L’Orfeo
Claudio Monteverdi
Concert version
Favola in musica in one prologue and five acts.
Libretto by Alessandro Striggio.
Premiered on 24 February 1607 at the Ducal Palace in Mantua.
Infos
Mulhouse
La Filature
Strasbourg
Opéra
With interval
Cast
Musical Director Leonardo García Alarcón Choirmaster Thibaut Lenaerts Chœur de chambre de Namur, Cappella Mediterranea
Artists
Orpheus Valerio Contaldo Music, Euridice Mariana Flores The Messenger Giuseppina Bridelli Hope, Proserpina Anna Reinhold Plutone Alejandro Meerapfel Caronte Andreas Wolf Shepherd 3, Apollo Alessandro Giangrande Shepherd 2 Leandro Marziotte Shepherd 1, Spirit 3, Echo Nicholas Scott Shepherd 4 Matteo Bellotto Spirit 2 Philippe Favette Nymph Cindy Favre-Victoire
Presentation
Orpheus is a solitary musician who plays so beautifully that he is able to tame wild animals and charm all living things. After years of wandering alone, Orpheus finds love in the arms of Euridice, turning his painful laments into songs of joy, but his contentment is short-lived when he learns of his wife's sudden death. He resolves to visit the underworld to bring her back. Armed with just his lyre, he soothes the ferryman Caronte to sleep and crosses the river Styx. His melodious laments deeply affect Prosperina who petitions her husband Plutone to ease his pain. Plutone agrees to break the laws of destiny and allows Euridice's shadow to follow Orpheus, on condition that Orpheus must never look back or else be condemned to eternal loss. But moments from entering the world of the living, Orpheus is gripped by doubt: what if Euridice is not following him? Celebrating the enchanting power of music, Monteverdi's L'Orfeo composed in the early 17th century is the first major masterpiece in the history of opera, a new musical genre with a bright future. This early Baroque score holds no secrets for Leonardo García Alarcón and his musicians from the Cappella Mediterranea ensemble.
In Italian
Overtitled in French, German