Ulisse

Ulisse is an opera in a prologue and two acts composed by Luigi Dallapiccola to his own libretto based on the legend of Ulysses. It premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (in German translation by Karl-Heinrich Kreith as Odysseus) on 29 September 1968 conducted by Lorin Maazel with Erik Saedén in the title role. Ulisse was Dallapiccola's last opera and took eight years to compose. As in his previous operas, Volo di notte and Il prigioniero, his declared theme was "the struggle of man against some force much stronger than he".

Roles

 * Ulisse – baritone (Erik Saedén)
 * Calypso – soprano (Annabelle Bernard)
 * Nausicaa – soprano (Catherine Gayer)
 * Re Alcinoo – bass (Victor von Halem)
 * Demodoco – tenor (Helmuth Melchert)
 * Circe – mezzo-soprano (Jean Madeira)
 * La madre di Anticlea ("mother of Anticlea") – soprano (Hildegard Hillebrecht)
 * Tiresia – tenor (Helmuth Melchert)
 * Pisandro (a suitor) – baritone (José van Dam)
 * Antinoo – baritone (Ernst Krukowski)
 * Eurimaco – tenor (Karl Ernst Mercker)
 * Melanto – mezzo-soprano (Jean Madeira)
 * Eumeo – tenor (Loren Driscoll)
 * Telemaco – contralto (Barbara Scherler)
 * Penelope – soprano (Annabelle Bernard)
 * Ancella 1 ("handmaid 1") – soprano (Gitta Mikes)
 * Ancella 2 ("handmaid 2") – contralto (Helga Wisniewaska)