Thursday, May 21, 2015

THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2015 (PART 1)

QUOTE:
"Without deviation from the
   norm,progress is not possible."
AUTHOR: Frank Zappa
MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
"Progress comes from thinking outside the box, pushing
 through what is normal or average, and risking failure."

COMPOSER
OFFENBACH

ORPHEE AUX ENFERS
ORPHEUS
IN THE UNDERWORLD

A comedic operetta, Orpheus
in the Underworld, takes a satirical
look the ancient Greek myth of

ORPHEUS
IN THE UNDERWORLD
OVERTURE
Zubin Mehta, Conductor
New York Philharmonic, 1987
Orpheus 1858 Playbill
MAIN CAST
AND VOCAL PARTS
EURYDICE
Wife of Orpheus
(soprano)
PLUTO
God of the Underworld
Eurydice's Lover Aristee
(tenor)
JUNO
Wife of Jupiter
(soprano)
JUPITER
Father of the Gods
(baritone)
PUBLIC OPINION
(mezzo-soprano)
JOHN STYX
Servant of Pluto
(tenor)
ORPHEUS
A Musician
Husband of Eurydice
(tenor)

SONGS
Opening
ACT 1
Who am I?
The woman whose dream heart (A Nymph in Love)*
My husband ... my wife!
Ah! thus*
Therefore separate ourselves
I am Aristée (A Shepherd Am I)*
That's ... That's what I tell people
Death appears to me smiling
Crac! ... That's it!
It n'peut s'passer comm'ça!
Come, come, come, come
Sleep, sleep that our sum
Ah, nothing equals my torment ... When Diane descends into the plain*
Poor Actaeon
To arms, gods and demidieux!*
It is a revolt, then?
To seduce the proud Alcmene (Ha Ha Ha)*
Lord
He approaches! He advances!*
What do you want me weak mortal?
This is Pluto
Jupin, take us with you, please!
ACT 2
Entr'acte
Nobody yet!
As I was king of Viotia
What's that noise?
It seemed to me on my shoulder
Oh, I knew I'd catch you my winged jewel
Beautiful insect with golden wing*
Long live wine! Pluto Vive!*
Come, my beautiful bacchante
I saw the God Bacchus*
Now I want
The minuet is really so charming*
Galop*
And now fleeFinal: Do not look back*

ORPHEUS
IN THE UNDERWORLD
ACT I
Carol Rausch, Conductor
Loyola Opera Workshop, 2008

ORPHEUS
IN THE UNDERWORLD
ACT II
Carol Rausch, Conductor
Loyola Opera Workshop, 2008
INFORMATION FROM:
ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD
(Libretto by Hector Cremieux
Hector Cremieux
and Ludovic Halevy)
Orpheus In The Underworld is probably
most famous for one number toward
the end of the operetta called
the Infernal Galop; also
known as The Can Can.




http://www.cpo-live.com/pdf/Extreme%20Music.pdf
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

http://www.cpo-live.com/pdf/Extreme%20Music.pdf
DANCE STEPS TO THE CAN-CAN

Saint-Saens
Carnival of the Animals Squidoo Lens
borrowed the Galop,slowed it way down,
and arranged it for strings to represent the tortoise
in The Carnival of the Animals.
Carnival Of the Animals: Tortoise
Poem by Judith Chernaik
Music by Saint-Saens
Artwork by Satoshi Kitamura
In the classic story, Orpheus is a
renowned musician who is so
distraught over the death of his
wife, Eurydice, that he attempts
to rescue her from the Underworld,
the place of the dead.
Orpheus Leaving Eurydice - Douglas Strachan 1909
Douglas Strachan: Orpheus Leaving Eurydice, 1909

A very different version of the story
(greatly amended for this opera
from the Greek myth version)
simplified goes a little like this:
Orpheus
can't stand his wife,
Eurydice.

He is in love with another nymph
but is outraged that Eurydice
(who has for years been
so annoyed with her husband's
obsession with music)
is in love with a
shepherd, Aristée
(the mortal disguise
of the god Pluto, ruler
of the Underworld).
Eurydice seeks a divorce, but
Orpheus refuses, claiming that
it would ruin his reputation, and
to a musician "reputation is
more important that talent."
Orpheus' instrument
here is the violin
and he threatens to play a
very long piece of music,
which she hates, in order to
torment her into putting off
publicly airing their scandal
in this cat fight duet,
"Ah! C'est ainsi."
ORPHEUS
IN THE UNDERWORLD
1. Public Opinion appears in a prologue
describing in poetry the moral of the story.
2. Eurydice rhapsodizing ("La femme
dont le Coeur") about her Arcadian lover.
3. Duet of Orpheus and Eurydice "Ah! C'est ainsi."
ORPHEUS
IN THE UNDERWORLD
Aristée's (Pluto's) Entrance and Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x37dbvAZV_M
When Eurydice
is bitten by
a poisonous snake
and is mortally
wounded, Aristee
Aristée
reveals himself as
really being Pluto (Hates),
and the two go off to
the Underworld together.
Orpheus is delighted at her death
but he seeks to bring her back only at
the insistence of Public Opinion (a
mezzo soprano) who states that
decency(and his reputation) demands
that Orpheus follow her to Hades.
Orpheus and Public Opinion then go
to Mount Olympus to broach the issue
with the ruler of the Gods, Jupiter,
who has his own family problems
with his own discontented
wife, Juno, and children.
In Olympus
Juno has heard rumors that a God has
abducted Eurydice, a beautiful mortal,
and automatically assumes it to be Jupiter.
Jupiter denies this and says he has sent
Mercury to the Underworld to see if it was
Pluto. Mercury duly arrives with news,
followed shortly after by Pluto (in response
to a summons from Jupiter) and Orpheus
and Public Opinion, demanding that
Eurydice be returned.
ORPHEUS
IN THE UNDERWORLD
1. Lament For Acteon
Arrival of Jupiter's Daughter Diana
(Goddess of the Hunt)
Diana appears with a set of antlers as her latest

