Orfeo ed Euridice
Encyclopedia
Orfeo ed Euridice is an opera
composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck
based on the myth of Orpheus
, set to a libretto
by Ranieri de' Calzabigi
. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing. The piece was first performed at Vienna
on 5 October 1762. Orfeo ed Euridice is the first of Gluck's "reform" operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of opera seria
with a "noble simplicity" in both the music and the drama.
The opera is the most popular of Gluck's works, and one of the most influential on subsequent German opera. Variations on its plot—the underground rescue-mission in which the hero must control, or conceal, his emotions—include Mozart's The Magic Flute
, Beethoven's Fidelio
and Wagner's Das Rheingold
.
Though originally set to an Italian libretto, Orfeo ed Euridice owes much to the genre of French opera
, particularly in its use of accompanied recitative
and a general absence of vocal virtuosity. Indeed, twelve years after the 1762 premiere, Gluck re-adapted the opera to suit the tastes of a Parisian audience at the Académie Royale de Musique
with a libretto by Pierre-Louis Moline
. This reworking was given the title Orphée et Eurydice, and several alterations were made in vocal casting and orchestration to suit French tastes.
's Essay on the Opera (1755) was a major influence in the development of Gluck's reformist ideology. Algarotti proposed a heavily simplified model of opera seria, with the drama pre-eminent, instead of the music or ballet or staging. The drama itself should "delight the eyes and ears, to rouse up and to affect the hearts of an audience, without the risk of sinning against reason or common sense". Algarotti's ideas influenced both Gluck and his librettist, Calzabigi. Calzabigi was himself a prominent advocate of reform, and he stated: "If Mr Gluck was the creator of dramatic music, he did not create it from nothing. I provided him with the material or the chaos, if you like. We therefore share the honour of that creation."
Other influences included the composer Niccolò Jommelli
and his maître de ballet at Stuttgart, Jean-Georges Noverre
. Noverre's Lettres sur la danse (1760) called for dramatic effect over acrobatic ostentation; Noverre was himself influenced by the operas of Rameau and the acting style of David Garrick
. The considerable quantity of ballet in Orfeo ed Euridice is thought to be due to his influence. Jommelli himself was noted for his blending of all aspects of the production: ballet, staging, and audience.
The first lines of arias, choruses, etc., are given in Italian (1762 version) and French (1774 version).
s and shepherds join Orfeo around the tomb of his wife Euridice in a solemn chorus of mourning; Orfeo is only able to utter Euridice's name (Chorus and Orfeo: “Ah, se intorno”/“Ah! Dans ce bois”). Orfeo sends the others away and sings of his grief in the aria "Chiamo il mio ben"/“Objet de mon amour”, the three verses of which are preceded by expressive recitatives. This technique was extremely radical at the time and indeed proved overly so for those who came after Gluck: Mozart chose to retain the unity of the aria. Amore (Cupid
) appears, telling Orfeo that he may go to the Underworld and return with his wife on the condition that he not look at her until they are back on earth (1774 only: aria by Amour, “Si les doux accords”). As encouragement, Amore informs Orfeo that his present suffering shall be short-lived with the aria "Gli sguardi trattieni"/“Soumis au silence”. Orfeo resolves to take on the quest. In the 1774 version only he delivers an ariette ("L'espoir renaît dans mon âme") in the older, showier, Italian style, originally composed for an occasional entertainment, Il Parnaso confuso (1765), and subsequently re-used in another one, Le feste d'Apollo
(1769).
, its canine guardian (“Chi mai dell’Erebo”/“Quel est l’audacieux”). When Orfeo, accompanied by his lyre
(represented in the opera by a harp
), begs for pity in the aria "Deh placatevi con me"/“Laissez-vous toucher”, he is at first interrupted by cries of "No!" from the Furies, but they are eventually softened by the sweetness of his singing in the arias "Mille pene"/“Ah! La flamme and "Men tiranne"/“La tendresse”, and let him in (“Ah, quale incognito affetto”/“Quels chants doux”). In the 1774 version, the scene ends with the "Dance of the Furies" (No. 28).
The second scene opens in Elysium
. The brief ballet of 1762 became the four-movement "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" (with a prominent part for solo flute
) in 1774. This is followed (1774 only) by a solo which celebrates happiness in eternal bliss (“Cet asile”), sung by either an unnamed Spirit or Euridice, and repeated by the chorus. Orfeo arrives and marvels at the purity of the air in an arioso ("Che puro ciel"/“Quel nouveau ciel”). But he finds no solace in the beauty of the surroundings, for Euridice is not yet with him. He implores the spirits to bring her to him, which they do (Chorus: “Torna, o bella”/“Près du tendre objet”).
, Euridice is delighted to be returning to earth, but Orfeo, remembering the condition related by Amore in Act I, lets go of her hand and refusing to look at her, does not explain anything to her. She does not understand his action and reproaches him, but he must suffer in silence (Duet: “Vieni, appaga il tuo consorte”/“Viens, suis un époux”). Euridice takes this to be a sign that he no longer loves her, and refuses to continue, concluding that death would be preferable. She sings of her grief at Orfeo's supposed infidelity in the aria "Che fiero momento"/“Fortune ennemie” (in 1774, there is a brief duet before the reprise). Unable to take any more, Orfeo turns and looks at Euridice; again, she dies. Orfeo sings of his grief in the famous aria "Che farò senza Euridice?”/“J’ai perdu mon Eurydice” (“What shall I do without Euridice?”/"I have lost my Euridice")
Orfeo decides he will kill himself to join Euridice in Hades, but Amore returns to stop him (1774 only: Trio: “Tendre Amour”). In reward for Orfeo's continued love, Amore returns Euridice to life, and she and Orfeo are reunited. After a four-movement ballet, all sing in praise of Amore (“Trionfi Amore”). In the 1774 version, the chorus (“L’Amour triomphe”) precedes the ballet, to which Gluck had added three extra movements.
