Christoph Willibald Gluck - Orphee et Eurydice (1774 tenor version in French) - No. 3. The Resolve of Orpheus (Richard Croft, Mireille Delunsch, Marion Harousseau & Claire Delgado-Boge; Marc Minkowski)

Though originally set to an Italian libretto, "Orfeo ed Euridice", Gluck's first step in his reform of the operatic form, owes much to the genre of French opera, particularly in its' extensive use of accompanied recitative and a general absence of vocal virtuosity. In fact, it is generally supposed that Gluck frankly took Rameau's "Castor et Pollux" as his model when he sat down to compose "Orfeo": indeed, the plot of the earlier work, in particular, the rescue of Pollux by Castor from the infernal regions, has much in common with that of "Orfeo", so it is possible that Gluck took many hints from Rameau's musical treatment of the various scenes which the two works have in common. Therefore, it seems quite fitting that twelve years after the 1762 premiere of the original work, in 1774, Gluck presented his work to the Parisian public, readapting it, in the process, to suit the tastes of the audience at the Academie Royale de Musique. This reworking was given the title "Orphee et Eurydice" which is the version of this ever well-known piece that I want to present in this series of uploads.

The recording presented here is Minkowski's 2004 live recording of the work with the following cast:

Richard Croft - Orphee,
Mireille Delunsch - Eurydice,
Marion Harousseau - L'Amour,
Claire Delgado-Boge - Une ombre heureuse.

Finally, here is a link to the complete libretto:

http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/orphee.html

Hope you'll enjoy :).

No. 5. Aria - "Soumis au silence". Another aria of reassurance for Amour, reminding one immediately of a form that would achieve great popularity in the nineteenth century: the couplets (it's actually a surprise to see it so early on, albeit in shortened form).

No. 6. Arietta - "L'espoir renait dans mon ame". Originally composed for an occasional entertainment, "Il Parnaso confuso" (1765) and subsequently re-used in another one, "Le feste d'Apollo" (1769), the aria is actually surprisingly unbaroque, basically following an elaborate structure of ABAB, almost a da capo aria without the central andante section but still closer to the idiom than Gluck might have wanted. Still, even this aria, a typical coloratura showpiece, is delightful and dramatically viable, placed exactly at the moment when Orpheus begins to rekindle his hope of seeing his beloved once more.

Again, hope you'll enjoy :).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• gluck
• orfeo
• ed
• euridice
• orphee
• et
• eurydice
• classical
• opera
• minkowski
• orpheus
• complete
• version

[acerb45666555]

has anyone compared Moreschi to a female tenor? the differance is unique! the last genuine castrato, Moreschi, had a haunting quality to his voice! now i know how Farinelli must have really sounded!

[Phebus74]

Un vero fuoriclasse....magnifico

[yanpan16]

this is amazing!

[vitellia]

I LOVE RICHARD CROFT! Love his voice, love his technique... I was getting so sick of hearing that Viardot monstrosity. Finally, a great tenor who can reclaim this opera back from the mezzos. I hope he gets to do EVERY great Baorque tenor role (there aren't too many anyway) and records them all as well. I'd love to hear Kurt Streit in this role also.