Monteverdi: Disprezzata regina - L’incoronazione di Poppea

Esme Bronwen-Smith and Avishka Edirisinghe perform Ottavia’s opening scene ’Disprezzata regina’ from Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea. Recorded in the Organ Room at Glyndebourne in June 2022. Ottavia, Queen of Rome, is married to the unfaithful Nerone, who is in the arms of another, Poppea. Ottavia is embarrassed: Not only because of her husband’s blatant lechery, but because of her own emotional reaction, which she deems utterly pitiful. After going through a plethora of emotions, she decides she has gone too far, and decides to suppress her sadness and torment (for now...) Sound and video recorded impeccably by Bobby Williams: