Monteverdi is in the house of his father in Cremona, where his wife has just died.
He has fallen asleep at his desk and sees in his dream a scene from his opera Orfeo, which premiered half a year earlier.
Orfeo (Vanità) is singing about his lyre and their triumph in convincing Pluto to release Eurydice from Hades. There is only one condition: he should not look behind him before they have left the underworld.
After a while, his initial self-confidence wanes, and doubt creeps up on him whether his bride is still following. Then he hears a noise behind him and can no longer resist the temptation to turn his head.
For a very brief moment, he sees the eyes of his beloved, who starts vanishing at the same moment, while a ghost (Ragione) reminds him that he broke the law.
Monteverdi now sees that Eurydice (Verità) is his own wife and sings her last lines, which speak of too much love that prevents her from ever seeing the light again or her most beloved husband.
scena prima
Alone in the church of Ss. Nazzaro e Celso, where his wife Claudia will be buried, Monteverdi speaks his burdened mind to her dead body. He regrets neglecting her for a long time while busy composing his Orfeo.
In this church where he was baptised precisely 40 years ago, he now has to let go of his wife, baptising her for the afterlife with his tears.
On the ground, he finds a letter that, in his grief, he must have failed to notice carrying with him. It is from the court of Mantua, offering their condolences but at the same time ordering him to return to the city because very important work is awaiting him.
Fame will be his part when he returns to write another opera for a very special occasion.
But Monteverdi is enraged by the impertinence of ordering his return to a city that is hostile to his person. Payments are delayed to the point that he can hardly cope, and the air of Mantua endangers his health, which his father, who is a doctor, confirms.
Monteverdi responds with a letter to tell the duke about the urge to change his situation first and pay him the five months' salary he is due.
While writing, he gets carried away by anger again and starts shouting until suddenly he hears a distant voice singing.
First, he thinks he hears his dead wife's voice, but then he recognises the sound of Caterina Martinelli, a young singer who lived for some years in their house. It sounds like she is begging for help. Just for her, he finds the urge to return to Mantua and release her from her solitude. He decides to write another opera with her as the prima donna.
Act 1
Monteverdi has arrived in Mantua, but he does not recognise the town. He sees a man working and measuring. It is Dedalus creating a labyrinth.
The conversation with the engineer is not very helpful for Monteverdi, who wants to find his way home. Dedalus advises him to follow the 'good' rules, but he rejects this advice.
When Monteverdi enters the labyrinth, his path is immediately obstructed, and Artusi appears.
The theorist starts orating about the decadence of modern composers who neglect the fundaments laid down by the great masters whose examples should be followed. The new makers, on the contrary, listen to their instruments which they play day and night, trying to satisfy the senses.
Monteverdi gets very upset and more sarcastic in his answers to Artusi, who simply ignores what his opponent is saying and keeps glorifying the rules of the old masters. The contempt of his argumentation is increasingly maddening. Monteverdi thus gets entangled in the labyrinth of reason.
Finally, he finds his exit by no longer discussing rational arguments and following the essential path of nature.
Artusi disappears.
Act 1
Monteverdi hears a noise that is approaching from the dark labyrinth until he suddenly stands in front of the Minotaur. The raw manifestation of instinct paralyses him.
The monster is moving ferociously and seems ready to attack when a man pops up and jumps to fight it. We recognise Vanità, who is now playing the role of Theseus and clings to the head of the Minotaur. After a short struggle the hero clearly has won and is beheading the monster.
He steps to the fore and triumphantly shows everybody the enormous horned head of the animal-man.
Monteverdi is left alone after he collapses and lays unconscious on the floor.
Act II
scena 1
A hall in the Palazzo Ducale.
Monteverdi wakes up by the singing of Caterina Martinelli. She promises him to be a lascivious Arianna and a consolation for his grief. Her idea of the role of Arianna is corrected by Rinuccini, who points out the noble status of this princess of Crete.
