List of Orphean operas

Orpheus Playing the Violin, 17th-century painting by Cesare Gennari

Operas based on the Orphean myths, and especially the story of Orpheus' journey to the underworld to rescue his wife, Eurydice, were amongst the earliest examples of the art form and continue to be written into the 21st century. Orpheus, the Greek hero whose songs could charm both gods and wild beasts and coax the trees and rocks into dance, has achieved an emblematic status as a metaphor for the power of music.[1] The following is an annotated list of operas (and works in related genres) based on his myth. The works are listed with their composers and arranged by date of first performance. In cases where the opera was never performed, the approximate date of composition is given.

17th century

  • 1600 – Jacopo Peri – Euridice, the first genuine opera whose music survives to this day.[2]
  • 1602 – Giulio Caccini – Euridice
  • 1607 – Claudio Monteverdi – Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, widely regarded as the first operatic masterwork.[3]
  • 1616 – Domenico Belli's Orfeo dolente, a set of intermedi presented between the acts of Tasso's Aminta
  • 1619 – Stefano Landi – La morte d'Orfeo
  • 1638 – Heinrich Schütz – Orpheus und Euridice (music lost)
  • 1647 – Luigi Rossi – Orfeo, one of the first operas to be performed in France. Rossi's own wife died while he was composing the score.
  • 1654 – Carlo d'Aquino – Orfeo
  • 1659 – Johann Jakob Löwe von Eisenach – Orpheus von Thracien
  • 1672 – Antonio Sartorio – Orfeo
  • 1673 – Matthew Locke – Orpheus and Euridice, a masque presented between the acts of Elkanah Settle's The Empress of Morocco
  • 1676 – Giuseppe di Dia – Orfeo
  • 1677 – Francesco della Torre – Orfeo
  • 1683 – Johann Philipp Krieger – Orpheus und Eurydice
  • 1683 – Antonio Draghi – La lira d'Orfeo
  • c 1685 – Marc-Antoine Charpentier – La descente d'Orphée aux enfers H 488
  • 1689 – Bernardo Sabadini – Orfeo
  • 1690 – Louis Lully – Orphée
  • 1698 – Reinhard Keiser – Die sterbende Eurydice oder Orpheus
  • 1699 – André Campra – Orfeo nell'inferni, Italian-language intermedio of Le carnaval de Venise[4]

18th century

19th century

  • 1802 – Carl Conrad Cannabich – Orpheus
  • 1807 – Friedrich August Kanne – Orpheus
  • 1813 – Ferdinand Kauer – Orpheus und Euridice, oder So geht es im Olympus zu
  • 1814 – Marchese Francesco Sampieri – Orfeo (cantata?)
  • 1858 – Jacques Offenbach – Orphée aux enfers
  • 1860 – Gustav Michaelis – Orpheus auf der Oberwelt
  • 1867 – Karl Ferdinand Konradin – Orpheus im Dorfe (operetta)

20th century

21st century

  • 2001 – Jonathan Dove – L'altra Euridice, a 30-minute opera in one act for baritone and ensemble, based on a story by Italo Calvino, which retells the Orphean myth from the perspective of Pluto, god of the underworld.[6]
  • 2009 – Harrison Birtwistle – The Corridor, a 48-minute chamber opera for two singers and small ensemble.
  • 2014 – Christina Pluhar – Orfeo Chamán, a neo-Baroque operatic adaption of the Orpheus myth, featuring styles from Mexico, Venezuela and Bulgaria.
  • 2015 – John Robertson – Orpheus, an hour-long masque in six scenes commissioned and performed by Rousse State Opera[7]
  • 2020 – Matthew Aucoin – Eurydice, a three-act opera in English with libretto by Sarah Ruhl based on her play of the same name, premiered at the Los Angeles Opera[8]
  • 2022 - Jasdeep Singh Degun - Orpheus: Music by Claudio Monteverdi and Jasdeep Singh Degun,[9] composed for 9 western classical voices, 9 Indian classical voices, baroque ensemble and Indian classical ensemble, commissioned by Opera North and SAA-uk.

References

Orpheus by Odilon Redon (1840–1916)

Notes

  1. ^ Agnew (2008) pp. 7–10
  2. ^ Rosand, "Opera: III. Early opera, 1600–90"
  3. ^ Whenham (1986) p. xi
  4. ^ Le carnaval de Venise, Le magazine de l'opéra baroque , performance details (in French)
  5. ^ Orfeo 9 – Sito ufficiale (archived)
  6. ^ L'altra Euridice Archived 2015-09-07 at the Wayback Machine, Edition Peters
  7. ^ Rousse State Opera. "Световна премиера на операта „Орфей” от канадския композитор Джон Робъртсън в МФ „Сцена край реката”-Русе" Archived 2016-03-02 at the Wayback Machine ("World Premiere of the opera Orpheus by Canadian composer John Robertson"). Retrieved 22 February 2016 (in Bulgarian).
  8. ^ Tommasini, Anthony (February 3, 2020). "Review: Eurydice, a New Opera, Looks Back All Too Tamely". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  9. ^ "Orpheus". Opera North. Retrieved 2024-03-22.

Sources

  • Agnew, Vanessa, Enlightenment Orpheus: The Power of Music in Other Worlds, Oxford University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-533666-5.
  • Rosand, Ellen, "Opera: III. Early opera, 1600–90", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed via subscription 27 April 2010)
  • Spencer, Neil, "Anais Mitchell: Hadestown", The Observer, 25 April 2010 (accessed 27 April 2010)
  • Sternfeld, Frederick W., "Orpheus", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed via subscription 15 August 2007)
  • Whenham, John, Claudio Monteverdi, Orfeo, Cambridge University Press, 1986. ISBN 0-521-28477-5

External links

  • Reinhard Kapp, Chronological list of theatrical, musical, literary, and film works based on the Orpheus myth (in German)
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