L'Orfeo (1978)

• 86%
• 1978
• Music
• Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
• Philippe Huttenlocher
• Dietlinde Turban
• Rachel Yakar

Orpheus is a demigod, son of Apollo (god of Music) and Calliope, muse of Poetry and one of the nine muses, daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne, goddess of Memory. Orpheus has a talent for music and was able to enchant all beings, including stones, when he played his lyre or sang. Falling in love with the nymph Eurydice, he marries her but she dies suddenly, a snake bite. Tormented by pain, the young demigod decides to seek her soul in the Underworld. There, and after some incidents with the boatman Charon, who passes the souls of the dead across the River Lethe, he manages to convince Proserpina and her husband, Pluto, the god of the dead, to return to him the soul of Eurydice. However, one condition is established: Orpheus cannot look at her until their exit of the Underworld, or he will lose her forever. Orpheus agrees, but he will be unable to fulfill this rule and ends up loosing her near the end of the tunnel who lead to our world. Back in home, Orpheus is devastated by sorrow and guilt, and curses the feminine gender, being brutally murdered by the nymphs, neglected by him. Apollo then descends from Olympus in order to collect the soul of his son. The opera ends with their ascent to Heaven.