Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

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Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (19 February 1932 - 11 August 1988) was a French opera director who was born in Paris.

He studied philosophy, art, and history there and, in 1952, began his career in Germany as a theatre designer for Hans Werner Henze's opera Boulevard Solitude. He was greatly influenced by the work of art director Georges Wakhevitch who also designed sets and costumes for the theatre, the ballet, and the opera.

In 1962, Ponnelle directed his first production of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in Düsseldorf. His production of Tristan at the Bayreuth Festival in 1981 was widely praised as one of the most aesthetically beautiful in its history.

His work throughout the world included stage productions at the Metropolitan Opera and the San Francisco Opera; productions for television (a Madama Butterfly in 1974 notable for performances by Mirella Freni and the young Placido Domingo); and filmed versions of operas such as the well-known Karl Böhm-conducted The Marriage of Figaro.

Often, his productions were as controversial ^[1]as his interpretations of well-known works. ^[2]^[3]

He died in Munich, Germany in 1988 of a pulmonary embolism. His son is the orchestra conductor Pierre-Dominique Ponnelle and his nephew is the French guitarist and producer Jean Pierre Danel.

[edit] Selected recordings

Tristan und Isolde :- Conductor: Daniel Barenboim, Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele; René Kollo, Johanna Meier, Matti Salminen, Hermann Becht, Hanna Schwarz, Unitel 1983, Laserdisc Philips 070-509-1
Madama Butterfly :- Conductor: Herbert Von Karajan , Wiener Philharmoniker; Mirella Freni, Plácido Domingo, Christa Ludwig, Deutsche Grammophon 00440 073 4037

[edit] References

^ "Timothy Pfaff, "Dutchman' Can't Quite Fly: Opera Cast Struggles With New Production of Wagner", San Francisco Chronilcle, October 1, 1997 "Welcome as it may be to find Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's infamous 1975 Eurotrash production of the work, presented as "The Steersman's Dream", (which held the War Memorial stage for three of the company's five presentations of the piece) banished, presumably forever, it can still be a strain to discern "Dutchman".
^ Andrew Porter, "Lovers with extra trimmings", The Times (London) August 21, 1998: "Only in recent years have directors taken it upon themselves to rewrite Wagner's stage actions, to intervene, to move from simplification to new invention. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's idea at Bayreuth, in 1981, was that Isolde should not appear in Act Three but be an off-stage voice sounding in Tristan's mind"
^ Joan Chatfield-Taylor, San Francisco Opera: The First 75 Years, San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1997, ISBN 0811813681, page 63: "Some critics felt that there was...perversity in Ponnelle's conception of (Rigoletto) as a flashback that begins with Gilda already dead, lying on the floor during the Prelude".