&The Coronation of Poppea& is a story of unrequited love, betrayal, suicide, murder and political power. And it isn&t a Hollywood movie or daytime soap opera.

&Poppea& is a real opera, currently being performed at Sacramento State by the university&s music department.

&L&incoronazione di Poppea,& its original Italian title, tells the story of Roman emperor Nero and his love affair with Poppea, a woman who used to be in love with Ottone, Nero&s general.

Ottone can&t forget his love for Poppea, but under the order of Ottavia, Nero&s betrayed wife, he must kill Poppea so Ottavia can remain as empress. Meanwhile, the goddesses from above, predominantly Amore (love), watch and influence the actions of the mortals below. The opera is performed in its original Italian speech, with English subtitles projected above the stage.

Claudio Monteverdi composed &Poppea& in the 1640s, but the original score no longer exists. The two oldest surviving versions of the opera have several differences between them, leading some to wonder how much of the opera is the original writings of Monteverdi and which parts were altered by his pupils.

These conflicting versions of &Poppea& have given directors some freedom in creating their own interpretation of how the opera should be performed.

John Dornenburg, Sac State lecturer for the music department, is the musical director and composer for &Poppea.& Rather than strictly adhering to either version of the opera, Dornenburg decided to create his own adaptation of &Poppea,& using elements from some of Monteverdi&s earlier operas and changing when and how certain musical instruments are used.

&Since there is no standard edition of Monteverdi&s &Poppea& that one can simply purchase or rent & I reconstructed a new version based upon historic practice,& Dornenburg said. &I have tried to preserve the best of this (mix of comic and dramatic scenes), while cutting out a few very minor characters and some long sections of philosophical monologue. The two surviving sources contain over four hours worth of music, but our production runs around three hours, including an intermission.&

&Poppea& also features the talent of Michael Leopold, a Sac State alumnus and professional lutenist who plays the theorbo on stage. He has performed professionally in several operas and was asked by Dornenburg to return from Milan, Italy, to be in his opera.

&He has performed in concert widely in Italy, and has become increasingly in demand as a theorbo continuo player with opera companies and chamber groups in the U.S.,& Dornenburg said. &I invited him to return to (Sac State) for our performance of &Poppea& and he agreed without hesitation.&

Sac State music professor Lynn Stradley, the stage director for &Poppea,& determined the visual design of the opera. While the mortal characters perform on the ground level of the stage, the goddesses can be seen performing and watching from a platform above the stage. Of note is the performance of Amore, who drops her red sash from the &heavens& to the ground. Whenever the mortal characters are possessed with feelings of love, they pick up and caress the red sash.

&The costumer (Theresa Vann) came up with the idea for the &love sash,& & Stradley said. &We took the idea and said, &Why don&t we have a sash that passes from character to character all the way through the show?& It really helped to tie the whole story together.&

The April 3 performance was attended by a variety of people, from children to the elderly, Sac State students, friends and family of the performers and orchestra and people who just love opera.

One of the people in attendance was Elisabeth LaSavio, whose mother and Sac State student Kim LaSavio is a violist in the orchestra for &Poppea.& Elisabeth LaSavio said she does not normally go to theater performances at the campus, but she was there to support her mother, as well as her friend Julie Anne Miller, who plays the role of Ottavia in the opera.

Pete Haggert, an alumnus of Sac State, also came to the performance after reading an article in the Sacramento Bee spotlighting Liisa Davila, performing the title role of Poppea, as a person to watch for in the future.

Haggert said he frequently attends the music performances at Sac State, particularly the New Millennium Concert Series, an annual event held at the campus, which highlights talent from across the world.

After the performance, the cast assembled on-stage and was greeted with thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the audience. It took three bows from the cast before the applause began to die down and the stage lights faded to darkness. Afterwards, the cast assembled outside the theater in Shasta Hall to meet with friends and audience members who wanted to meet and praise them for their performances.

Dave and Sandy Felthousen, who attend the opera performances at Sac State, saw &Poppea& and were very pleased with the results.

&I just think the voices were really nice,& Sandy Felthousen said. &That&s the outstanding part.&

For those who are unable to attend the live performances, they will soon be able to experience &Poppea& at home. Stradley said that the final performances will be professionally video recorded and photographed, with DVDs and photos of the opera available for purchase shortly thereafter.

Performances will continue at 8 p.m., Thursday and Saturday. Tickets are $15 general and $10 for Sac State students and seniors. Tickets are available at the CSUS Ticket Office at (916) 278-4323, online at Tickets.com or for purchase at the box office in Shasta Hall beginning one hour before each performance.

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Nicholas Fricke can be reached at [email protected]