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Claudio Monteverdi

Orfeo, SV318

Opera

SV 318 Composed 1607 Stage

L'Orfeo (SV 318), or La favola d'Orfeo [la ˈfaːvola dorˈfɛːo], is a late Renaissance/early Baroque favola in musica, or opera, by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and tells the story of his descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to the living world. It was written in 1607 for a court performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua. While Jacopo Peri's Dafne is generally recognised as the first work in the opera genre, and the earliest surviving opera is Peri's Euridice, L'Orfeo is the earliest that is still regularly performed.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Synopsis

The action takes place in two contrasting locations: the fields of Thrace (acts 1, 2 and 5) and the Underworld (acts 3 and 4). An instrumental toccata (English: "tucket", meaning a flourish on trumpets) precedes the entrance of La musica, representing the "spirit of music", who sings a prologue of five stanzas of verse. After a gracious welcome to the audience she announces that she can, through sweet sounds, "calm every troubled heart". She sings a further paean to the power of music, before introducing the drama's main protagonist, Orfeo, who "held the wild beasts spellbound with his song".

After La musica's final request for silence, the curtain rises on act 1 to reveal a pastoral scene. Orfeo and Euridice enter together with a chorus of nymphs and shepherds, who act in the manner of a Greek chorus, commenting on the action both as a group and as individuals. A shepherd announces that this is the couple's wedding day; the chorus responds, first in a stately invocation ("Come, Hymen, O come") and then in a joyful dance ("Leave the mountains, leave the fountains"). Orfeo and Euridice sing of their love for each other before leaving with most of the group for the wedding ceremony in the temple. Those left on stage sing a brief chorus, commenting on how Orfeo used to be one "for whom sighs were food and weeping was drink" before love brought him to a state of sublime happiness.

Orfeo returns with the main chorus, and sings with them of the beauties of nature. Orfeo then muses on his former unhappiness, but proclaims: "After grief one is more content, after pain one is happier". The mood of contentment is abruptly ended when La messaggera enters, bringing the news that, while gathering flowers, Euridice has received a fatal snakebite. The chorus expresses its anguish: "Ah, bitter happening, ah, impious and cruel fate!", while the Messaggera castigates herself as the bearing of bad tidings ("For ever I will flee, and in a lonely cavern lead a life in keeping with my sorrow"). Orfeo, after venting his grief and incredulity ("Thou art dead, my life, and I am breathing?"), declares his intention to descend into the Underworld and persuade its ruler to allow Euridice to return to life. Otherwise, he says, "I shall remain with thee in the company of death". He departs, and the chorus resumes its lament.

Orfeo is guided by Speranza to the gates of Hades. Having pointed out the words inscribed on the gate ("Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"), Speranza leaves. Orfeo is now confronted with the ferryman Caronte, who addresses Orfeo harshly and refuses to take him across the river Styx. Orfeo attempts to persuade Caronte by singing a flattering song to him ("Mighty spirit and powerful divinity"), and, although the ferryman is moved by his music ("Indeed thou charmest me, appeasing my heart"), he does not allow him to pass, claiming he is incapable of feeling pity. However, when Orfeo takes up his lyre and plays, Caronte is soothed into sleep. Seizing his chance, Orfeo steals the ferryman's boat and crosses the river, entering the Underworld while a chorus of spirits reflects that nature cannot defend herself against man: "He has tamed the sea with fragile wood, and disdained the rage of the winds."

In the Underworld, Proserpina, Queen of Hades, who has been deeply affected by Orfeo's singing, petitions King Plutone, her husband, for Euridice's release. Moved by her pleas, Plutone agrees on the condition that, as he leads Euridice towards the world, Orfeo must not look back. If he does, "a single glance will condemn him to eternal loss". Orfeo enters, leading Euridice and singing confidently that on that day he will rest on his wife's white bosom. But as he sings a note of doubt creeps in: "Who will assure me that she is following?". Perhaps, he thinks, Plutone, driven by envy, has imposed the condition through spite? Suddenly distracted by an off-stage commotion, Orfeo looks round; immediately, the image of Euridice begins to fade. She sings, despairingly: "Losest thou me through too much love?" and disappears. Orfeo attempts to follow her but is drawn away by an unseen force. The chorus of spirits sings that Orfeo, having overcome Hades, was in turn overcome by his passions.

Back in the fields of Thrace, Orfeo has a long soliloquy in which he laments his loss, praises Euridice's beauty and resolves that his heart will never again be pierced by Cupid's arrow. An off-stage echo repeats his final phrases. Suddenly, in a cloud, Apollo descends from the heavens and chastises him: "Why dost thou give thyself up as prey to rage and grief?" He invites Orfeo to leave the world and join him in the heavens, where he will recognise Euridice's likeness in the stars. Orfeo replies that it would be unworthy not to follow the counsel of such a wise father, and together they ascend. A shepherds' chorus concludes that "he who sows in suffering shall reap the fruit of every grace", before the opera ends with a vigorous moresca.

