CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI'S IL RITORNO d'ULLISE IN PATRIA (The Return of Ullyses to his Homeland)

This 2002 production of 1 of the only 3 surviving operas by Monteverdi from Zurich Opera is a keeper. I should warn that it might not be to everyone's taste, though. The music is very old and is played with period instruments. It isn't hip... it's a real classic.

'Il ritorno' premiered in Venice in 1640 and is second only to Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in term of oldness. It is Monteverdi at his most poetic, though. The performance here is played with period instruments heavily favoring the strings (and brass), but the staging is mixed... elegantly understated modern clothing with very bare set of either empty revolving stage that resemble the sea or in front of a Greek seaside little white house (that looks somewhat like a face). The choreography is stylized Greek that can be both strange and mesmerizing (in short... Greek-ish). Everything fits well... with perhaps the exception of the 3 suitors being marionette dolls.

Cast:
Human Fragility/ Ullise (King of Ithaca)::: Dietrich Henschel (Baritone)
Penelope (Queen of Ithaca, Ulisse’s wife) ::: Vesselina Kasarova (Mezzo-soprano)
Ericlea (Royal nursemaid) ::: Cornelia Kallisch (Soprano)
Melanto (Penelope's maid ) ::: Malin Hartelius (Soprano)
Telemaco (Eldest son of Ulisse) ::: Jonas Kaufmann (Tenor)
Eurimaco (Younger son of Ulisse) ::: Peter Widmer (Tenor)
Minerva/Amore (Athena/) ::: Isabel Rey(Soprano)
Nettuno (Neptune) ::: Pavel Daniluk (bass)
Iro(Eros) ::: Rudolf Schasching
Giove (Jupitor) ::: Anton Scharinger (Baritone)
Tempo (Time) ::: Giuseppe Scorsin
Anfinimo (Fortune) ::: Martin Oro

See clips from this performance at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVtbPZMGJSM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_RAdSeFVNQ

This is a really long winded opera. It opens with an allegorical prologue with Human Fragility (plays by Henschel who is doubling as Ulisse).... only half naked, thankfully (this figure is usually played and sung by a totally naked contralto) contemplating how fragile and naked we Homo sapiens are in the face of Eros, time, and fortune.

The main story; tho, is from Homer's The Odyssey about the return of Ullise to Ithaca after 20 years absence (he went off to fight the Trojan war and then ship-wrecked on the way home, courtesy of the offended sea god Nettuno). His wife Penelope is a model of fidelity; however, and refuses to get on with her life and marrying another (to the dismay of many including Melanto the maid who can't be overtly courted by Penelope's younger son Eurimaco while his mom is still in mourning).

With the help of the Goddess Minerva (who first appears as a shepherd boy), Ulisse arrives back in disguise as an old man just in time to witness Penelope being courted by 3 suitors. Caught with her guard down, Penelope, agrees to marry the person who can successfully string Ulisse's old heavy bow. When none of the suitors manage to do it, the old man/Ulisse takes up the bow and uses the suitors for target practice (shot them up Greek style). He then reveals himself to his wife, tho it takes him revealing correctly what she keeps on their bed ever since their wedding day for her to believe that he is the husband she's been longing for and not just a mad bow-murderer.

Well, ya gotta leave it to opera composers to make short stories long. This thing takes 155 minutes to unwind and this is a pretty heavily cut version (no earthquake scene, Ulisse's meeting with his eldest son Telemaco is heavily cut, etc). But the musical performance here is exquisite especially for the 2 leads;
Dietrich Henschel as both Human Fragility and Ulisse, and Vesselina Kasarova as his wife Penelope. Not only do they show no strain whatsoever singing this very difficult music (including some touchy coloratura at the bottom of their voice range!), they are also very subtle in their vocal interpretation and act wonderfully in their characters. And the ending with them holding their piano high note as the curtain closes (and a bit beyond) is exquisite.

Having worn out my stereo listening to Kasarova's CDs (I pretty much have all of them except for Schubert's mass #6) repeatedly, I'm still amazed at how low she can descend vocally and still be in total control of her voice and very agile coloratura. Her voice blossoms at the bottom and is almost bariton-ish, tho still feminine and very regal. Her exotic sounding voice even fits well with this role in this mythical opera! Penelope is a true contralto role that not many modern mezzo-soprano, especially ones with excellent upper extension, can sing (it lies way too low for the likes of Susan Graham or Magda Kozena or Anne-Sofie von Otter). Kasarova is more than up to the job.

The same goes with Henschel, whom I had never seen or heard before (but will be on a look out for now). He is at home both at the top of his range as at the really low baritone bottom, with an expressive middle. What a noble sounding voice! This is a strange opera in its time (early Baroque) as it is more of an ensemble show that emphasis sensitive and poetic singing rather than florid virtuosity. And under the guidance of Maestro Harnoncourt, the singers are real team players and deliver the piece sensitively and poetically and make the long show seem much shorter than it really is.

The supporting roles are mostly marvellously sung also (except for Pavel Daniluk's Nettuno... the low notes are very diffused sounding and very much suspect), with special notice to the Ericlea of soprano Cornelia Kallisch, a sterling voiced Melanto of soprano Malin Hartelius, the playful Minerva of soprano Isabel Rey, and Telemaco of (now very famous in Europe) tenor Jonas Kaufmann. Young Peter Widmer also sings beautifully as Eurimaco, but is too keen on showing off his big voice in his duet with Melanto. I do hope his walking away from her up stage as she approaches during their opening duet was choreographed and not him acting like a big shot tenor.

The conductor, Herr Nikolaus Harnoncourt lives up to his reputation as one of the leading ancient music interpreters of our time. His tempi here are not as notably slow as in his other pieces (he's getting quite famous for how slow he got away with conducting Mozart's La clemenza di Tito at Salzburg Festival this year). And he really makes this simple yet elegant music glow. All in all, a great performance of a rarely performed masterpiece.


1 DVD. Sung in Italian with subtitle in: Italian, German, English, French and Spanish. Booklet contains synopsis, tracklist, cast list, and a note on the opera.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4