at the Burgtheater
on 5 October 1762, for the name-day celebrations of the Emperor Francis I. The production was supervised by the reformist theatre administrator, Count Giacomo Durazzo
. Choreography was by Gasparo Angiolini
, and set designs were by Giovanni Maria Quaglio, both leading members of their fields. The first Orfeo was the famous castrato
Gaetano Guadagni
. Orfeo was revived in Vienna during the following year, but then not performed until 1769. For the performances that took place in London
in 1770, Guadagni sang the role of Orpheus, but little of the music bore any relation to Gluck's original, with J.C. Bach - "the English Bach" - providing most of the new music. Haydn conducted a performance of the Italian version at Eszterháza in 1776. During the early 19th century, Adolphe Nourrit
became particularly well-known for his performances of Orpheus at the Paris Opera. In 1854 Franz Liszt
conducted the work at Weimar
, composing a symphonic poem of his own to replace Gluck's original overture. Typically during the 19th century and for most of the 20th century, the role of Orfeo was sung by a female contralto
, and noted interpreters of the role from this time include Clara Butt
and Kathleen Ferrier
, and the mezzo-soprano
s Rita Gorr
, Marilyn Horne
, Janet Baker
and Risë Stevens
(at the Metropolitan Opera
). Among conductors, Arturo Toscanini
was a notable proponent of the opera. His radio broadcast of Act II was eventually released on both LP
and CD.
which was conducted by the composer, Gluck transposed the role of Orfeo up for the soprano castrato Giuseppe Millico
, maintaining a libretto in Italian. This version has not been performed in modern times.
Gluck revised the score again for a production in Paris, which premiered on 2 August 1774. This version, named Orphée et Eurydice, had a French libretto by Pierre-Louis Moline
, which was both a translation of and an expansion upon Calzabigi's original text. Gluck expanded and rewrote parts of the opera, and changed the role of Orpheus from a part for a castrato
to one for high tenor
or the so-called haute-contre
- the usual voice in French opera for heroic characters - as the French almost never used castrati. This version of the work also had additional ballet sequences, conforming to the tastes that were prevalent at the time in Paris, and included the long "Dance of the Furies", originally from Gluck's ballet Don Juan, and the famous "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" for flute and strings. By 1825 operatic castrati themselves had virtually vanished, and performances of the original version for castrato became increasingly rare. The modern practice of approximating castrati by using countertenors as replacements only dates to 1950.
From 1784 to 1859 the Parisian diapason (concert pitch
) rose steadily from 820 to 896 cycles per second, thus Gluck's French version for haute-contre became increasingly impractical. When Aldolphe Nourrit sang the role at the Opéra in 1824 his music was altered. Giacomo Meyerbeer
suggested to the French contralto Pauline Viardot that she should perform the role of Orfeo. The composer Hector Berlioz
was a close friend of Viardot and the leading expert in France on the music of Gluck. He knew the score of "the largely forgotten Italian original as thoroughly as he knew the French", and agreed to prepare a version of the opera - in four acts - with Viardot's voice in mind, adapting the role of Orphée for a female alto
. In his adaptation, Berlioz used the key scheme of the 1762 Vienna score while incorporating much of the additional music of the 1774 Paris score. He returned to the Italian version only when he considered it to be superior either in terms of music or in terms of the drama. He also restored some of the more subtle orchestration from the Italian version and resisted proposals by Viardot and the theatre's director Léon Carvalho
to modernize the orchestration. In the end Camille Saint-Saens
, who was acting as Berlioz's assistant on the project, did some of the minor rewriting which Berlioz had declined to do.
The Berlioz version was first presented at the Théâtre Lyrique
on 18 November 1859 with Viardot as Orphée, Marie Sasse
as Eurydice, Marie Ernestine Marimon as L'Amour, Mlle Moreau as L'Ombre, and Adolphe Deloffre
as the conductor. The sets were designed by Charles-Antoine Cambon
and Joseph Thierry, and the choreography was by Lucien Petipa
. (The seventeen-year-old Jules Massenet
was the orchestra's timpani
st. During the rehearsals Berlioz had complimented the young player on the accuracy of his tuning.) The production was a popular and critical success, filling the house every night, and was given a total of 138 times by the company.
By the following year most theaters in Paris had lowered concert pitch to diapason normal. This was not as low as in Gluck's time: "a Commission had lately recommended that the pitch in France should be lowered from an A of 896 to 870 vibrations." Still this was apparently enough that later in the 19th century the role of Orpheus came to be sung almost as frequently by a tenor as by a contralto.
Berlioz's version is one of many which combine the Italian and French scores, although it is the most influential and well regarded. Since about 1870 three-act adaptations of the Berlioz score, translating it back into Italian and restoring much of the music from the 1774 French version which Berlioz had left out, were common. An 1889 edition for contralto, published by Ricordi
, became the most popular. On occasion the role of Orfeo has even been transposed down an octave for a baritone
to sing. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
and Hermann Prey
are two notable baritones who have performed the role in Germany. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau recorded the opera, a recording which is still available commercially.
