Monteverdi - Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (William Christie) [2010]

"Last year we gave a performance here in the Teatro Real of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, this year we have Ulisse and next year Poppea. We’re no longer in Mantova and we’re no longer in the Court of the Prince. We’re in Venezia and essentially [at] the beginning of the public opera house. We’re also at the beginning of what will become opera seria, that’s to say beyond the instrumental colors, the great dances and the great pageants, [are] the beautiful effects of the singing, it’s bel-canto and so the orchestral accompaniment becomes simpler.
This is the essential difference between Orfeo and these last…two operas that were composed toward the end of his life. Orfeo is the beginning of the 17th century, the very beginning, the first ten years [and] he’s a young man, and Poppea and Ulisse are works of old age when he became a resident in Venezia. When Monteverdi was Maestro di Cappella of San Marco he is writing essentially for the new phenomenon, the Venetian opera house."

- from William Christie’s interview 2008 included on in the DVD

Performer:
Ulisse - Kobie van Rensburg
Penelope - Christine Rice
Telemaco - Cyril Auvity
Eumete - Joseph Cornwell
Antinoo / Feacio - Umberto Chiummo
Anfinomo / Feacio - Juan Sancho
Pisandro / Feacio - Xavier Sabata
Eurimaco / Giove - Ed Lyon
Melanto / Fortuna - Hanna Bayodi-Hirt
Iro - Robert Burt
Ericlea - Marina Rodríguez-Cusí
L’Umana Fragilità - Terry Wey
Minerva / Amore - Claire Debono
Nettuno / il Tempo - Luigi De Donato
Giunone - Sonya Yoncheva
Les Arts Florissants
Conductor - William Christie
Director, set and costume designer - Pier Luigi Pizzi

MIRDUC