La Poppea Impasticciata or, Who Wrote the Music to L’Incoronazione (1643)?*

This essay re-examines both the complex source-material for L’incoronazione di Poppea and the reasons for attributing the music to Monteverdi. On the basis of stylistic and notational peculiarities it concludes that the role of 506Ottone was rewritten by a younger composer or composers, who also either altered or completed certain other parts of the opera, including the entire final scene. A study of Francesco Sacrati’s La finta pazza leads to the conclusion that he is the most likely composer of these non-Monteverdean parts of Poppea.