La morte d'Orfeo
| Operas by Stefano Landi |
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La morte d'Orfeo (The Death of Orpheus) is an opera in five acts by the Italian composer Stefano Landi. It was first performed in Rome in 1619. The work is styled a tragicomedia pastorale (pastoral tragicomedy). The libretto, which may be by the composer himself, is inspired by La favola d'Orfeo (1484) by Angelo Poliziano. Unlike Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, Landi's opera contains comic elements.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, (Conductor:) |
|---|---|---|
| Orfeo (Orpheus) | tenor | |
| Teti (Thetis) | alto | |
| Destiny | bass | |
| L'ebro (Hebrus) | bass | |
| Aurora | alto | |
| Mercurio (Mercury) | tenor | |
| Apolline | tenor | |
| Bacco (Dionysus) | alto | |
| Nisa | soprano | |
| Ireno | tenor | |
| Lincastro | alto | |
| Il furore | bass | |
| Calliope | alto | |
| Fileno | tenor | |
| Caronte (Charon) | bass | |
| Euridice (Eurydice) | soprano | |
| Giove (Jupiter) | bass | |
| Fosforo | alto | |
Synopsis
After Orpheus has failed to save his wife Eurydice from the underworld, he renounces wine and the love of women. This offends the god Bacchus who urges his female followers, the Maenads, to kill Orpheus. The enraged Maenads tear him apart. The gods want the dead Orpheus to join them on Olympus but Orpheus wants to be reunited with Eurydice in Hades. Only after the god Mercury shows him that, having drunk the waters of Lethe, Eurydice no longer remembers her husband, does Orpheus agree to ascend to Olympus.
Recordings
- La morte d'Orfeo, John Elwes, Koslowski, Cordier, Harry van der Kamp, Tragicomedia, conducted by Stephen Stubbs (Accent, 1987; Pan classics 2016)
- La morte d'Orfeo, Cyril Auvity, Guillemette Laurens, Dominique Visse, van Elsacker, Guillon, Bucher, Akadêmia, conducted by Françoise Lasserre (Zig Zag Territoires, 2007)
Sources
- The Viking Opera Guide ed. Holden (Viking, 1993)
- Del Teatro (in Italian)
- Le magazine de l'opera baroque by Jean-Claude Brenac (in French)
- The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera ed. Parker (OUP, 1994)