Odisseo (2008)
Odisseo is Riccardi’s second opera on a mythological subject. It follows his earlier work,
La meraviglia e il dubbio, from which it draws a few of its musical ideas.
In
this opera the classical myth is varied from Homer’s original, both in
the plot and in focusing on the psychological aspect of the characters.
SYNOPSISThe
leader of the chorus tells the audience what the opera is about and
recounts the return journey of the great Odysseus to his homeland.
After
seven years, during which Odysseus has shared days and nights with
Calypso, the nymph offers him immortality on the condition that he
remain with her on her island. Odysseus rejects the offer. He prefers
to return to Ithaca and pursue his destiny. He wants neither to escape
death, nor to stop time. He chooses the nostalgia of his memories,
conscious that this too will become a memory. Calypso understands
Odysseus’ reasons and cannot bear to see him weeping by the seashore
any longer. She lets him go and helps him build a raft to confront the
sea.
After seventeen days at sea and within sight of the land of
the Phaeacians, Odysseus is beset by a tremendous storm. Seeing death
so near, he reflects on his past life and considers the dreams he still
has for the future. He doesn’t regret the suffering his freedom may
cost him, nor does he regret having rejected immortality. He doesn’t
feel superior to the immortal gods, but he wouldn’t want to take their
place either. He prefers to struggle to reach his goals. For two days
he fights with all his might against the fury of the waves. When
finally overcome, he can only entrust himself to the will of the gods.
At last a god takes pity on him and transports him to a seashore where
he falls into a deep sleep.
Odysseus is found and rescued by
Nausicaa, the young daughter of the Phaeacian King, who was playing
with her handmaidens at the seashore. For the girl, this is the
encounter with the man she had seen as her spouse in a prescient dream.
For Odysseus, dazzled by her beauty, Nausicaa represents a future that
he perhaps wouldn’t dare to choose. Nausicaa and Odysseus ask
themselves –with the choir’s participation– whether destiny can be
changed. Unlike the version in the Greek myth, Nausicaa successfully
fulfills her dream by making Odysseus her husband, but then she agrees
that he must leave to follow his destiny. The opera ends with the
narrator telling that Odysseus is sitting again at the seashore after
having returned to Ithaca, thinking of Calypso, Circe and
Nausicaa. He dreams of undertaking a new journey in search of his
past.