trophy, but is clearly miserable. In her song she
relates that although she went for a rendezvous
with her mortal lover Actaeon, he never appeared.
Jupiter laughs and informs her that she has shot
Actaeon, whom he had changed into a stag.
2. Jupiter Proceeds to Correct the Other Gods:
Cupid, Venus, Mars, Vulcan, and Apollo
3. Mercury Brings News of the
Kidnapping of Eurydice by Pluto
4. Furies Enter Announcing
the Arrival of Pluto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=109&v=sZNgA4G6nn8
Jupiter, knowing that his own liaisons with
mortal women have given the Gods a low
reputation, agrees to go to the Underworld
to investigate the Eurydice situation, and
all the gods and goddesses
on Olympus,
bored with nectar
and ambrosia and seeking
diversion, especially after seeing
that Pluto seems to have a much
better lifestyle than they do, begin
to revolt and force Jupiter to take
them on this trip with him
to the Underworld.
ORPHEUS
IN THE UNDERWORLD
Punishment of Jupiter
Ha Ha Ha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=29&v=MMi6QJOenU0
http://www2.ulg.ac.be/le15jour/Archives/159/orphee.shtml
Eurydice lives under house arrest in the
Underworld guarded by John Styx
John Styx
who hides her away when the
entourage arrives from Olympus.
For Jupiter to be able to meet
with her in the room for which
she is locked in to, he takes
the advice of the playful Cupid
to disguise himself as a fly in order to enter
her room through a keyhole in the door.

ORPHEUS
IN THE UNDERWORLD
Fly Duet
Jupiter takes a fancy to Eurydice
and suggests that the two of them
depart for Olympus together and
Eurydice agrees. Meanwhile, on the
banks of the Styx, Pluto is giving
a party for the Gods,
and Jupiter has brought Eurydice
in disguise as a bacchante.
Pluto soon discovers
her identity however.
ORPHEUS
IN THE UNDERWORLD
Bacchanale and Hymn to Bacchus
The Gods dance a stately minuet,
before the less important Gods
decide that they would prefer an
"infernal gallop" and begin a can-can.
ORPHEUS
IN THE UNDERWORLD

Bowing to Public Opinion,
Jupiter declares that Orpheus
must at least try to take Eurydice
home, providing that he doesn't look
back for the whole of the time that
she is following him. Orpheus would
be happy to look back, but Public
Opinion won't allow it. Seeing that
Orpheus is about to succeed in this,
Jupiter cheats by hurling a
thunderbolt at him,

startling him into
turning around, and freeing
himself from Eurydice forever.
(Both he and Eurydice are
pleased when his
attempt fails.)
ORPHEUS
IN THE UNDERWORLD
Finale Act II
Pluto and Jupiter then
both claim Eurydice
as their rightful lover, and
she says that she is going to devote
herself to Bacchus (the God of Wine).
Public Opinion finds this
an unsatisfactory conclusion
however, the others break
into a concluding can-can.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1895
LINKS
http://imslp.org/wiki/Grande_valse_sur_'Orph%C3%
A9e_aux_enfers'_(M%C3%A9tra,_Olivier)

http://www.pocketopera.org/2015/libt/OFFENBACH-Orpheus.pdf
http://cheyennesymphony.org/wp-content/uploads/
2014/01/Overture-to-Orpheus-in-the-Underworld.pdf
http://kjos.vo.llnwd.net/o28/pdf/B415F%20-%20Score%20%28p3-40%29.pdf
http://www.mediterranees.net/mythes/orphee/cremieux.html
http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwopera/article/Photo-Flash-Sneak-Peek-at-Costume-
Designs-for-Gotham-Chamber-Operas-LA-DESCENTE-DORPHEE-AUX-ENFERS-20131227#
http://www.redditch-operatic.co.uk/1994-orpheus.htm
http://www.sunion.warwick.ac.uk/socs/su301/orpheus.htm
http://operetta-research-center.org/orphee-aux-enfers-opera-bouffon-2-acts/
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/OrpheusInTheUnderworld.html

http://www.flutetunes.com/tunes.php?id=69
http://www.manchestersymphonyorchestra.com/concerts/070/070-2.html
http://www.krannertcenter.com/images/cm/20135221014104128174106178/OrpheusProgram.pdf
http://www.universitylivingannarbor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/TheMythofOrpheusSyllabus.pdf
http://uticaphoenix.net/hamilton-college-presents-orpheus-underworld-feb-6-8/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/433186/Orpheus-in-the-Underworld
http://www.britannica.com/topic/Orpheus-in-the-Underworld
http://classictales.educ.cam.ac.uk/stories/metamorphoses/orpheusandeurydice/weblinks/index.html
http://centralcityoperafestival.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html
http://www.cpo-live.com/pdf/Extreme%20Music.pdf

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