L'Orfeo
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| Operas by Claudio Monteverdi |
|---|
L'Orfeo (1607) |
L'Orfeo (L'Orfeo, favola in musica, SV 318, or La Favola d'Orfeo, or The Legend of Orpheus) is one of the earliest works recognized as an opera, composed by Claudio Monteverdi with text by Alessandro Striggio for the annual carnival of Mantua. It was first performed before the Accademia degl'Invaghiti on 24 February 1607 in a now unidentifiable room in the ducal palace at Mantua, and was published in Venice in 1609. The opera saw its modern debut on 25 February 1904 in a concert version in Paris directed by Vincent d'Indy. The opera continues to be regularly performed and its anniversary year of 2007 saw many productions.
Contents |
[edit] Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, February 24, 1607 (Conductor: - ) |
|---|---|---|
| La Musica (Music), the prologue | soprano | |
| Orfeo (Orpheus) | tenor | |
| Euridice (Eurydice) | soprano | |
| Silvia (Sylvia), the messenger | soprano | |
| Speranza (Hope) | soprano | |
| Caronte (Charon) | bass | |
| Proserpina (Proserpine) | soprano | |
| Plutone (Pluto) | bass | |
| Apollo | tenor | |
| Nymphs, shepherds, infernal spirits and Bacchantes | ||
[edit] Synopsis
The action is based on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus, who attempts to rescue his dead lover Eurydice from Hades, the underworld.
[edit] Prologue
La Musica (a "Spirit of Music") explains the power of music, and specifically the power of Orfeo (Orpheus), whose music is so powerful that it is capable of moving the gods themselves.
[edit] Act 1
Orfeo and Euridice celebrate their wedding day.
[edit] Act 2
Orfeo receives the terrible news that Euridice has died; he resolves to go down to the underworld himself to rescue her. He sings a poignant piece, beginning as a recitative but which develops quickly into an aria ("Tu se' morta") on the transient fragility of human happiness.
[edit] Act 3
Hope accompanies Orfeo to the entrance to Hades. Orfeo meets Caronte (Charon), the guardian of Hades, and attempts to trick him into letting him pass with the beauty of his singing. Unsuccessful, he tries again, this time using his lyre, and Caronte falls peacefully asleep while Orfeo passes and descends into Hades.
[edit] Act 4
Proserpina (Proserpine), the queen of Hades, is moved by Orfeo's music, and persuades Plutone (Pluto), king of Hades, to let Euridice go. Plutone acquiesces on one condition: that Orfeo not look back as Euridice follows him back up into the light, and back into life. At first he leaves with Euridice following him; his doubts, however, impel him to look back over his shoulder, and Euridice vanishes like a phantom before his eyes. Despondent, he returns to Earth.
[edit] Act 5
Orfeo is consumed by grief, and Apollo, his father, comes down from the heavens to take his son away, where he can behold the image of Euridice forever in the stars.
(There are ongoing debates as to why Monteverdi altered the ending from the original libretto by Striggio with Apollo lifting him up to the heavens.)
[edit] Orchestration
L'Orfeo is marked by its dramatic power and lively orchestration. It is an early example of a composer assigning specific instruments to parts; while composers of the Venetian School had been doing this, with varying precision, for about two decades, the instrumentation in the case of L'Orfeo is unusually explicit. The plot is clearly delineated with musical contrasts, and the melodies are linear and clear; much of the writing uses the style of monody which was pioneered by the Florentine Camerata in the last decades of the 16th century. With this opera Monteverdi had created an entirely new style of music, the dramma per musica, or musical drama. This idea of theatrical works set to music was taken from the notion that the Ancient Greeks had sung their plays.
[edit] Style
Monteverdi's operas are usually labelled "early Baroque," or sometimes "pre-Baroque." Music in northern Italy at this time was in transition between the style of the late Renaissance and the early Baroque, and progressive composers such as Monteverdi combined the stylistic trends prevalent in the various musical centers such as Florence, Venice and Ferrara.
