Talk:Orpheus
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Orpheus in music and literature (someone else can track down all of the paintings and art references)-
The Play was probably performed in ancient times, although nothing is known about the music that was performed there, and no one recorded it on minidisc, so I will skip forward a few thousand years....
In 1601, the renaissance was high, the aristocracy had money, and Vienna was the place to look for for music. Around this time, the Florentine Camerata was formed, and they envisioned a new art form, one where the story was sung, and music was acted out... Since it was the renaissance and all, anyone who was anyone was trying to reinvent classical ideals- The ancient greeks were in, and the Catholic church was old news (although the Church still had influence, those with the money decide what music is popular, and they wanted something entertaining.) The first subjects of this new art-form, known as Opera, were stories from Greek mythology, and right away the Music themed "Orpheus" seemed a perfect match. The first to take a crack at the legend was the composer Jacopo Peri, and his small liberetto was performed for the wedding of Henry the IV and Made de' Medici. However, in 1607, Claudio Monteverdi made a large extended version of "L'Orfeou" (Orpheus) and this Opera proved so incredibly popular, that it practically launched the Opera movement and it is still performed to this day. The first operas were mainly "recitive" or meandering song speak, set to music. Soon, though, the audience responded to the melodies of more song like passages, and, the "aria' was born. Monteverdi's L'Orfeou is the very birth of the Aria, which became some of the most important element in opera.
Of course with something so popular, it just doesn't feel all that great to tack a sad ending on the end of it all, so various happy endings have been added to the end of the Orpheus tale. by 1609, Monteverdi attached a fifth Act that has Apollo come down from the heavens, it is revealed the Apollo is actually Orpehus' father and he has Orpheus come up and relax with all of the other gods up there.
The four other most important Opera's in the Orpheus Tradition were Glucks' "Orfeo ed Euridice", Offenbach's parody "Orpheus in the Underworld", and Glazabigi's adaptation "Orfeou", and Telemann's "Orpehus"
All of these Operas are important, although if you hate Opera, the Offenbach version is the most fun by far to watch. Dick and fart jokes, rollicking star crossed lovers, and the first ever "can can" make this one of the all time classic "Opera Buffa".
In the same spirit of sampling the past, the myth has been visited many times in twentieth century music (check out Richard Strauss's complex tonal "Ariadne auf Naxos) and literature as well, however most memorably, it can now be captured on film.
And captured on film it is perfectly by Cocteau in "Orphee"(1940) also based on his play. Get to your local library and check it out, it will be right next to "Beauty and the Beast" which you should go ahead and rent as well.
Also check out Marlon Brando as Orpheus (!) in Tennessee Williams' "The Fugitive Kind". Brando is a traveling rebel without a cause, who just happens to play the guitar beautifully. This is based on the Williams' play "Orpheus Descending"
"Black Orpheus" is another very notable film, this time setting the Orpheus legend in Rio, and introducing many square Americans to the gyrations of Salsa and Bossa Nova. Criterion has re-released the film with a beautiful new transfer on DVD, and it is also worth tracking down. The film has also recently been remade as "Orfeou" also set in Rio, this time with Orpheus as a pop star Ricki Martin type, laptop in hand.
A few books have also explored the Orpheus legend from a modernist slant, most often making Orpehus and Eurydice rock stars. From romance novels (check out Roberta Gellis with "Enchanted Fire") to young adult (Cynthia Voigt does a retelling with "Orfe") to Sci Fi ("Galatea 2.2" , a computer scientist creates a program, and it follows the Orpheus myth)
However, all of these novels can be passed over for Salman Rushdie's "The Ground beneath her feet" No other novel mixes the source material so brilliantly into a stew of references. Rushdie makes allusions to probably every single source mentioned above in this great novel and a hundred more that no one has caught yet. Pick this one up.
- Might this page need a disambiguation? There are a number of alternative meanings listed at the bottom.
[edit] Dr. T. and the Women?
Anyone out there familiar with this movie? Its plot seems to have a whole lot in common with the Orpheus legend.
[edit] Eurydice only an Apparition?
On the main page the following is claimed: "according to Plato, the infernal gods only “presented an apparition” of Eurydice to him." I've been trying to verify this but cannot find any reference to this in Plato. What are the sources?
[edit] Vandalism
I think the article has been vandalized, will someone please do a reedit and correct it? I see the names Barbie and Pussy in the titles and do not believe either to be appropriate and there are a few other suspect areas.TurtleofXanth 23:07, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