. Self-contained aria
s and chorus
es make way for shorter pieces strung together to make larger structural units. Da capo aria
s are notable by their absence; Gluck instead uses strophic form
, notably in Act One's "Chiamo il mio ben così", where each verse is interposed with dramatic recitative
, - that is, stromentato, where the voice is accompanied by part or all of the orchestra - and rondo form, such as in Act Three's famous "Che farò senza Euridice?". Also absent is traditional secco recitative, where the voice is accompanied only by the basso continuo. On the whole, old Italian operatic conventions are disregarded in favour of giving the action dramatic impetus. The complexity of the storyline is greatly reduced by eliminating subplots. Gluck was influenced by the example of French tragédies en musique, particularly those of Rameau. Like them, the opera contains a large number of expressive dances, extensive use of the chorus and accompanied recitative. The coup de théâtre of opening the drama with a chorus mourning one of the main characters is very similar to that used in Rameau's Castor et Pollux
(1737). Other elements do not follow Gluck's subsequent reforms; for instance, the brisk, cheerful overture does not reflect the action to come. The role of Orfeo calls for an especially gifted actor, so that the strophic "Chiamo il mio ben così" does not become dull, and so that tragic import can be given both to this aria and to "Che farò senza Euridice?", both of which are based on harmonies that are not obviously mournful in nature. The first Orfeo, Gaetano Guadagni, was reputedly a fine actor who had certainly taken lessons while in London from the renowned Shakespearian actor David Garrick
. Guadagni was apparently also able to project a moving and emotive tone without raising his voice. Indeed, Gluck faced criticism of "Che farò senza Euridice?" on the grounds that it was emotionally uninvolved; he responded by pointing out the absolute necessity of fine execution of the aria: "make the slightest change, either in the movement or in the turn of expression, and it will become a saltarello for marionettes".
Gluck's reforms, which began with Orfeo ed Euridice, have had significant influence throughout operatic history. Gluck's ideals heavily influenced the popular works of Mozart, Wagner, and Weber
, with Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk vision especially influenced by that of Gluck. Old-style opera seria and the domination of embellishment-orientated singers came to be increasingly unpopular after the success of Gluck's operas as a whole and Orfeo in particular. In Orfeo ed Euridice the orchestra is far more predominant than in earlier opera, most notably in Orfeo's arioso "Che puro ciel". Here the voice is reduced to the comparatively minor role of recitative-style declamation, while the oboe
carries the main melody, supported by solos from the flute, cello, bassoon, and horn. There is also accompaniment from the strings (playing in triplets) and the continuo in the most complex orchestration that Gluck ever wrote.
s and chalumeau
x are replaced by commoner and more modern oboes and clarinet
s, while the part played by trombone
s considerably decreases, possibly due to a lack of technical ability on the part of the French trombonists. Cornetts were instruments that were typically used for church music, and chalumeaux were predominant only in chamber music
: both cornetts and chalumeaux were unpopular in France in 1774. In many ways the change from chalumeau to oboe corresponds to that from castrato to high tenor. Neither castrato nor chalumeau were to survive.
In both the Italian and French version Orfeo's lyre is represented by the harp, and it was this use of the instrument in 1774 that it is usually thought introduced the harp to French orchestras. Each verse of the strophic "Chiamo il mio ben cosi" is accompanied by different solo instruments. In Vienna these were flute, horns, and English horns, but in 1774 Gluck was required to change this orchestration to that of a single horn and two clarinets, again replacing uncommon instruments with those in far more widespread usage. During the aria "Chiamo il mio ben cosi" and the interspersing recitatives Gluck added another offstage orchestra consisting of strings and chalumeaux, in order to provide an echo effect.
Kathleen Ferrier
and American mezzo-soprano
Marilyn Horne
were especially notable interpreters. In recent years, recordings and stage productions of the Vienna version of the opera have featured countertenors in the role of Orpheus. Countertenors Derek Lee Ragin
, Jochen Kowalski
, René Jacobs, James Bowman, and Michael Chance
have recorded Orfeo ed Euridice. Until recent times, most recordings of all versions were cut or altered in some way.
Recordings of the French version for tenor are still relatively rare due to a lack of genuine haute-contres: there is one from the mid-1950s starring Léopold Simoneau
opposite his wife Pierrette Alarie
, and Nicolai Gedda
also recorded the role in 1955. (Simoneau's version has been available on CD, although not at present, but Gedda's recording had its premiere CD release in 2009.) In 2002 haute-contre
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt
added his version, while Marc Minkowski
brought out a period instrument performance with Richard Croft
in the title role in 2004. In April 2010, a concert performance recorded in Madrid two years earlier by tenore di grazia
Juan Diego Flórez
, was finally released. There is also a DVD of the 1993 Australian Opera
production, directed by Stefanos Lazaridis
, with Australian haute-contre
David Hobson as Orphée.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
based on the myth of Orpheus
Orpheus
Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...
, set to a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Ranieri de' Calzabigi
Ranieri de' Calzabigi
Ranieri de' Calzabigi was an Italian poet and librettist, most famous for his collaboration with the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck on his "reform" operas....
. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing. The piece was first performed at Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
on 5 October 1762. Orfeo ed Euridice is the first of Gluck's "reform" operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of opera seria
Opera seria
Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to c. 1770...
with a "noble simplicity" in both the music and the drama.
The opera is the most popular of Gluck's works, and one of the most influential on subsequent German opera. Variations on its plot—the underground rescue-mission in which the hero must control, or conceal, his emotions—include Mozart's The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, Beethoven's Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
and Wagner's Das Rheingold
Das Rheingold
is the first of the four operas that constitute Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen . It was originally written as an introduction to the tripartite Ring, but the cycle is now generally regarded as consisting of four individual operas.Das Rheingold received its premiere at the National Theatre...
.
Though originally set to an Italian libretto, Orfeo ed Euridice owes much to the genre of French opera
French Opera
French opera is one of Europe's most important operatic traditions, containing works by composers of the stature of Rameau, Berlioz, Bizet, Debussy, Poulenc and Olivier Messiaen...
