We’re taking a look at two versions of the Orpheus legend that were written about 100 years but stylistically lightyears apart on this week’s Sunday Opera (4/27 3:00 p.m.) with Franz Joseph Haydn’s “L’anima del filosofo ossia Orfeo ed Euridice” and Jacque Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld.”
“L’anima del filosofo” was the last of the thirteen operas written by Haydn, and along with his prior opera, “Armida,” was not performed in his lifetime. It was written in 1791 but wouldn’t see its premiere until 1951.
It follows the legend fairly closely with Euridice (Celia Bartoli) stepping on a serpent as she tries to escape from kidnappers and Orfeo (Uwe Heilmann) travels to the realm of Pluto (Andrea Silvestrelli) to win her back only to fail as he looks at her, which he was forbidden to do, just before they were about to leave the underworld.
The recording from 1997 also includes Ildebrando D’Arcangelo as Euridice’s father King Creonte, Bartoli returning as Genio, Angela Kzimierczuk as a Bacante, and chorus of courtiers performed by Roberto Scaltriti, Jose Fardilha, Colin Campbell, and James Oxley. They’re joined by the Academy of Ancient music conducted by Christopher Hogwood.
Where Haydn’s work is serious and respectful, Offenbach’s is anything but, and although the operetta was initially well received, a damning review by Jules Janin of the Journal des débats which basically called it blasphemous and lascivious which, of course, made French audiences flock to see it.
Eurydice (Mary Hegarty) and Orpheus (David Fieldsend) have definitely fallen out of love. She has fallen in love with Aristaeus (Barry Patterson) who is actually Pluto, god of the Underworld, in disguise. Orpheus, who is not the son of Apollo but a rustic music teacher, is in love with a shepherdess named Chloe.
Since Pluto wants Eurydice, he convinces Orpheus to help trick Eurydice to walk into a field of snakes to be bitten. She does, and Pluto takes her down to the Underworld where she is eternally bored.
Although Orpheus is delighted with his new life with Chloe, Public Opinion (Jill Pert), a character in no other version of the story, arrives to spoil his fun and tell him that he must bring Eurydice back.
Jupiter (Richard Stuart) gets involved when all of the gods of Olympus go to the Underworld (where they happily join in the “Infernal Gallop”), and just before Orpheus and Eurydice make it out of the Underworld, he lets loose a lightning bolt making Orpheus turn around, sending Eurydice back. It does end happily; however, Jupiter gives Eurydice to the demi-god Bacchus so that she can be the eternal party-girl she’s wanted to be.
This 1995 recording by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company was the first operetta that they recorded that wasn’t by Gilbert and Sullivan, and the delightful English translation was completed by Jeremy Sams.
The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company Chorus and Orchestra is conducted by John Owen Edwards, and the large ensemble includes Rosemarie Arthars as Cupid, Joanne Pullen as Diana, Gareth Jones as John Styx, Frances McCafferty as Juno, Carl Donohue as Mars, David Cavendish as Mercury, Pamela Baxter as Minerva, Richard Woodall as Morpheus and Sian Syn Gibson as Venus.
If you’re not familiar with Haydn’s operas, here’s a chance to hear one of his best and also the last opera he wrote. The Offenbach, well, it’s just plain fun, and everyone needs some fun right now.
