. In the third part, I will reconstruct the production of the opera through unpublished documents conserved in Maggio Musicale Fiorentino's archive. In the fourth section I will consider the reaction of the critics, in comparison to the opinions of the artistic director(s). Finally, in the conclusions I will discuss the significance of this event in the context of the rediscovery of Monteverdi's operas, also indicating new paths to follow in this research.