Iro and the Interpretation of Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria

Abstract

In comparison to Monteverdi's other late opera, L'incoronazione di Poppea, the meaning of Il ritorno d'Ulisse seems comfortingly unproblematic. Unlike Poppea, which is a patchwork of (mostly) unacknowledged sources telescoped and rearranged, mixed with characters and situations invented by the librettist, Ritorno draws 141 virtually all of its incidents and characters directly from the Odyssey.' It follows Odysseus on the last leg of his epic journey, touching, in their Homeric order, many of its legendary highpoints: from the Phaecians setting down the hero, asleep, in Ithaca, through his encounter with Pallas Athena and transformation into an old man, his meeting with the swineheard Eumaius, reunion with his son Telemachus, the defeat of the suitors, and, finally, the hero's reunion with his beleaguered but ever faithful wife, Penelope. A straightforward narrative progression (with the events condensed, of course, to suit the new operatic medium), interrupted by a few lighter moments provided by the secondary (though no less Homeric) characters-Penelope's lady-in-waiting, Melanto, and her lover, Eurimaco, and the parasite Iro-Ritorno moves