Ancient and modern re-sounding: Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria

In ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (The Return of Ulysses), composer Claudio Monteverdi produced an opera that utilized an unusual musical style: full-blown arioso (lyrical song) generally took second place to a hybrid style of recitativo (speech-like song) that featured only snatches of arioso-styled music. This chapter argues that Monteverdi's approach that had as much to do with his representation of contemporary understandings of Ancient Greek tragedy that prevailed in Florence and Venice as it did with recasting Homer's narrative for a 1640s' Venetian audience. It also attempts to account for the extraordinary handling of the Ancient Greek myth by librettist Giacomo Badoaro. The chapter ends by considering Monteverdi's musical treatment of the central role of Penelope as a metaphor for the meeting of Ancient and modern cultures that is exemplified in the musical style of the opera as much as its changed narrative.