Organization

Stage director

Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Set designer

Costume designer

Pet Halmen

Singer

Tenor

Werner Hollweg

Ulysses

Mezzo-soprano

Trudeliese Schmidt

Penelope

Francisco Javier Ariza

Telemachus

Philippe Huttenlocher

Eumetes

Soprano

Janet Perry

Melanto

Peter Keller

Eurimaco

Arley Reece

Irus

Bass

Simon Estes

Antinous

Peter Straka

Peisander

Countertenor

Paul Esswood

Amphinomus

Renate Lenhart

Fortune

Jozsef Dene

Jupiter

Werner Gröschel

First phaeacian

Opernhaus Zürich

Others

Chor der Oper Zürich

Orchestra

Monteverdi-Ensemble der Oper Zürich

Taljan

Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria -  (The Return of Ulysses to His Homeland)

Zurich

Switzerland

ean-Pierre Ponnelle (1932-1988) was one of the most productive, imaginative and internationally successful directors and set designers of modern music theatre. Last but not least, it is thanks to Ponnelle that the operas of Monteverdi, Rossini and the young Mozart have the place they deserve in the repertoire today. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle set standards with exemplary productions and premieres, some of which were fortunately filmed or recorded, and shaped international music theater even after his death.

Penelope despairs of her fate and implores the distant Ulisse (Odysseus) to return. When Ulisse finally returns to Ithaca after a chain of misfortunes, he has to beware of impudent guests, Penelope's royal suitors, who are characterized by their particular perseverance and importunity. Ulisse disguises herself as a beggar and asks Eumete for hospitality. Meanwhile, the goddess Minerva brings Ulisse's son, Telemaco, back to Ithaca, and the two celebrate a happy reunion. Eumete announces to Penelope the arrival of Telemacos and the expected return of Ulisse. Telemaco is in the way of the suitors and they decide to kill him. The suitors offer themselves to Penelope once more. She decrees that whoever can most easily draw Ulisse's bow shall receive her. Ulisse, disguised as a beggar, given the opportunity to try and shoot the suitors. Eumete reveals to Penelope that the old man who killed the suitors is Ulisse. She doesn't believe him. When Ulisse then appears, Penelope still does not believe that he is her husband. She only recognizes him when he describes the blanket of the marriage bed.

For a long time, the name Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) was just an insider tip among enthusiasts. The shadowy existence of the Italian composer as a representative of the early history of opera changed abruptly in the 1970s when the director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and the conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt staged three stage works by Monteverdi at the Zurich Opera House. The performances impressively refuted the thesis that the musical dramatist Monteverdi was allegedly unattractive and encouraged numerous new productions.

The basis of the text of the opera "Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria" (The Homecoming of Odysseus) are passages from Homer's "Odyssey". Monteverdi's score was considered lost for 240 years; it was only rediscovered towards the end of the 19th century. The Zurich Orchestra plays exclusively on original instruments from the 17th century or on specially made copies of historical instruments.

"Ponnelle and Harnoncourt do not perform the dead Monteverdi, but the living, the ingenious pacesetter of the operatic geniuses, among whom he can certainly feel at home - as much and as often as he will be worked on in the future. Meanwhile, thinks sometimes even that Monteverdi is nothing more than the ingenious pre-echo or even the musical enhancement of the name of Verdi.

"Nikolaus Harnoncourt presented one of the most exciting operatic events in Zurich in a long time." (The time)

"Harnoncourt provided the juicy feast for the ears of Ponnelle's opulent feast for the eyes: not pigtails and beards, but musical storm and urge. His Meistersinger... shone in their virtuoso roles as if Monteverdi were Verdi. The orchestra handled the historical-exotic instruments with stylistically self-assuredness. The three Monteverdi operas from Zurich have long since been exported to other European metropolises; as a 'hit that made everyone mad' (Hamburger Abendblatt) for the 300-year celebration at the Hamburg State Opera and as a 'great project' (The Guardian) for Edinburgh Festival. 'The public applauded on the open scene', reported La Stampa of the performance of the Zurich musicians in Milan's Scala, 'as if they were sitting in the Cavalleria Rusticana.' 'More beautiful' jubilated the Wiener Kurier,

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