"Orpheus and Eurydice" ( Italian: Orfeo ed Euridice ) - an opera by K. V. Gluck , created in 1762 on the plot of the Greek myth of Orpheus . The opera marked the beginning of the opera reform of Gluck, aimed at achieving the organic fusion of music and drama and subordinating the musical development to the dramatic [1] [2] . The original version of the libretto is written by Ranieri de Calzabigi in Italian .
| Opera | |
| Orpheus and Eurydice | |
|---|---|
 The title page of the German edition of the opera of 1887 | |
| Composer | |
| Librettist | Ranieri de Calzabigi (original edition, Italian) P.-L. Molina (second edition, French) |
| Tongue libretto | |
| Plot source | The " Georgians " of Virgil , a variant of the ancient myth of Orpheus |
| Action | |
| Year of creation | |
| First production | October 5, 1762 (original edition) August 2, 1774 (second edition) |
| First Place | Burgtheater , Vienna (original edition) Royal Academy of Music , Paris (second edition) |
In 1859, G. Berlioz prepared his own version of the opera, where Orpheus's party is intended for a female voice (mezzo-soprano or contralto).
Content
Actors
| The consignment | Vote | Artist at the premiere Vienna, October 5, 1762 (Conductor: Christoph Willibald Gluck ) | Performer at the premiere of the second edition Paris, August 2, 1774 (Conductor: Louis-Joseph Francker) | Performer at the premiere of the editors G. Berlioz Paris, November 19, 1859 (Conductor: Hector Berlioz ) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orpheus | Castrat- alt (first edition), tenor (second edition), contralto (edited by G. Berlioz) | Gaetano Guadagni | Joseph Legros | Pauline Viardot |
| Amur | soprano | Marianna Bianchi | Sophie arnu | Marie Marimon |
| Eurydice | soprano | Lucia Clavro | Rosalie Levasser | Marie-Constance Sass |
Contents
The opera takes place in ancient Hellas in prehistoric times. The plot of the opera is taken from an ancient myth, which has many different options. The librettist of the original version of the opera Ranieri de Calzabigi chose the option contained in Virgil's Georgians . [one]
Story History
The opera premiered on October 5, 1762, on the namesday of Emperor Franz Stefan , in the Vienna Burgtheater , in the presence of the ruling family and Empress Maria Theresa . The production was led by Count Giacomo Durazzo (brother of the Genoese Doge), dances were staged by Gasparo Anjolini , and the scenery was performed by another Italian, Giovanni Maria Quaglio . The part of Orpheus was performed by the counter-alt Gaetano Guadagni , one of the most famous castrati of that time.
Subsequently, Gluck adapted Orpheus's part to the vocal possibilities of Giuseppe Millico ; this edition was presented by Gluck (as a conductor) in Parma in 1769. The Parma version was next performed only in 2014 (in Herne ).
In 1770, Guadagni was invited to perform an opera in London, however, for this performance, the music was almost completely rewritten by the English Bach . In 1776, the opera was given in Italian at the Esterhaz Palace; The production was conducted by the palace bandmaster Haydn .
In the early 1770s. Gluck expanded (with the addition of dance numbers) and rewrote the opera for the French public; an expanded libretto in French prepared by Pierre-Louis Moulins . Since the French theaters did not resort to castrati, the party of Orpheus was rewritten for high tenor (instead of viola). The revised version of the opera was first presented to the public on August 2, 1774 at the Palais Royal Theater in Paris . Throughout the 19th century, it was this version that was mainly posed.
In the 19th century, the party of Orpheus brought glory to the tenor Adolf Nurri . In 1854, Liszt conducted the Weimar production of the opera, where instead of an overture, Liszt's symphonic poem Orpheus sounded. In 1859, Berlioz, accepting the offer of Meyerbeer , created his own version of the opera for Pauline Viardot (who performed the part of Orpheus); dancing was performed by Lucien Petipa . The updated version was enthusiastically accepted by the public: Viardo performed the part of Orpheus 138 times.
In 2017, the honored choreographer John Neumeier was involved in the Chicago production of Orpheus and Eurydice; dance numbers performed by Joffrey's ballet .
Favorite Recordings
- 1956 (German) - deer. Ferenc Frechay ; soloists: Dietrich Fischer-Discau , Maria Stader , Rita Streich ; Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 M. Druskin . Orpheus and Eurydice
- ↑ Short music dictionary (inaccessible link) (inaccessible link from 06/14/2016 [1146 days])