17 Nov 2019

GLUCK: Orfeo ed Euridice

From Opera on Sunday

A young man’s wretched cries over the death of his one true love echo as a funeral choir slowly belts out a mournful tune.

Carlo Vistoli

Carlo Vistoli Photo: Gianandrea Uggetti

GLUCK: Orfeo ed Euridice

Sunday 17 November 2019 at 6.00pm on RNZ Concert

Cast:

Carlo Vistoli (Orfeo), Mariangela Siclia (Euridice), Emőke Baráth (Amore), Chorus & Orchestra of Teatro dell'Opera Rome conducted by Gianluca Capuano

Gluck's Orfeo title page

Gluck's Orfeo title page Photo: Public Domain

The myth of Orpheus in three acts – Gluck’s 'Orfeo ed Euridice', from the stage of Teatro Costanzi in Rome. Conductor Gianluca Capuano leads the Rome Opera Orchestra, in this co-production of Italy’s Teatro dell’Opera, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Château de Versailles Spectacles of France and the Canadian Opera Company.

In the title roles are two Italian artists, countertenor Carlo Vistoli and Mariangela Sicilia, a “soprano that shines like the Provençal morning sun” (Der Tagesspiegel).

The Opera:

A young man’s wretched cries over the death of his one true love echo as a funeral choir slowly belts out a mournful tune. Christoph Willibald Gluck grabs the audience’s attention from the very start of his monumental opera Orfeo ed Euridice and does not let go until the final chord rings out. The inventive and dramatically avantgarde work is by Christoph Willibald Gluck.

Gluck was a composer of notable dramatic flair and vivid imagination who always felt constrained by the rigid rules of the Italian opera seria of the 18th century. In his work on 'Orfeo ed Euridice', he longed to break away from the patterns that dominated the genre and snuffed out any attempt at innovation. Gluck imagined a more dynamic and fluid kind of musical drama that was allowed to flow at different paces and explore new ways of plot development and narrative technique.

In his search for operatic reinvention, Gluck found his creative soulmate in librettist Ranieri de’ Calzabigi, a supremely talented poet and a fellow fighter for artistic reformation. The two men set their sights on the mythological tale of the fantastic singer Orpheus who goes down to hell in order to get back Eurydice, the love of his life who was taken away from him too soon.

So, 'Orfeo ed Euridice' is Gluck’s first and most profound attempt at operatic reform. With de’ Calzabigi’s inspired and expressive verse and supercharged libretto set to a similarly evocative and powerful score, this opera is both a work of art and the mission statement of an innovator, an inventor working in a genre all his own. Even two and a half centuries later, the musical drama retains its freshness and charm.

Gluck’s main goal in his operatic reform was to strip away the artificial complexity and filler content and make both the libretto and the music serve the drama and plot development. 'Orfeo ed Euridice' is a prime example of that approach: larger-than-life choruses quickly alternate with Orfeo’s poignant arias and recitatives, and the orchestration helps move the action forward with carefully crafted passages and a variety of instrumental solos.

'Orfeo ed Euridice' premiered on 5 October 1762 at Vienna’s Burgtheater and quickly took Europe by storm. It enjoys revivals to this day. (Notes: Rome Opera)

Synopsis of Orfeo ed Euridice

Review of this production

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