In Striggio's 1607 libretto, Orfeo's act 5 soliloquy is interrupted, not by Apollo's appearance but by a chorus of maenads or Bacchantes—wild, drunken women—who sing of the "divine fury" of their master, the god Bacchus. The cause of their wrath is Orfeo and his renunciation of women; he will not escape their heavenly anger, and the longer he evades them the more severe his fate will be. Orfeo leaves the scene and his destiny is left uncertain, as the Bacchantes devote themselves for the rest of the opera to wild singing and dancing in praise of Bacchus. The early music authority Claude Palisca believes that the two endings are not incompatible; Orfeo might evade the fury of the Bacchantes and be rescued by Apollo. However, this alternative ending in any case nearer to original classic myth, where the Bacchantes also appear, but it is made explicit that they torture him to his death, followed by reunion as a shade with Euridice but no apotheosis nor any interaction with Apollo.

  1. Orfeo: Prologo: Ritornello (La Musica)
  2. L’Orfeo: Toccata
  3. L’Orfeo: Prologo: L’Orfeo: Prologo, Ritornello
  4. L’Orfeo: Prologo: L’Orfeo: Prologo, Dal mio Permesso (La Musica)
  5. L’Orfeo: Prologo: L’Orfeo: Prologo, Ritornello
  6. L’Orfeo: Prologo: L’Orfeo: Prologo, Io la Musica son (La Musica)
  7. L’Orfeo: Prologo: L’Orfeo: Prologo, Ritornello
  8. L’Orfeo: Prologo: L’Orfeo: Prologo, Io su cetera d’or (La Musica)
  9. L’Orfeo: Prologo: L’Orfeo: Prologo, Ritornello
  10. L’Orfeo: Prologo: L’Orfeo: Prologo, Quinci a dirvi d’Orfeo (La Musica)
  11. L’Orfeo: Prologo: L’Orfeo: Prologo, Ritornello
  12. L’Orfeo: Prologo: L’Orfeo: Prologo, Hor mentre i canti alterno (La Musica)
  13. L’Orfeo: Atto primo: L'Orfeo: Atto primo. In questo lieto e fortunato giorno (Pastore)
  14. L’Orfeo: Atto primo: L'Orfeo: Atto primo. Vieni, Imeneo, deh, vieni (Coro)
  15. L’Orfeo: Atto primo: L'Orfeo: Atto primo. Muse, onor di Parnaso (Ninfa)
  16. L’Orfeo: Atto primo: L'Orfeo: Atto primo. Lasciate i monti (Coro)
  17. L’Orfeo: Atto primo: L'Orfeo: Atto primo. Ma tu, gentil cantor (Pastore)
  18. L’Orfeo: Atto primo: L’Orfeo: Atto primo. Rosa del ciel (Orfeo)
  19. L’Orfeo: Atto primo: L'Orfeo: Atto primo. Io non dirò qual sia (Euridice)
  20. L’Orfeo: Atto primo: L'Orfeo: Atto primo. Lasciate i monti (Coro)
  21. L’Orfeo: Atto primo: L'Orfeo: Atto primo. Vieni, Imeneo, deh, vieni (Coro)
  22. L’Orfeo: Atto primo: L'Orfeo: Atto primo. Ma se il nostro gioir dal ciel deriva (Pastore)
  23. L’Orfeo: Atto primo: L'Orfeo: Atto primo. Alcun non sia che disperato in preda (Due pastori)
  24. L’Orfeo: Atto primo: L'Orfeo: Atto primo. Ché, poiché nembo rio gravido il seno (Ninfa, due pastori)
  25. L’Orfeo: Atto primo: L'Orfeo: Atto primo. E dopo l'aspro gel del verno ignudo (Due pastori)
  26. L’Orfeo: Atto primo: L'Orfeo: Atto primo. Ecco Orfeo, cui pur dianzi (Coro)
  27. L’Orfeo: Atto secondo: L'Orfeo: Atto secondo. Sinfonia / Ecco pur ch'a voi ritorno (Orfeo)
  28. L’Orfeo: Atto secondo: L'Orfeo: Atto secondo. Ritornello / Mira ch'a sé n'alletta (Pastore)
  29. L’Orfeo: Atto secondo: L'Orfeo: Atto secondo. Ritornello / In questo prato adorno (Due pastori)
  30. L’Orfeo: Atto secondo: L’Orfeo: Atto secondo. Qui le Napee vezzose (Due pastori, Coro)
  31. L’Orfeo: Atto secondo: L'Orfeo: Atto secondo. Vi ricorda, o bosch'ombrosi (Orfeo)
  32. L’Orfeo: Atto secondo: L'Orfeo: Atto secondo. Mira, deh mira, Orfeo (Pastore)
  33. L’Orfeo: Atto secondo: L'Orfeo: Atto secondo. Ahi, caso acerbo
  34. L’Orfeo: Atto secondo: L'Orfeo: Atto secondo. In un fiorito prato (Messaggiera, Pastori)
  35. L’Orfeo: Atto secondo: L'Orfeo: Atto secondo. Tu se' morta, mia vita (Orfeo)
  36. L’Orfeo: Atto secondo: L'Orfeo: Atto secondo. Ahi caso acerbo (Coro)
  37. L’Orfeo: Atto secondo: L'Orfeo: Atto secondo. Ma io, che in questa lingua (Messaggiera)
  38. L’Orfeo: Atto secondo: L'Orfeo: Atto secondo. Sinfonia / Chi ne consola, ahi lassi? / Ahi caso acerbo / Ma dove, ah, dove / Ahi caso acerbo
  39. L’Orfeo: Atto secondo: L'Orfeo: Atto secondo. Ritornello
  40. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Nulla impresa per huom
