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Orpheus is a character from Greek mythology.
Oct. 5, 1762, Burgtheater, Vienna, Austria.
Orfeo ed Euridice was successful from the start, and this only increased with Orfée, the revised French version that Gluck created in 1774.
Gluck’s tale of Orfeo differs from the original Greek myth in a few ways. The most important is the ending of the opera. In Greek mythology, Orpheus was warned not to turn and look at Euridice until they were both out of Hades. But, eager to see his wife again, Orpheus looks around at her as soon as he is out of Hades. She is still inside, and so dies again immediately. Orpheus, heartbroken, refuses to fall in love again with any woman, taking instead a series of young male lovers. An angry group of spurned women, followers of Dionysus, tear Orpheus literally apart.
There have been approximately 60 operas written on the subject of Orpheus, mostly during the 17th and 18th centuries. Gluck's is the most well known.
Lawrence Zazzo as Orfeo and Isabel Bayrakdarian as Euridice in the Canadian Opera Company production of Orfeo ed Euridice. Photo Credit: © 2011 Michael Cooper.