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1 DVD
- 100 352 - (c) 2003
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Claudio Monteverdi
(1567-1643)
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Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in
Patria
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Prologo:
L'Humana fragilità, Tempo, Fortuna, Amore
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9' 58" |
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Atto primo
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62' 17" |
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- Scena I: Penelope,
Ericlea |
7' 24" |
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- Scena II: Melanto,
Eurimaco |
7' 38" |
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- Scena III: Melanto,
Penelope |
4' 40" |
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- Scena IV: Nettuno,
Giove |
7' 16" |
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- Scena V: Feaci,
Nettuno |
2' 52" |
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- Scena VI: Ulisse |
4' 38" |
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- Scena VII: Minerva,
Ulisse |
9' 39" |
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- Scena VIII: Eumete,
Iro |
3' 11" |
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- Scena IX: Eumete, Ulisse |
3' 29" |
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- Scena X: Telemaco,
Minerva |
2' 57" |
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- Scena XI: Eumete, Ulisse,
Telemaco |
4' 50" |
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- Scena XII: Ulisse,
Telemaco |
3' 43" |
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Atto secondo |
73' 01"
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- Scena I: Melanto, Eurimaco
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2' 14" |
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- Scena II: Antinoo,
Anfimono, Pisandro, Penelope (Ballo) |
10' 11" |
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- Scena III: Eumete,
Penelope, antinoo, Anfinomo, Pisandro,
Eurimaco |
5' 50" |
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- Scena IV: Antinoo, Eumete,
Iro, Ulisse, Antinoo, Penelope, Anfinomo,
Pisandro, Telemaco |
20' 07" |
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- Scena V: Iro
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6' 31" |
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- Scena VI: Minerva,
Giunone, Giove, Nettuno, Coro |
8' 21" |
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- Scena VII: Ericlea
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4' 23" |
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- Scena VIII: Penelope,
Eumete, Telemaco
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5' 14" |
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- Scena IX: Ulisse, Penelope
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10' 10" |
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Dietrich Henschel,
L'Humana fragilità, Ulisse
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Jonas Kaufmann,
Telemaco
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Reinhard Mayr,
Antinoo
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Martin Zysset,
Pisandro
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Malin Hartelius,
Melanto
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Martin Oró, Anfinomo
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Isabel Rey, Minerva,
Amore
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Boguslaw Bidzinski,
Eurimaco
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Anton Scharinger,
Giove
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Thomas Mohr, Eumete
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Pavel Daniluk,
Nettuno
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Rudolf Schasching,
Iro
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Vesselina Kasarova,
Penelope
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Cornelia Kallisch,
Ericlea
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Martina Jankovà,
Fortuna, Giunone
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Giuseppe Scorsin,
Tempo
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ORCHESTRA LA SCINTILLA from
the Zurich Opernhaus
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Nikolaus
Harnoncourt, Conductor |
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Luogo e data
di registrazione
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Opernhaus, Zurich (Svizzera) -
2002 |
Registrazione
live / studio
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Live |
Producer / Engineer
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Bel Air Media, François Duplat
/ ZDF Arte / Mezzo / Zurich Opera / NHK
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Edizione DVD
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Art Hau Musik - 100 352 - (1
DVD) - 155' 00" - (c) 2003 - IT-DE-GB-FR-SP |
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Notes
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Il
Ritorno
d'Ulisse in
Patria: A
Quantum Leap
in Musical
History
Claudio
Monteverdi is known as the
father of opera - a
commonplace tag, perhaps,
but one which has taken root
in the history of music
theatre and brought into
sharper focus the true
historical circumstances.
Opera, of course, existed
before Monteverdi, but in a
wholly different context.
During the Italian
Renaissance, for example,
musical pastorals with their
idealised Arcadian scenes filled
the courts of feudal lords.
Such exclusive circles were
lavish to the point of
wastefulness in their
celebration of these
operatic precursors;
nevertheless they prepared
the way thematically and
musically for the
development of a bourgeois
opera culture in northern Italy. And
at precisely this moment -
early in the seventeenth
century - the genius of
Claudio Monteverdi arrived
on the scene.
