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Ulysses' Homecoming
GIUSEPPE PENNISI was expecting
a graduate performance of Monteverdi,
but experienced a masterpiece
On 6 October 2018, in the small and charming Villa Torlonia Theatre, I saw and heard the first production in Rome of Claudio Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria — Ulysses' Homecoming, most probably the least frequently performed of his three operas whose scores arrived in modern times. The score was found in Vienna's archives but the orchestration was almost entirely missing. The work is called 'dramma per musica', a very modern term. It has fascinated a number of composers: Gian Francesco Malipiero's scholarly edition appeared in 1930 and later Luigi Dallapiccola (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 1942) and Hans Werner Henze (Salzburg Festival, 1985) provided extensive revisions...
Copyright © 9 October 2018
Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy
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