, particularly in its use of accompanied recitative
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
and a general absence of vocal virtuosity. Indeed, twelve years after the 1762 premiere, Gluck re-adapted the opera to suit the tastes of a Parisian audience at the Académie Royale de Musique
Académie Royale de Musique
The Salle Le Peletier was the home of the Paris Opera from 1821 until the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. The theatre was designed and constructed by the architect François Debret on the site of the former Hôtel de Choiseul...
with a libretto by Pierre-Louis Moline
Pierre-Louis Moline
Pierre-Louis Moline was a prolific French dramatist, poet and librettist. His play, La reunion du six aout, was one of the longest-running patriotic pieces during the time of the French Revolution with 52 performances at the Paris Opéra. He also wrote the epitaph for the tomb of Jean-Paul Marat...
. This reworking was given the title Orphée et Eurydice, and several alterations were made in vocal casting and orchestration to suit French tastes.
Background
Francesco AlgarottiFrancesco Algarotti
Count Francesco Algarotti was an Italian philosopher and art critic.He also completed engravings.He was born in Venice to a rich merchant. He studied at Rome for a year, and then Bologna, he studied natural sciences and mathematics...
's Essay on the Opera (1755) was a major influence in the development of Gluck's reformist ideology. Algarotti proposed a heavily simplified model of opera seria, with the drama pre-eminent, instead of the music or ballet or staging. The drama itself should "delight the eyes and ears, to rouse up and to affect the hearts of an audience, without the risk of sinning against reason or common sense". Algarotti's ideas influenced both Gluck and his librettist, Calzabigi. Calzabigi was himself a prominent advocate of reform, and he stated: "If Mr Gluck was the creator of dramatic music, he did not create it from nothing. I provided him with the material or the chaos, if you like. We therefore share the honour of that creation."
Other influences included the composer Niccolò Jommelli
Niccolò Jommelli
Niccolò Jommelli was an Italian composer. He was born in Aversa and died in Naples. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he made important changes to opera and reduced the importance of star singers.-Early life:Jommelli was born to Francesco Antonio Jommelli and...
and his maître de ballet at Stuttgart, Jean-Georges Noverre
Jean-Georges Noverre
Jean-Georges Noverre was a French dancer and balletmaster, and is generally considered the creator of ballet d'action, a precursor of the narrative ballets of the 19th century...
. Noverre's Lettres sur la danse (1760) called for dramatic effect over acrobatic ostentation; Noverre was himself influenced by the operas of Rameau and the acting style of David Garrick
David Garrick
David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
. The considerable quantity of ballet in Orfeo ed Euridice is thought to be due to his influence. Jommelli himself was noted for his blending of all aspects of the production: ballet, staging, and audience.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | 5 October 1762 (Conductor: - ) |
2 August 1774 (Conductor: - ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orfeo | alto Alto Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,... castrato Castrato A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity.Castration before puberty prevents a boy's... (Italian premiere), or mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... (later) |
Gaetano Guadagni Gaetano Guadagni Gaetano Guadagni was an Italian mezzo-soprano castrato singer, most famous for singing the role of Orpheus at the premiere of Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice in 1762.- Career :... |
Joseph Legros Joseph Legros Joseph Legros was a French singer and composer of the 18th century. He is best remembered for his association with the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck... |
| Amore | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Marianna Bianchi | Sophie Arnould Sophie Arnould Sophie Arnould was a French operatic soprano.Born Magdeleine Sophie Arnould, she studied in Paris with Marie Fel and La Clairon, and made her stage debut at the Opéra de Paris on 15 December 1757 and sang there for 20 years.She created for Christoph Wilibald Gluck the roles of Eurydice in Orphée... |
| Euridice | soprano | Lucia Clavereau | Rosalie Levasseur Rosalie Levasseur Rosalie Levasseur or Le Vasseur was a French soprano. Known as 'Mlle Rosalie', she is best remembered for her work with the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck.... |
| Chorus and dancers: shepherds, shepherdesses, nymphs, demons, Furies, happy spirits, heroes and heroines | |||
Synopsis
Act 1
A chorus of nymphNymph
A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;...
s and shepherds join Orfeo around the tomb of his wife Euridice in a solemn chorus of mourning; Orfeo is only able to utter Euridice's name (Chorus and Orfeo: “Ah, se intorno”/“Ah! Dans ce bois”). Orfeo sends the others away and sings of his grief in the aria "Chiamo il mio ben"/“Objet de mon amour”, the three verses of which are preceded by expressive recitatives. This technique was extremely radical at the time and indeed proved overly so for those who came after Gluck: Mozart chose to retain the unity of the aria. Amore (Cupid
Cupid
In Roman mythology, Cupid is the god of desire, affection and erotic love. He is the son of the goddess Venus and the god Mars. His Greek counterpart is Eros...
) appears, telling Orfeo that he may go to the Underworld and return with his wife on the condition that he not look at her until they are back on earth (1774 only: aria by Amour, “Si les doux accords”). As encouragement, Amore informs Orfeo that his present suffering shall be short-lived with the aria "Gli sguardi trattieni"/“Soumis au silence”. Orfeo resolves to take on the quest. In the 1774 version only he delivers an ariette ("L'espoir renaît dans mon âme") in the older, showier, Italian style, originally composed for an occasional entertainment, Il Parnaso confuso (1765), and subsequently re-used in another one, Le feste d'Apollo
Le feste d'Apollo
Le feste d'Apollo is an operatic work by Christoph Willibald von Gluck, first performed at the Teatrino della Corte, Parma, Italy, on 24 August 1769 for the wedding celebrations of Ferdinand, Duke of Parma and Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria.Styled a festa teatrale, Le feste d'Apollo consists...
