Orfeo ed Euridice

Telling the most celebrated of all opera stories—with a central character, Orfeo, who sums up the power of music—Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice has a noble simplicity about it that reflects the composer’s intention to reform the display-oriented stage practices of the early 18th century into something more straightforward, without (as he said) “interrupting the action or stifling it with pointless ornament". First staged in 1762 in Vienna, in Italian, the opera has three acts, which follow the classical Greek myth of Orpheus, who, mourning the death of his wife Euridice, uses music to charm his way to the underworld and rescue her. The gods allow it, so long as he can lead her out without looking back. He fails. She dies again. But moved by his misery, the gods relent and restore her to life after all. Originally cast as a castrato, the title role was adjusted to high tenor when the piece was rewritten, in French, for a 1774 Paris production. In modern times, it gets sung either by a mezzo, as a “trouser role", or by a countertenor. Vocal highlights include Orfeo’s Act III lament “Che farò senza Euridice”: a classic of its kind, and the number by which the star (he or she) is usually judged. Another lament, “Chiamo il mio ben così” in Act I, and the delectable Act II “Che puro ciel” complete the test.