Agrippina (opera) "moments of splendour when Handel applies the full "concerto grosso" treatment." "Agrippina", Handel's second Italian opera, was probably his last composition in Italy. On hearing that her husband, the Emperor Claudius, has died in a storm at sea, Agrippina plots to secure the throne for Nero, her son by a previous marriage. Nero is unenthusiastic about this project, but consents to his mother's wishes ("Con saggio tuo consiglio"). Agrippina obtains the support of her two freedmen, Pallas and Narcissus, who hail Nero as the new Emperor before the Senate. With the Senate's assent, Agrippina and Nero begin to ascend the
Agrippina the Younger word of her survival after the boat sank from her freedman Agermus. Panicking, Nero ordered a guard to 'surreptitiously' drop a blade behind Agermus and Nero immediately had him arrested on account of attempted murder. Nero ordered the assassination of Agrippina. He made it look as if Agrippina had committed suicide after her plot to kill Nero had been uncovered. After Agrippina's death, Suetonius says that Nero examined Agrippina's corpse and discussed her good and bad points. It is said that Nero believed Agrippina to haunt him after her death. The tale of Cassius Dio is also somewhat different. It