(1769).
Act 2
In a rocky landscape, the Furies refuse to admit Orfeo to the Underworld, and sing of CerberusCerberus
Cerberus , or Kerberos, in Greek and Roman mythology, is a multi-headed hound which guards the gates of the Underworld, to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping...
, its canine guardian (“Chi mai dell’Erebo”/“Quel est l’audacieux”). When Orfeo, accompanied by his lyre
Lyre
The lyre is a stringed musical instrument known for its use in Greek classical antiquity and later. The word comes from the Greek "λύρα" and the earliest reference to the word is the Mycenaean Greek ru-ra-ta-e, meaning "lyrists", written in Linear B syllabic script...
(represented in the opera by a harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
), begs for pity in the aria "Deh placatevi con me"/“Laissez-vous toucher”, he is at first interrupted by cries of "No!" from the Furies, but they are eventually softened by the sweetness of his singing in the arias "Mille pene"/“Ah! La flamme and "Men tiranne"/“La tendresse”, and let him in (“Ah, quale incognito affetto”/“Quels chants doux”). In the 1774 version, the scene ends with the "Dance of the Furies" (No. 28).
The second scene opens in Elysium
Elysium
Elysium is a conception of the afterlife that evolved over time and was maintained by certain Greek religious and philosophical sects, and cults. Initially separate from Hades, admission was initially reserved for mortals related to the gods and other heroes...
. The brief ballet of 1762 became the four-movement "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" (with a prominent part for solo flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
) in 1774. This is followed (1774 only) by a solo which celebrates happiness in eternal bliss (“Cet asile”), sung by either an unnamed Spirit or Euridice, and repeated by the chorus. Orfeo arrives and marvels at the purity of the air in an arioso ("Che puro ciel"/“Quel nouveau ciel”). But he finds no solace in the beauty of the surroundings, for Euridice is not yet with him. He implores the spirits to bring her to him, which they do (Chorus: “Torna, o bella”/“Près du tendre objet”).
Act 3
On the way out of HadesHades
Hades , Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs , meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek god of the underworld. The genitive , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative came to designate the abode of the dead.In Greek mythology, Hades...
, Euridice is delighted to be returning to earth, but Orfeo, remembering the condition related by Amore in Act I, lets go of her hand and refusing to look at her, does not explain anything to her. She does not understand his action and reproaches him, but he must suffer in silence (Duet: “Vieni, appaga il tuo consorte”/“Viens, suis un époux”). Euridice takes this to be a sign that he no longer loves her, and refuses to continue, concluding that death would be preferable. She sings of her grief at Orfeo's supposed infidelity in the aria "Che fiero momento"/“Fortune ennemie” (in 1774, there is a brief duet before the reprise). Unable to take any more, Orfeo turns and looks at Euridice; again, she dies. Orfeo sings of his grief in the famous aria "Che farò senza Euridice?”/“J’ai perdu mon Eurydice” (“What shall I do without Euridice?”/"I have lost my Euridice")
Orfeo decides he will kill himself to join Euridice in Hades, but Amore returns to stop him (1774 only: Trio: “Tendre Amour”). In reward for Orfeo's continued love, Amore returns Euridice to life, and she and Orfeo are reunited. After a four-movement ballet, all sing in praise of Amore (“Trionfi Amore”). In the 1774 version, the chorus (“L’Amour triomphe”) precedes the ballet, to which Gluck had added three extra movements.
Performance history
The opera was first performed in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
at the Burgtheater
Burgtheater
The Burgtheater , originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world.The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the...
on 5 October 1762, for the name-day celebrations of the Emperor Francis I. The production was supervised by the reformist theatre administrator, Count Giacomo Durazzo
Giacomo Durazzo
Count Giacomo Durazzo was an Italian diplomat and man of the theatre. He was born into one of the most important aristocratic families in Genoa. His brother was the famous doge Marcellino Durazzo. In 1749, he became ambassador to the court in Vienna where he was appointed director of the imperial...
. Choreography was by Gasparo Angiolini
Gasparo Angiolini
Gasparo Angiolini , real name Domenico Maria Angiolo Gasparini, was an Italian dancer and choreographer, and composer. He was born in Florence and died in Milan....
, and set designs were by Giovanni Maria Quaglio, both leading members of their fields. The first Orfeo was the famous castrato
Castrato
A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity.Castration before puberty prevents a boy's...
Gaetano Guadagni
Gaetano Guadagni
Gaetano Guadagni was an Italian mezzo-soprano castrato singer, most famous for singing the role of Orpheus at the premiere of Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice in 1762.- Career :...
. Orfeo was revived in Vienna during the following year, but then not performed until 1769. For the performances that took place in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1770, Guadagni sang the role of Orpheus, but little of the music bore any relation to Gluck's original, with J.C. Bach - "the English Bach" - providing most of the new music. Haydn conducted a performance of the Italian version at Eszterháza in 1776. During the early 19th century, Adolphe Nourrit
Adolphe Nourrit
Adolphe Nourrit was a French operatic tenor, librettist, and composer. One of the most esteemed opera singers of the 1820s and 1830s, he was particularly associated with the works of Gioachino Rossini....
became particularly well-known for his performances of Orpheus at the Paris Opera. In 1854 Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
conducted the work at Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
, composing a symphonic poem of his own to replace Gluck's original overture. Typically during the 19th century and for most of the 20th century, the role of Orfeo was sung by a female contralto
Contralto
Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
, and noted interpreters of the role from this time include Clara Butt
Clara Butt
Dame Clara Ellen Butt DBE , sometimes called Clara Butt-Rumford after her marriage, was an English contralto with a remarkably imposing voice and a surprisingly agile singing technique. Her main career was as a recitalist and concert singer.-Early life and career:Clara Butt was born in Southwick,...
and Kathleen Ferrier
Kathleen Ferrier
Kathleen Mary Ferrier CBE was an English contralto who achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist, with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the classical works of Bach, Brahms, Mahler and Elgar...
