Don’t look back! It’s Orfeo, live and doomed
OperaSlippedisc, courtesy of OperaVision, brings the opening night live performance of Staatsoper Hannover’s presentation of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, the cruel story of a great love. Orpheus cannot get over the death of his beloved; he longs and yearns for her and loses himself in loops of loss. Using otherworldly images, director Silvia Costa imagines an enigmatic universe of dreams and hallucinations, of colours and symbols where Orpheus is bereft and disorientated. The production is conducted by baroque specialist David Bates, who brought Trionfo splendidly to life in Hannover. Orfeo is sung by Luvuyo Mbundu and Eurydice by Nikki Treurniet.
The Plot: When he sings, the animals stop and listen; Orpheus can literally melt stone. To find Eurydice, who disappears on their wedding day, this master of harmony must charm the underworld with his musical talent. Orpheus’s appeals convince Pluto to free Eurydice, under certain conditions. But when this gifted and infallible hero fails, he must live on with the consequences.
Subtitles in English, German and Italian.
Available from Friday 28 April 2023 at 1930 CET / 1830 London/ 13.30 NY
I like Monteverdi’s music very much, but I never liked “La favola d’Orfeo”. Some arias and madrigals are beautiful but the summa of everything is rather disturbing, especially the conclusion that changed the old narrative such that Orfeo is transported to Olympus by his father Apollo but Euridice is thrown back in hell as expected.
Disturbing? Orfeo is consoled by his father in the opera rather than being torn literally to pieces like in some versions of the myth. But Euridice in all versions goes back to Hades as the rule was broken and is one of the major points of the myth.
‘Orfeo’ is a disjointed mix of various amusing skits with the mythological story in the intermezzi. Some dancing bears or elephant parades are not included, probably due to an occasional lack of trained bears and elephants. ‘Orfeo’ is Baroque in the original pejorative sense of the word. And that “happy” ending is the worst. Instead, Orfeo has lost his creative spark (become impotent?), is killed and dismembered (perhaps partially eaten) by a group of angry bacchantes, and that’s the end. Monteverdi was great but the Gonzagas were vulgar and demanded vulgar entertainment.
What a gift! Thank you!!!