About

NERON KAISAR is a major work for chamber orchestra, small brass ensemble, two solo harpists, chorus, and vocal soloists. Composed by John Peel, with libretto in Greek, Latin, and English by M. D. Usher, selections from this work-in-progress were performed with piano accompaniment at Willamette University, Salem, Oregon, on March 13, 2013. This site contains links to recordings of that performance, to the libretto, and to an overview of the work as a whole. It also contains music samples, conspectus, and libretto to Peel and Usher’s previous collaboration, Voces Vergilianae (for which, click on VOCES in the banner menu).

The dramatis personae of NERON KAISAR are as follows:

 

Nero, Emperor of Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . Tenor

Seneca, Philosopher, and Nero’s Advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bass-Baritone

Tigellinus, Chief of the Praetorian Guard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bass-Baritone

Epaphroditus/Phaon/Sporus, Nero’s Freedmen and Courtiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Contralto

The Sibyl, An Ecstatic Prophetess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Soprano

Poppaea, Nero’s Mistress, and Second Wife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Soprano

Octavia, Nero’s First Wife, the Former Emperor Claudius’ Daughter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . Mezzo-soprano

Agrippina, Nero’s Mother . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mezzo-soprano

Chorus . . . (Representing variously: Senate, Muses, Plebs, Nero’s musical competitors, Jews and Christians)