Agrippina (opera) the "Hallische Händelausgabe". It is based on the 1709 version, with ballet music borrowed from Rodrigo, and contains two appendices with added and reconstructed music as well as deleted versions from the autograph. Notes Sources Further reading Agrippina (opera) Agrippina (HWV 6) is an "opera seria" in three acts by George Frideric Handel with a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. Composed for the Venice "Carnevale" season, the opera tells the story of Agrippina, the mother of Nero, as she plots the downfall of the Roman Emperor Claudius and the installation of her son as emperor. Grimani's libretto, considered one of
Agrippina the Elder ties to the emperor. Historian Richard Alston says it is likely that either Tiberius or Livia were behind the exile of Agrippina's half-sister and the death of Postumus. He notes the death of Agrippina's mother, who starved herself to death amidst her exile in AD 14, linking her death to Tiberius' disdain for her. Agrippina was vocal about her feelings claiming that Germanicus was murdered to promote Drusus the Younger as Tiberius' heir, and worried that the birth of the Younger Drusus' twin sons would displace her own sons in the line of succession. Her fears proved to be unfounded,