, and the mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
s Rita Gorr
Rita Gorr
Rita Gorr , is a Belgian operatic mezzo-soprano. She possessed a large, rich-toned voice and was an intense singing-actress, especially in dramatic roles such as Ortrud and Amneris , two of her greatest roles....
, Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
, Janet Baker
Janet Baker
Dame Janet Abbott Baker, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.She was particularly closely associated with baroque and early Italian opera and the works of Benjamin Britten...
and Risë Stevens
Risë Stevens
Risë Stevens is a retired American operatic mezzo-soprano.-Professional life:Stevens studied at New York's Juilliard School for three years. She went to Vienna, where she was trained by Marie Gutheil-Schoder and Herbert Graf. She made her début as Mignon in Prague in 1936 and stayed there until...
(at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
). Among conductors, Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
was a notable proponent of the opera. His radio broadcast of Act II was eventually released on both LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
and CD.
Revised versions
In 1769 for a performance at ParmaParma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
which was conducted by the composer, Gluck transposed the role of Orfeo up for the soprano castrato Giuseppe Millico
Giuseppe Millico
Giuseppe Millico was an Italian soprano castrato, composer, and music teacher of the 18th century who is best remembered for his performances in the operas of Christoph Willibald Gluck....
, maintaining a libretto in Italian. This version has not been performed in modern times.
Gluck revised the score again for a production in Paris, which premiered on 2 August 1774. This version, named Orphée et Eurydice, had a French libretto by Pierre-Louis Moline
Pierre-Louis Moline
Pierre-Louis Moline was a prolific French dramatist, poet and librettist. His play, La reunion du six aout, was one of the longest-running patriotic pieces during the time of the French Revolution with 52 performances at the Paris Opéra. He also wrote the epitaph for the tomb of Jean-Paul Marat...
, which was both a translation of and an expansion upon Calzabigi's original text. Gluck expanded and rewrote parts of the opera, and changed the role of Orpheus from a part for a castrato
Castrato
A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity.Castration before puberty prevents a boy's...
to one for high tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
or the so-called haute-contre
Haute-contre
The haute-contre is a rare type of high tenor voice, predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera until the latter part of the eighteenth century.-History:...
- the usual voice in French opera for heroic characters - as the French almost never used castrati. This version of the work also had additional ballet sequences, conforming to the tastes that were prevalent at the time in Paris, and included the long "Dance of the Furies", originally from Gluck's ballet Don Juan, and the famous "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" for flute and strings. By 1825 operatic castrati themselves had virtually vanished, and performances of the original version for castrato became increasingly rare. The modern practice of approximating castrati by using countertenors as replacements only dates to 1950.
From 1784 to 1859 the Parisian diapason (concert pitch
Concert pitch
Concert pitch refers to the pitch reference to which a group of musical instruments are tuned for a performance. Concert pitch may vary from ensemble to ensemble, and has varied widely over musical history...
) rose steadily from 820 to 896 cycles per second, thus Gluck's French version for haute-contre became increasingly impractical. When Aldolphe Nourrit sang the role at the Opéra in 1824 his music was altered. Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
suggested to the French contralto Pauline Viardot that she should perform the role of Orfeo. The composer Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
was a close friend of Viardot and the leading expert in France on the music of Gluck. He knew the score of "the largely forgotten Italian original as thoroughly as he knew the French", and agreed to prepare a version of the opera - in four acts - with Viardot's voice in mind, adapting the role of Orphée for a female alto
Alto
Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...
. In his adaptation, Berlioz used the key scheme of the 1762 Vienna score while incorporating much of the additional music of the 1774 Paris score. He returned to the Italian version only when he considered it to be superior either in terms of music or in terms of the drama. He also restored some of the more subtle orchestration from the Italian version and resisted proposals by Viardot and the theatre's director Léon Carvalho
Léon Carvalho
Léon Carvalho was a French impresario and stage director.-Biography:Born Léon Carvaille in Port-Louis, Mauritius, he came to France at an early age...
to modernize the orchestration. In the end Camille Saint-Saens
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
, who was acting as Berlioz's assistant on the project, did some of the minor rewriting which Berlioz had declined to do.
The Berlioz version was first presented at the Théâtre Lyrique
Théâtre Lyrique
The Théâtre Lyrique was one of four opera companies performing in Paris during the middle of the 19th century . The company was founded in 1847 as the Opéra-National by the French composer Adolphe Adam and renamed Théâtre Lyrique in 1852...
on 18 November 1859 with Viardot as Orphée, Marie Sasse
Marie Sasse
Marie Constance Sasse [Sax, Saxe, Sass] was a Belgian operatic soprano. "Her voice was powerful, flexible, and appealing", and she was one of the leading sopranos at the Paris Opéra from 1860 to 1870...
as Eurydice, Marie Ernestine Marimon as L'Amour, Mlle Moreau as L'Ombre, and Adolphe Deloffre
Adolphe Deloffre
Louis Michel Adolphe Deloffre was a French violinist and conductor active in London and Paris, who conducted several important operatic premieres in the latter city, particularly by Charles Gounod and Georges Bizet....
as the conductor. The sets were designed by Charles-Antoine Cambon
Charles-Antoine Cambon
Charles-Antoine Cambon, a French scene-painter, was born in Paris in 1802. He was a pupil of Ciceri, and acquired much celebrity by his theatrical decorations, many of which were real masterpieces. He died in Paris in 1875.-References:...
and Joseph Thierry, and the choreography was by Lucien Petipa
Lucien Petipa
Lucien Petipa was a French ballet dancer in the early 19th century and was the brother of the famous balletmaster of the Russian Imperial Ballet , Marius Petipa...
