Operatic ambiguities and the power of music

Abstract

‘Pur sempre su le nozze canzoneggiando vai.’ Arnalta's remark to Poppea ( L'incoronazione di Poppea , Act II scene 10), occasioned by Poppea's lyrical exultation over the death of Seneca, provokes the closing sententia of Edward T. Cone's recent exploration of the ambiguous world of opera and its inhabitants. Translating the nurse's comment as ‘You're forever going around singing songs about your wedding’, Cone concludes that ‘this is just what characters in opera do: they go around singing songs all the time’.