  41. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Sinfonia
  42. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Scorto da te, mio Nume (Orfeo)
  43. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Ecco l'altra palude (Speranza)
  44. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Dove, ah, dove ten vai
  45. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. O tu ch'inanzi morte
  46. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Sinfonia
  47. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Possente spirto
  48. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Ritornello
  49. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Non vivo io, no, che poi di vita è priva (Orfeo)
  50. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Ritornello
  51. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. A lei volt'ho il cammin per l'aer cieco (Orfeo)
  52. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Ritornello
  53. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Orfeo son io, che d'Euridice i passi (Orfeo)
  54. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Sol tu, nobile Dio, puoi darmi aita (Orfeo)
  55. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Ben mi lusinga alquanto (Caronte)
  56. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Ahi, sventurato amante (Orfeo)
  57. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Sinfonia
  58. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Ei dorme, e la mia cetra (Orfeo)
  59. L’Orfeo: Atto terzo: L'Orfeo: Atto terzo. Sinfonia / Nulla impressa per uom si tenta invano (Coro di spiriti) / Sinfonia
  60. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. Sinfonia
  61. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. Signor, quell'infelice (Proserpina)
  62. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. Benché severo e immutabil fato (Plutone)
  63. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. O degli abitator de l'ombre eterne (Due spiriti)
  64. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. Quali grazie ti rendo (Proserpina)
  65. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. Tue soavi parole (Plutone)
  66. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. Pietade, oggi, e amore / Ecco il gentil cantore
  67. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. Qual onor di te fia degno (Orfeo)
  68. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. Ma mentre io canto, oimè (Orfeo)
  69. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. O dulcissimi lumi, io pur vi veggio (Orfeo, Spirito)
  70. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. Rott'hai la legge
  71. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. Ahi, vista troppo dulce e troppo amara (Euridice)
  72. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. Torn'a l'ombre
  73. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. Dove ten vai, mia vita? (Orfeo)
  74. L’Orfeo: Atto quarto: L'Orfeo: Atto quarto. È la virtute un raggio
  75. L’Orfeo: Atto quinto: L'Orfeo: Atto quinto. Ritornello
  76. L’Orfeo: Atto quinto: L'Orfeo: Atto quinto. Questi i campi di Tracia
  77. L’Orfeo: Atto quinto: L'Orfeo: Atto quinto. Ma tu, anima mia, se mai ritorna (Orfeo)
  78. L’Orfeo: Atto quinto: L'Orfeo: Atto quinto. Tu bella fusti e saggia (Orfeo)
  79. L’Orfeo: Atto quinto: L'Orfeo: Atto quinto. Or l'altre donne son superbe e perfide (Orfeo)
  80. L’Orfeo: Atto quinto: L'Orfeo: Atto quinto. Sinfonia
  81. L’Orfeo: Atto quinto: L'Orfeo: Atto quinto. Perché a lo sdegno e al dolor in preda (Apollo)
  82. L’Orfeo: Atto quinto: L'Orfeo: Atto quinto. Padre cortese, al maggior uopo arrivi (Orfeo)
  83. L’Orfeo: Atto quinto: L'Orfeo: Atto quinto. Troppo, troppo gioisti (Apollo)
  84. L’Orfeo: Atto quinto: L'Orfeo: Atto quinto. Si non vedrò più mai (Orfeo, Apollo)
  85. L’Orfeo: Atto quinto: L'Orfeo: Atto quinto. Saliam cantando al Cielo (Apollo, Orfeo)
  86. L’Orfeo: Atto quinto: L'Orfeo: Atto quinto. Vanne Orfeo
  87. L’Orfeo: Atto quinto: L'Orfeo: Atto quinto. Moresca

Synopsis from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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