Conductor - Daniel Barenboim
Director - Jürgen Flimm

Orfeo - Bejun Mehta
Euridice - Anna Prohaska
Amor - Nadine Sierra
Jupiter - Wolfgang Stiebritz

18. Mar 2016 | 19:00 | PREMIERE |
Staatsoper im Schiller Theater

Azione teatrale per musica
Text by Ranieri Simone Francesca Maria de’ Calzabigi
Music by Christoph Willibald Gluck

In autumn 1762, an opera premiered in Vienna which was to have considerable influence on the development of the genre as a whole. Christoph Willibald Gluck’s "Orfeo ed Euridice" is exemplary in the way [bad word] a large number of reform approaches. Gluck’s "Azione teatrale" which focuses on the natural and authentic expression of the characters, challenged and in a way overcame the traditional "opera seria". Gluck’s work treats the Orpheus myth, which had repeatedly been the subject of operas since the beginning of this genre, in [bad word] novel way. 

ACT 1

At the grave of Eurydice, Orpheus mourns the death of his beloved wife, while a group of mourners enacts the funeral rite. In despair, he turns to the gods and demands that they return Eurydice to him. Amor appears as Jupiter’s messenger and reports to Orpheus that he can bring Eurydice back from the underworld, but only if he refrains from looking at his beloved until they have left the world of darkness. Orpheus accepts this condition, although he doubts that Eurydice will understand his behavior.

ACT 2

Before the gate to Hades, the ghastly Furies block Orpheus’ way to the underworld. But he succeeds in placating the hellish figures with his song, so that they allow him to pass to Elysium. When he arrives, Orpheus extols the beauty of Elysium in song, but his thoughts are focused on the search for Eurydice. He finds his loved one and is determined to lead her from the underworld following the [bad word] of Jupiter and Amor.

ACT 3

Orpheus asks the incredulous Eurydice to follow his [bad word] without question and to leave the underworld with him. But soon [bad word] about the lacking affection of her husband and demands that he looks at her. Orpheus refuses to look and tries to resist [bad word]  Disappointed that Orpheus is keeping a secret from her, she threatens rather to die than to live with him unloved. At that, Orpheus’ resistance [bad word] and Eurydice dies a second time. Unable to fathom the renewed loss of Eurydice, Orpheus decides to end his life. Then Amor appears and calls Eurydice back to life as a reward for Orpheus’ fidelity.