About the work
"Die durch Blut und Mord erlangte Liebe, oder: Nero" ("Love Won through Blood and Murder, or: Nero") was Handel's second opera, on a libretto by Friedrich Christian Feustking drawing on ancient sources such as Suetonius and Tacitus. It traces the life of the Roman emperor Nero and his relationships with his mother Agrippina, his wife Octavia, and his mistress Sabina Poppea; rhymed recitative and a comic secondary character, Graptus, are typical of Hamburg baroque opera. It premiered on 25 February 1705 at the Theater am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg, with fellow composer Johann Mattheson in the title role.
Plot
In a series of episodes, the opera follows Nero's rise and moral decline between AD 58 and 64: his growing estrangement from his mother and wife, his turn to Poppea, and the resulting power struggles at court.
Cultural significance
"Nero" fared notably worse than Handel's debut opera "Almira" and had at most three performances before the theatre closed for Lent, never returning to the stage afterwards. Feustking's libretto also triggered a literary quarrel that drove the poet out of Hamburg. Handel's autograph and a later copy have both been lost; only the printed libretto survives.