[edit] Monteverdi's orchestra
The following list of instruments that were used in the first performance of L'Orfeo at Mantua in 1607 can be found on the second page of the printed score (Venice, 1609 – second edition 1615). Note that Monteverdi sometimes requires an instrumentation that is at odds with this list:
- "Duoi Gravicembani" – two harpsichords. In the rest of the score, the spellings "Clavicembani" and "Clavicembano" are consistently used.
- "Duoi Contrabassi de Viola" – two contrabass viols.
- "Dieci Viole da Brazzo" – ten viole da braccio, presumably of different sizes. At least one bass violin is explicitly called for in the score.
- "Un Arpa doppia" – one double harp.
- "Duoi Violini piccoli all Francese" – two "French" violini piccoli. These are only explicitly called for at one point in the beginning of act 2; immediately following their appearance, two "Violini Ordinarij da braccio" are called for, to distinguish from the violini piccoli. They are never mentioned again.
- "Duoi Chitaroni" – two chitarroni. However, twice in the score three chitarroni are called for. In act 4, "Chitaroni" and "Ceteroni" are mentioned as separate entities, despite the latter not being mentioned in the instrument list.
- "Duoi organi di legno" – two organs with wooden pipes.
- "Tre Bassi da gamba" – three bass viols.
- "Quattro Tromboni" – four trombones. At one point in act 3, however, the score calls for five trombones (act 3)
- "Un Regale" – One regal.
- "Duoi Cornetti" – two cornetts.
- "Un Flautino alla vigesima seconda" – one small recorder at the twenty-second". The interval of a 22nd is equal to three octaves. It is thought that Monteverdi is referring to a recorder pitched in 1-foot C, one octave above middle C (and three octaves above 8-ft C, which is thought to be the standard pitch from which the 22nd was measured). If this interpretation were correct then Monteverdi’s flautino would be a descant in c. However, there are parts written for two instruments for two are actually called for in the second act.
- "Un clarino con tre Trombe sordine" – one clarino trumpet with three muted trumpets. In the toccata which precedes the opera there are parts for five – not four – trumpets. These are assigned the old Renaissance names according to the register in which they play. The following are the names, with the trumpet partials that they were required to play in parenthesis: Basso (2nd), Vulgano (3rd), Alto e Basso (3rd, 4th and 5th), Quinta (4th to 8th) and Clarino (from the 8th up). All five trumpets would have been natural Baroque trumpets in 8-ft C (i.e. the fundamental pitch was C2, two octaves below middle C). The only difference would have been in the size of mouthpiece used. The clarino trumpet would have been fitted with a small mouthpiece to facilitate the playing of the higher partials, while the basso would have had a large mouthpiece, without which the second partial could not be played in tune. Carse (1925) suggests that the clarino trumpet would also have had a narrower bore than the others, though this is denied by Tarr (1988). Tarr also points out that the trumpets are only specifically mentioned in the toccata, and concludes that they were not used in the opera itself. It should be noted, however, that there are a few places in the opera where Monteverdi instructs tutti gli stromenti ("all the instruments") to play; but in these numbers he does not identify the particular instruments by name. It would appear, however, that after L'Orfeo the trumpet did not return to the opera house until 1667, when Antonio Cesti reintroduced it with his opera Il Pomo d’oro.[citation needed]
[edit] Media
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Toccata from L'Orfeo Live recording 'Tu se' morta (Orfeo's lament) Image:Monteverdi - Orfeo's Lament.ogg Live recording - Problems playing the files? See media help.
[edit] See also
[edit] References and further reading
- Whenham, John (ed.) (1986). Monteverdi: Orfeo. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-28477-5.
- Carter, Tim (2002). Monteverdi's Musical Theatre. Yale University Press, New Haven & London. ISBN 0-300-09676-3.
- John Whenham: "Orfeo", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed November 9, 2004), (subscription access)
- Carse, Adam (1925, 1964). The History of Orchestration. Dover Publications, Inc., New York. ISBN 0-486-21258-0.
- Tarr, Edward (1978, 1988). The Trumpet. Amadeus Pr. ISBN 0-931340-13-6.