The Teatro San Cassiano in
Venice opened its doors to
the public in 1637
and in so doing became the
world's first
commercial opera house. It
was a ‘Temple of the Muses’
for all those that could
afford the price of a ticket
and was thus independent of
the patronage of generous
princes. Early performances
would have seemed rather
carnival-like in atmosphere
by today's standards; but it
was not long before a new
type of music theatre began
to crystallise. Real
characters populated the
stage - a cast list drawn
from gods and mortals,
allegorical figures and
burlesque freaks. The
libretti were colourful,
multi-layered and, in terms
of musical style, required a
handamerital change of
approach. The fashion was no
longer for the pure,
ethereal sounds of the
polyphonic Renaissance
madrigal; it was now the
turn of recitative.
Reduction of musical forces
to just a few accompanying
instruments was not done
merely for economic reasons.
It
was in line with the newly
perceived necessity to place
the text in the foreground.
Music, it was said, served
to illustrate and therefore
followed the word in
emphasis and metre. In
declamatory passages only
the vocal and bass lines
were written out, leaving
the chords to be filled out
by the musician during the
performance - a convention
which continued until well
into the Baroque period, and
one which has presented
certain problems for modern
performance practice. A more
opulent orchestration was
reserved for the musical
interludes and aria-like
passages, the richer sounds
supposedly adding the
required gravitas.
"Il
Ritorno d'Ulisse in
Patria" was Monteverdi's
first opera for the new
opera house; it was
performed there in
1640/41. In terms of its
virtuoso perfection as a
"Dramma in musica" it
comes rather as a bolt
out of the blue.
Compared with Monteverdi's
first opera, "L'Orfeo",
composed 33 years
earlier, this Homer
adaptation is worlds
apart. Whereas "L`Orfeo"
- with its
Renaissance-like
pastoral madrigals - was
still firmly rooted in
the courtly tradition,
the music of "Il
Ritorno" is completely
dominated by the
recitative style known
as "monody".
Of course, Monteverdi's
groundbreaking approach
to opera did not come
about in a moment of
inspiration; rather it
was the culmination of
an evolutionary process.
But it is difficult today
to piece together this
process. From his opera
"Arianna" (Ariadne) only
the famous "Lamento"
remains extant, and a
further six works have
been lost without trace.
The route he took to
arrive at this
monodistic style of
writing thus remains
rather obscure. Viewed
from this perspective,
Monteverdi’s late works
such as "ll
Ritorno" (not
rediscovered until 1878)
and "L'Incoronazione
di Poppea"
stand out as being all
the more uniquely
innovative as a result
of the incompleteness of
the evolutionary
process.
"Ulysses"
- The Odissey of an
Opera
For 240
years nothing was known
of Monteverdi's Odysseus
opera, a work based
closely on books 15 to
23 of Horner’s epic
poem. But it did not
take long after the
opera's rediscovery for
it to be hailed as a key
work marking the
threshold between the
Renaissance and Baroque
periods. Attempts to
fathom the score,
however, presented all
sorts of difficulties.
The musical notation
gave only the two outer
parts (voice and bass),
a practice which misled
musicologists of the day
into thinking the score
to be rudimentary and
incomplete in nature.
Not until the more
exhaustive source
studies of the twentieth
century did the true
circumstances come to
light. Monteverdi’s
performances relied on
the skills of musicians
who were able to fill out
the chords from a
figured bass as the
dramatic action
required. Moreover, this
concise form of notation
presumably also meant
the composer was able to
prevent “pirate copies”
of his work from being
made, since only he and
his circle of musicians
would have known the
detail of the
performance.
This, too, is
precisely where the problems
start for a modern
performance. we have
Nikolaus Harnoncourt to
thank for the fact that a
musicologically sound - if
ultimately ‘unofficial’
- catalogue of conventions
for Monteverdi performance
practice has survived until
the present day. The
conductor developed his
theories about authentic
instrumentation from a wide
range of sources.
"We
used the same
instruments that would
have been in use in
Italy at the time -
stringed instruments
belonging to the violin
family, four recorders
to add grace and
brilliance to certain
scenes, two piffari
(soprano shawms) and a
dulcian for pastoral and
comic passages. And we
introduced trumpets and
trombones -
a regular contemporary
practice common whenever
the gods made an entry -
to accompany Neptune and
at moments of solemnity.
These melodic
instruments - also used
at times as solo
instruments - were
supported by a plethora
of continuo instruments,
including a large
Italian harpsichord, a
small virginal, two
lutes, a chitarrone,
organ, harp and
regal..." (N.
