Iconic Operas by Claudio Monteverdi in Productions by Leading European Directors 2010–2024: a Dialogue of Traditions and Innovation

Abstract

Relevance of the Study. Claudio Monteverdi’s operatic legacy remains central to the formation of the European opera genre and continues to stimulate intensified directorial reinterpretations in contemporary music theatre. In the early 21st century, leading European directors increasingly returned to Orfeo, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, and L’incoronazione di Poppea, generating new artistic concepts and reactivating the debate on the balance between tradition and innovation. Despite the wide spectrum of productions, a systematic theoretical examination of these interpretations within today’s European cultural context has not yet been sufficiently developed.

Main Objectives and Scientific Novelty. The study offers a novel systematic analysis of Monteverdi’s opera productions during 2010–2024, interpreted through the dialogue of “traditional vs innovative” and correlated with the aesthetic and ideological principles of German Regietheater. The objective is to reveal the specific features of directorial approaches to Monteverdi’s operas in contemporary European theatre.

Methodology (how the study was done). The research applies comparative analysis of video materials, production notes, scenographic decisions, and dramaturgical structures of modern stagings. Directorial and musicological analysis allowed identifying the interaction between the score and the staging concept; interpretive-stylistic methods revealed traditional and innovative components; contextual analysis positioned artistic strategies within Regietheatertheory. The results were obtained through a step-by-step examination of the directorial logic of productions by P. L. Pizzi, R. Carsen, D. Hilsdorf, P. Audi, and O. Fredy.

Results, Findings, and Conclusions (significance). The study identifies two prevailing directorial strategies: the “bottom-up” approach, based on internal dramaturgy and character psychology (Carsen, Audi), and the “top-down” approach, driven by a conceptual or ideological framework (Hilsdorf). It demonstrates how Regietheater techniques may radically shift the opera’s semantic core, recontextualizing it for modern audiences yet risking a rupture with its historical background. Productions by Fredy and Audi illustrate the current trend toward intellectualizing early opera and seeking new forms of emotional resonance. The significance of the findings lies in highlighting contemporary models of interpreting Monteverdi’s operas, contributing to their understanding within musicological research, artistic practice, and modern opera education.