Then Rasi enters in triumph with the Minotaur mask in his hands. He claims to be able to compose the music for his part of Theseus because he is a composer and a tenor. He starts to sing Teseo’s part from the libretto, but Monteverdi stops him. A discussion between all four characters unfolds, and this results in a quarrelling quartet where no one listens to the other. Suddenly, the squabbling is overpowered by the duchess, Eleonora de Medici, who has entered the room unnoticed. She announces that this opera, that anyway should become less dry, will be postponed. Because the nuptials are suspended, for this carnival another opera will have to be chosen.
Rasi suggests his own opera, which Rinuccini promptly rejects. He has a Dafne on the shelf with music by Marco da Gagliano. The protagonists are already available: Martinelli and Rasi, perfect as Dafne and Apollo.
Before leaving, the duchess asks Rasi to return the mask to its owner, her husband, Duke Vincenzo. When she is gone, the squabbling starts again, this time about Daphne. Monteverdi withdraws in woe, upset about the useless hurry he had made to finish the work in time.
Act II
scena 2
Carnival
A group of saltimbanchi, I Comici fedeli, sets the mood with their masked mime and burlesque introduction of the story of Apollo and Dafne.
The figure Amor is being introduced and will be played splendidly by Caterina Martinelli. Later, she is chased by Apollo as Dafne and appears on stage with her arms turned into branches of a laurel tree. Apollo deplores the metamorphose in a touching aria, which the singer performs with great self-indulgence.
Suddenly the exhibition of vanity is brutally disturbed by carnival music (Giacomo Gastoldi l’innamorato) chaotically sung by a drunken crowd.
The people take no notice of the suffering laurel tree.
Act II
scena 3
When the carnival troupe disappears, only two men are hanging around. Arlecchino and Zanni have a drunken conversation until they suddenly need to pee. After looking for a tree, they find the new laurel tree, Caterina, as the converted Dafne. She is suffering from pain and anguish. The two men examine the girl, and noticing her fever, they start looking for a doctor, who promptly arrives.
The doctor concludes that the woman is suffering from smallpox and that her life is in danger.
Duchess Eleonora is alarmed and objects to the diagnosis because it is inconvenient and frightening for her son, who did not have smallpox as a child.
Monteverdi comforts the girl and prays to God that she might live.
The girl's condition worsens, and she finally dies on the spot, surrounded by a large group of people.
The corpse is taken away accompanied by a madrigal written for her commemoration.
Act III
scena 1
The Commedia dell'Arte company I comici fedeli rehearse their play Idropica, which they will later perform at the ducal crown prince's wedding festivities.
Duchess Eleonora, Rinuccini and Monteverdi make their appearance because, in their search for a new singer for the Arianna, an audition has been arranged with the prima donna Viriginia Andreini (Verità), also known as La Florinda. She is called to order by Eleonora, who finds it hard to imagine that an actress from such a group of comedians could convincingly perform the noble role. Francesco Rasi, as Theseus in the audition, thinks he can prove his superiority once more, but Virginia amazes everyone by singing the role by heart with stunning conviction.
Monteverdi is immediately intrigued by this woman and wants to know why she engages in the vulgarity of the commedia. Virginia reveals that under her disguise, she is actually Truth, sent by Jupiter to offer comfort and show people the right way. When she shows herself in her true form, people do not accept her.
Act III
scena 2
To prove what she can do, she sings the great monologue from Arianna. In this lamento, all the moods of a desperate but vainly loving woman are truly captured in music.
When Arianna sings her conclusion about the fate of a woman who loves and trusts too much, Orpheus rudely breaks in and demands attention for himself.
Act III
scena 3
He points out women's duty not to reject men but to have compassion for them and submit to them. By urging men to follow him in this, Orpheus ends up calling fate upon himself. The women turn into vengeful furies and tear apart the demigod.
When Orpheus is deported, all the Allegories convene in a ritual circle around Monteverdi and Truth. In the end, having found truth, the composer surrenders by laying his head in her womb.