. (The seventeen-year-old Jules Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
was the orchestra's timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
st. During the rehearsals Berlioz had complimented the young player on the accuracy of his tuning.) The production was a popular and critical success, filling the house every night, and was given a total of 138 times by the company.
By the following year most theaters in Paris had lowered concert pitch to diapason normal. This was not as low as in Gluck's time: "a Commission had lately recommended that the pitch in France should be lowered from an A of 896 to 870 vibrations." Still this was apparently enough that later in the 19th century the role of Orpheus came to be sung almost as frequently by a tenor as by a contralto.
Berlioz's version is one of many which combine the Italian and French scores, although it is the most influential and well regarded. Since about 1870 three-act adaptations of the Berlioz score, translating it back into Italian and restoring much of the music from the 1774 French version which Berlioz had left out, were common. An 1889 edition for contralto, published by Ricordi
Casa Ricordi
Casa Ricordi is a classical music publishing company founded in 1808 as G. Ricordi & Co. by violinist Giovanni Ricordi in Milan, Italy...
, became the most popular. On occasion the role of Orfeo has even been transposed down an octave for a baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
to sing. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"...
and Hermann Prey
Hermann Prey
Hermann Prey was a German lyric baritone. He is most famous for lieder and for light comic baritone roles in opera.-Biography:...
are two notable baritones who have performed the role in Germany. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau recorded the opera, a recording which is still available commercially.
Orfeo and the reform
The opera was the first by Gluck showing signs of his ambition to reform opera seriaOpera seria
Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to c. 1770...
. Self-contained aria
Aria
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
s and chorus
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
es make way for shorter pieces strung together to make larger structural units. Da capo aria
Da capo aria
The da capo aria is a musical form, which was prevalent in the Baroque era. It is sung by a soloist with the accompaniment of instruments, often a small orchestra. The da capo aria is very common in the musical genres of opera and oratorio...
s are notable by their absence; Gluck instead uses strophic form
Strophic form
Strophic form is the simplest and most durable of musical forms, elaborating a piece of music by repetition of a single formal section. This may be analyzed as "A A A..."...
, notably in Act One's "Chiamo il mio ben così", where each verse is interposed with dramatic recitative
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
, - that is, stromentato, where the voice is accompanied by part or all of the orchestra - and rondo form, such as in Act Three's famous "Che farò senza Euridice?". Also absent is traditional secco recitative, where the voice is accompanied only by the basso continuo. On the whole, old Italian operatic conventions are disregarded in favour of giving the action dramatic impetus. The complexity of the storyline is greatly reduced by eliminating subplots. Gluck was influenced by the example of French tragédies en musique, particularly those of Rameau. Like them, the opera contains a large number of expressive dances, extensive use of the chorus and accompanied recitative. The coup de théâtre of opening the drama with a chorus mourning one of the main characters is very similar to that used in Rameau's Castor et Pollux
Castor et Pollux
Castor et Pollux is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 24 October 1737 at the Académie royale de musique in Paris. The librettist was Pierre-Joseph-Justin Bernard, whose reputation as a salon poet it made. This was the third opera by Rameau and his second in the form of the...
(1737). Other elements do not follow Gluck's subsequent reforms; for instance, the brisk, cheerful overture does not reflect the action to come. The role of Orfeo calls for an especially gifted actor, so that the strophic "Chiamo il mio ben così" does not become dull, and so that tragic import can be given both to this aria and to "Che farò senza Euridice?", both of which are based on harmonies that are not obviously mournful in nature. The first Orfeo, Gaetano Guadagni, was reputedly a fine actor who had certainly taken lessons while in London from the renowned Shakespearian actor David Garrick
David Garrick
David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
. Guadagni was apparently also able to project a moving and emotive tone without raising his voice. Indeed, Gluck faced criticism of "Che farò senza Euridice?" on the grounds that it was emotionally uninvolved; he responded by pointing out the absolute necessity of fine execution of the aria: "make the slightest change, either in the movement or in the turn of expression, and it will become a saltarello for marionettes".
Gluck's reforms, which began with Orfeo ed Euridice, have had significant influence throughout operatic history. Gluck's ideals heavily influenced the popular works of Mozart, Wagner, and Weber
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
, with Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk vision especially influenced by that of Gluck. Old-style opera seria and the domination of embellishment-orientated singers came to be increasingly unpopular after the success of Gluck's operas as a whole and Orfeo in particular. In Orfeo ed Euridice the orchestra is far more predominant than in earlier opera, most notably in Orfeo's arioso "Che puro ciel". Here the voice is reduced to the comparatively minor role of recitative-style declamation, while the oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
carries the main melody, supported by solos from the flute, cello, bassoon, and horn. There is also accompaniment from the strings (playing in triplets) and the continuo in the most complex orchestration that Gluck ever wrote.
Orchestration
Gluck made a number of changes to the orchestration of Orfeo when adapting it from the original Italian version to the French version of 1774. CornettCornett
The cornett, cornetto or zink is an early wind instrument, dating from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. It was used in what are now called alta capellas or wind ensembles. It is not to be confused with the trumpet-like instrument cornet.-Construction:There are three basic types of...
s and chalumeau
Chalumeau
This article is about the historical musical instrument. For the register on the clarinet that is named for this instrument, see Clarinet#Range....
x are replaced by commoner and more modern oboes and clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s, while the part played by trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s considerably decreases, possibly due to a lack of technical ability on the part of the French trombonists. Cornetts were instruments that were typically used for church music, and chalumeaux were predominant only in chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
: both cornetts and chalumeaux were unpopular in France in 1774. In many ways the change from chalumeau to oboe corresponds to that from castrato to high tenor. Neither castrato nor chalumeau were to survive.