Harnoncourt)
The
spectacular success enjoyed
by this opera 25 years ago
at the Zurich Opera was due
in no small measure to the
breadth of tonal colour
achieved by this amazing
ensemble of instruments. Jean-Pierre
Ponnelle’s ingenious staging
was accompanied from the
orchestra pit by raspings,
Whistlings and strummings,
the like of which no
opera-going public had heard
before. The exuberance of
his scene setting, the
strangely florid music and a
first class cast of singers
turned "Il Ritorno" and the
other productions of
Harnoncourt's legendary
Monteverdi cycle into
triumphs and milestones of
historic performance
practice. These productions
subsequently went on tour to
all the major international
opera houses, were recorded
on film and are still
considered today to be
Ponnelle’s most outstanding
achievements.
The musical world
had woken up to Monteverdi’s
early Baroque masterpieces.
But precisely because of the
diverse possibilities of
interpretation, these operas
were always going to lend
themselves to any number of
new adaptations and
realisations. Hans Werner
Henze`s "Il Ritorno",
for example, performed on
the great opera stage of the
1985 Salzburg Festival
(produced by Michael Hampe).
Or René Jacob`s
opulent orchestration of
“Orfeo” - a festival
celebrating the purity of
sound. And Harnoncourts
anniversary production of
“Ulysses” in Zurich, which
is anything but a revival.
Together with producer Klaus
Michael Grüber,
Harnoncourt strikes a new
balance between musical
polish and distillation of
the essence of dramatic
action. "It is a kind of
‘théâtre
pauvre’, which works with
a few carefully chosen and
powerful symbols”,
was how the newspaper Neue
Zürcher
Zeitung reviewed the
production. The main
action takes place on
little more than an angled
revolving stage in front
of a whitewashed wall
which hints at the
landscape of a Greek
island. Irus,
the comical glutton, is
cast as a theatre director
and has Penelope's ghastly
suitors line up alongside
one another as marionettes
in a puppet show - a
producers whim which gave
rise at the time to all
kinds of speculation as to
the current fate of music
theatre.
Harnoncourt's
musical drive has become
"a touch gentler", wrote
the Berlin daily
Tagesspiegel. “Not that
Harnoncourt is now leaving
things to chance or to the
discretion of his
exquisite musicians. But
the way he communicates -
his entire rostrum manner
- seems to have become
more relaxed, calmer,
rounder, and both
he and the listener are
amply rewarded by
the sound which results.”
The Gods
Must be Crazy - The
Odyssey Comes to an End
In
the prologue to the opera,
the Libretrist Giacomo
Badoaro establishes the fact
that humankind is but a
helpless plaything in the
hands of the superior forces
of Time, Fortune and Love.
But it is soon apparent that
man shares his lot with the
gods, for they, too, are
forced to face life's
vicissitudes - the
only difference being that
the gods are immortal.
Whilst
Penelope sings a moving
lament for the absence
ofhei' husband Odysseus, it
is clear their two fates
have long since become a
bone of contention among the
gods. Neptune reproaches Jupiter
for having Shown his sworn
enemy Odysseus
the way
back to Ithaca. When
Odysseus lands there,
Minerva disguises him as an
old beggar in order to
protect him from his
pcrsecutors. Meanwhile,
Penelope is forced to fend
off the advances of three
suitors, each
of whom
are brazenly out to win her
hand. To make matters worse,
she is forced
to endure the impudence of
the glutton
Irus,
whose aim is to turn this
desperate situation to his
advantage.
In
Act Two, Odysseus' son
Telemachus receives news of
the return of his father.
His mother's suitors become
more importunate and plot to
murder Telemachus. In
desperation, Penelope
finally promises to choose
as her husband whichever
man successfully strings
Odysseus' bow. The only one
capableof this feat,
however, is the old beggar,
who then swiftly and
unhesitatingly slays the
shameless suitors.
Act Three begins with the
suicide of Irus,
who was certain he would
starve without
the support of the three
suitors. Penelope refuses to
believe the true identity of
the old beggar. Once again
the gods intervene - Minerva
asks Juno
for help, who together with
Jupiter
is able to soothe Neptune's
hatred and in so doing
prepare the way for the
“lieto fine”, the happy
ending. Penelope, however,
is still unable to overcome
her grief. Only when the old
beggar is able to describe
the finely
woven
blanket that once covered
their marriage bed does she
finally recognise him for
who he is.
Wolf-Christian
Fink
(Translation:
Alan Seaton)
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Nikolaus
Harnoncourt (1929-2016)
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