Monteverdi - Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria
by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Francisco Araiza, Janet Perry, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Trudeliese Schmidt, Werner HollwegDirector: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
Brand: Universal Studios
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); Chinese (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); Italian (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Italian (Original Language), DTS 5.1; Italian (Published), DTS 5.1
Format: Classical, DTS Surround Sound, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 153 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-03-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
Movie Reviews of Monteverdi - Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria
Movie Review: Tempio di Ulisse.
Summary: 5 Stars
I have seen this performance many times, and a few other Ulisses available on DVD today; and the question arises - why this one is simply unsurpassed?
It seems to me that the major problem an opera director faces today is that the audience for which these operas were written had disappeared. Monteverdi worked for the Gonzaga family in Mantua; that court was renowned throughout Europe for its cultural endowments and artistic sophistication; it was for that family that Andrea Mantegna decorated Camera degli Sposi in Palazzo Ducale with frescos that are a major masterpiece of Italian renaissance; it was in that family circle that the action of Castiglione's Il Cortegiano book is taking place; it was Leonardo whom Isabella d'Este, the great-grandmother of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Claudio Monteverdi's employer, tried to employ in Mantua.
The court of that Ducal family were Monteverdi's audience - it was an environment of the refined knowledge and sophisticated opulence; but also of the power of aristocracy and religion. The sensual desire therefore was expressed discreetly through rich allegory and ornamented understatement. The pictures of voluptuous beautiful women were presented as pictures of Madonnas, Saints, Goddesses, Queens and Heroines of Antiquity; time-wise, it was closer to Giorgione's "Sleeping Venus" than to Edouard Manet's "Olympia". There was no trace yet of petit-bourgeois demand for easy, non-intellectually demanding entertainment; the destruction of Arcadia by French revolution is not yet seen even through the strongest telescope of Galileo.
With Monteverdi's Ulisse, we find ourselves in the cultural world where Tiziano's Venus of Urbino still firmly rules on Venetian Parnassus. It is time of Bernini in Rome, Rembrandt in Amsterdam, Rubens in Antwerp - and amazingly, Rubens was also employed by the same Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga who patronized Monteverdi. But since then, in 1641, Monteverdi is long in Venice and in his 70s.
Those times in La Serenissima are prosperous and wealthy; good times roll for all - aristocracy, merchants, common folks. Yet the artistic taste is maintained by nobility - but of the Republic of Reason, and we find marvelous fusion of the most sublime virtues with witty humorous salaciousness of the pragmatic spirit of Venice. The artistic environment is of the perfect harmonious union of Apollo and Dionysus - clever, intellectual and beautiful accompanied by joyful, cheerful and sensual; yet always divine. Elegant, uplifting, high-spirited, passionate but never base, banal and vulgar. Aretino winks at us from time to time, but it is dominated more by Castiglione.
What makes this and other two Ponnelle's productions so unique and precious is that he transcends the atmosphere of that time to us. He is not trying to "translate" the aesthetics of Monteverdi's time and audience to the modern one; he is not trying to make him "People's Monteverdi". The magic is that the result is the best interpretation of this opera - and the lesson is that it is really futile and ungratifying artistically to "translate" the masterpiece 300+ years old to the contemporary person, presuming that this music/drama should be understood by the masses, or that a modern opera lover is ignorant of culture and history.
It seems that the director who embraces these principles will succeed in his mission to bring Monteverdi to a modern audience for the most satisfaction. Innovation does not always bring improvement; why try to re-write a masterpiece? The demand for Michelangelo, Leonardo, Rafael, Tiziano's art has not diminished by now; those who tried to re-write them, as Duchamp and post-Dada artists, have not, to say the least, outperformed the old masters - and most of them admit that. So why then in the world of music most modern directors try to paint Camera degli Sposi with the spray paint from Home Depot? The result will not be too good.
The miracle of Ponnelle is that he appears to understand that, and this is why a perfect harmony is achieved in his productions between all elements of opera, weaved in a splendid magic carpet - musical, visual, dramatic. Visually, he made for us a Baroque feast - Neptune appears at the horses from Bernini's Trevi fountain, or similarly, from Ruben's pictures of the King of the Sea ( one can be seen locally - Neptune Calming the Tempest, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University).
Costumes of the suitors are of Louis XIII epoch, even details like soft tresses or men and their moustache and beards are exactly repeating such fashions from the known portraits of the King and Cardinal Richelieu. There are marvelous jokes lurking discreetly - the three kings-suitors are made as from Adoration of the Magi, where one king is necessarily African; here this innuendo adds to the sensuality of the claim and to the general exhilaration. The whole scene of gallant and persistent suitors wooing, persuading and slightly threatening timid Penelope is so marvelously hilarious, exquisitely beautiful and believable. Her attitude is a perfect "vorrei e non vorrei" - I am sure this ambiguity is exactly what made Monteverdi's audience smile, and Ponnelle makes us do the same, too.
The end of Scene IV in Act II is marked by Primaticcio's picture of Odyssey and Penelope; it is another elegant and discreet touch; the picture is of Fontainebleau School, perhaps alluding to François Premier (Francic I), and his long war ordeals, including captivity by the enemy Charles V. Yet François Premier was also, like Gonzagas, a great patron of the arts, and it is he who introduced Renaissance into his medieval France, transforming its cultural and artistic development; it is under his aegis that Leonardo came to live in France from Italy, bringing Mona Lisa with him to stay in France and reside in the Louvre, whose current collection was started by this king. There were other great artists of the time working in Fontainebleau - Benvenuto Cellini, Rosso Fiorentino, Giulio Romano. François Premier has also collected works of artists like Michelangelo, Tiziano, and Raphael. Thus, it is really marvelous for the director to include Primaticcio's picture - an artist who also worked at the palace, and whose work only further whispers about the aesthetics used for this mise-en-scène.
Singing is superb in the whole opera. It is interesting to notice several vocal styles in the opera. For instance, Minerva sings in a style that at the time was called "cantar passaggiato" - to sing with numerous passaggi or vocalizes, as only the gods can do; this style was regarded archaic. Ulysses, Penelope and Irus sing in the "cantar d'affetto" style, which was modern, and the three suitors sound like madrigalists become operatic singers.
Finally, it should be noted that Monteverdi's authorship of the entire opera is not entirely beyond dispute. Unlike his first opera, L'Orfeo, which was published in a printed edition subsidized by the Mantuan Court, his scores for the venetian commercial public opera houses have survived only in manuscript copies in various hands and in different version, and it was not and is not possible to establish to what extent the manuscripts represent Monteverdi's own composition. Harnoncourt's interpretation, however, it superb.
There is a reason why this production is well-alive 30 years after its release. Let's say that Ponnelle and Harnoncourt, together with all the participants of these unsurpassed series, created the most astonishing monument to Monteverdi's operatic work of art, and it is accessible to all wishing to see and hear it; for the world of Baroque Opera on DVD this performance is the same as Venus of Urbino or Bernini's Trevi Fountain are to art.
A masterpiece of all times; and a must-see for Baroque opera lovers.
Summary of Monteverdi - Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria
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