In both the Italian and French version Orfeo's lyre is represented by the harp, and it was this use of the instrument in 1774 that it is usually thought introduced the harp to French orchestras. Each verse of the strophic "Chiamo il mio ben cosi" is accompanied by different solo instruments. In Vienna these were flute, horns, and English horns, but in 1774 Gluck was required to change this orchestration to that of a single horn and two clarinets, again replacing uncommon instruments with those in far more widespread usage. During the aria "Chiamo il mio ben cosi" and the interspersing recitatives Gluck added another offstage orchestra consisting of strings and chalumeaux, in order to provide an echo effect.
Recordings
There have been numerous recordings of the different versions, especially of the Berlioz adaptation featuring a female Orfeo. The British altoAlto
Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...
Kathleen Ferrier
Kathleen Ferrier
Kathleen Mary Ferrier CBE was an English contralto who achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist, with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the classical works of Bach, Brahms, Mahler and Elgar...
and American mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
were especially notable interpreters. In recent years, recordings and stage productions of the Vienna version of the opera have featured countertenors in the role of Orpheus. Countertenors Derek Lee Ragin
Derek Lee Ragin
Derek Lee Ragin is an American countertenor.Ragin studied as a piano major at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. While at Oberlin he took secondary voice lessons with Richard Anderson. He began his operatic career at Oberlin in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream as Oberon...
, Jochen Kowalski
Jochen Kowalski
Jochen Kowalski is a famous German alto or mezzo countertenor, noted for his very rich timbre. He began his studies as a dramatic tenor, specializing in Wagner, but soon switched to countertenoring and specializing in baroque and classical music...
, René Jacobs, James Bowman, and Michael Chance
Michael Chance
Michael Chance CBE is an English countertenor.Chance was born in Penn, Buckinghamshire, into a musical family. After growing up as a chorister he attended Eton College, Berkshire, and later King's College, Cambridge...
have recorded Orfeo ed Euridice. Until recent times, most recordings of all versions were cut or altered in some way.
Recordings of the French version for tenor are still relatively rare due to a lack of genuine haute-contres: there is one from the mid-1950s starring Léopold Simoneau
Léopold Simoneau
Léopold Simoneau, CC, CQ was a French-Canadian lyric tenor, one of the outstanding Mozarteans of his time. In 1959 he became the first recipient of the Calixa-Lavallée Award.-Life and career:...
opposite his wife Pierrette Alarie
Pierrette Alarie
Pierrette Alarie, was a French Canadian coloratura soprano. She was married to the French-Canadian tenor Léopold Simoneau.-Life and career:...
, and Nicolai Gedda
Nicolai Gedda
Nicolai Gedda is a Swedish operatic tenor. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is said to be the most widely recorded tenor in history...
also recorded the role in 1955. (Simoneau's version has been available on CD, although not at present, but Gedda's recording had its premiere CD release in 2009.) In 2002 haute-contre
Haute-contre
The haute-contre is a rare type of high tenor voice, predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera until the latter part of the eighteenth century.-History:...
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt is a French tenor, mostly as an opera singer. He was born on August 30, 1958, at Blanzy in the Burgundy region. He is best known for singing French Baroque music, especially the parts called in French haute-contre, written for a very high tenor voice with no falsetto...
added his version, while Marc Minkowski
Marc Minkowski
Marc Minkowski is a French conductor of classical music, especially known for his interpretations of French Baroque works. His mother is American, and his father was Alexandre Minkowski, a Polish-French professor of pediatrics and one of the founders of neonatology...
brought out a period instrument performance with Richard Croft
Richard Croft (tenor)
Richard Croft is an American tenor.Richard Croft debuted in the United States , by singing the major roles of Mozart and Rossini, before being invited on the leading international stages Richard Croft is an American tenor.Richard Croft debuted in the United States (including at the Metropolitan...
in the title role in 2004. In April 2010, a concert performance recorded in Madrid two years earlier by tenore di grazia
Tenore di grazia
Leggiero Tenor, also called tenor leggiero or tenore di grazia, is a lightweight, flexible tenor type of voice. The tenor roles written in the early 19th century Italian operas are invariably leggiero tenor roles, especially those by Rossini such as Lindoro in L'italiana in Algeri, Don Ramiro in La...
Juan Diego Flórez
Juan Diego Flórez
Juan Diego Flórez is a Peruvian operatic tenor, particularly known for his roles in bel canto operas. On June 4, 2007, he received his country's highest decoration, the Gran Cruz de la Orden del Sol del Perú....
, was finally released. There is also a DVD of the 1993 Australian Opera
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
production, directed by Stefanos Lazaridis
Stefanos Lazaridis
Stefanos Lazaridis was a stage designer, best known for his work in opera. Originally intended for a business career, he studied stage design in London, and was quickly in demand in theatres and opera houses, working with John Copley and other directors.Originally his style was lavish and...
, with Australian haute-contre
Haute-contre
The haute-contre is a rare type of high tenor voice, predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera until the latter part of the eighteenth century.-History:...
David Hobson as Orphée.
External links
- Libretto (Italian)
- Libretto of the 1774 Paris version
- Piano Vocal Score - English and Italian
- The Opera Guide has the libretto in German, English, French and Italian as well as synopsis.
- Orfeo ed Euridice MP3 Creative Commons Complete Recording
- Synopsis of Orfeo ed Euridice (Metropolitan Opera)