The Return of Ulysses

By Claudio Monteverdi
Glimmerglass Opera
Jane Glover, conductor
Performers listed below

For an art form with such a colorful history, and such a "venerable" and even intimidating reputation, opera really hasn't been around very long. The first operas began appearing near the beginning of the 17th century, making opera only about four hundred years old. Compare that with other forms of art - painting, sculpture, literature, song and dance - how long have those been around? Their origins are, literally, prehistoric.

Still, the relatively recent birth of opera, in the early 1600’s, was hardly an overnight event. It was an evolutionary process, involving many different musical styles, and even more composers. There was, however, one composer who stood head and shoulders above all the other “founding fathers” of opera. He was Claudio Monteverdi. His 1607 opera ORFEO wasn't the very first opera. But it was surely the first work ever to fully expoit opera’s amazing potential: its unique capacity for both profound artistic expression and flat-out, crowd-pleasing entertainment.

That Monteverdi did this while opera was so new that it barely had a name is truly astonishing. Where he went from there is just as remarkable. By the time he wrote his final two operas, more than 30 years later, he legitimately could have laid claim to a hefty percentage of all the true, operatic masterpieces ever composed! His last opera is still well-known and popular - it’s called THE CORONATION OF POPEA. His next-to-last opera isn’t so familiar, but it’s no less fascinating. It’s the one we’ll hear today, THE RETURN OF ULYSSES. Monteverdi called it a “music drama” - beating Wagner to the punch by two centuries or so. That’s still an appropriate description of a score that seems as fresh today as it did just a few decades after opera was born.

The story? Well, imagine a man who's been away on business, and was detained so long by adverse circumstances that, when he finally got home, nobody recognized him - including his wife. Meantime, there are about a dozen predatory lounge lizards camped out in his front yard, eating and drinking his wife out of house and home, and vying for the rest of her "favors," as well. It's one of literature's great stories, originating with Homer. Monteverdi made it a great opera, as well.

This week on NPR WORLD OF OPERA, host Steve Curwood brings you this seminal opera from the reputed birthplace of another American passion, with a production from Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, NY. Beforehand, don’t forget to tune in AT THE OPERA, with Lou Santacroce.





Performers:
James Maddalena (Ulisse); Phyllis Pancella (Penelope); Kerri Marcinko (Giunone); Derrick L. Parker (Antinoo); Eric Fennell (Anfinomo); David Walker (Pisandro); Georgia Jarman (Ericlea); Marie Lenormand (Melanto); Greg Fedderly (Telemachus); Todd Wilander (Eurimaco); Mark McCrory (Nettuno); Gerald Frantzen (Giove)

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