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Orphée aux Enfers (OEK critical edition: 1874 version)
(Orpheus in der Unterwelt / Orpheus in the Underworld) (1874)Libretto by Hector Crémieux (with the collaboration of Ludovic Halévy); original German version by Ludwig Kalisch, adapted and completed by Frank Harders-Wuthenow; new German versions by Wolfgang Quetes or Günter Selling; new English version by Richard Duployen (F,G,E)
9S,S(M),M,7T,2T(Bar),3B; chorus; ballet;
2(II=picc).2.2.2-2.2.3.0-timp.perc(2):BD/TB/cym/tamb/tgl-strings; on-stage:fl.picc-2tpt.3trbn.ophicleide-perc:BD/SD/cym
Abbreviations (PDF)
B&B
Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris
Company: unknown
Opernhaus, Graz
Jean-Louis Martinoty, director
Conductor: Johannes Stert
Company: Ensemble der Bühnen Graz
| JUPITER, father of the gods | Low Tenor or high Baritone |
| JUNO, his spouse | Soprano or Mezzo Soprano |
| DIANA, goddess of hunting | Soprano |
| MARS, god of war | Bass |
| MERCURY, messenger of the gods | Tenor |
| MINERVA, goddess of wisdom | Soprano |
| VENUS, goddess of love | Soprano |
| CUPID, Venus's son | Soprano |
| MORPHEUS, God of sleep | Tenor |
| KYBELE and POMONA | Sopranos |
| FLORA and CERES | Sopranos |
| ORPHEUS, a music teacher | Tenor, a violinist, if possible |
| EURYDIKE, his spouse | Soprano |
| ARISTEUS, a shepherd / PLUTO, ruler of the underworld | Tenor |
| JOHN STYX, Pluto's factotum | Tenor or high Baritone |
| MINOS, judge of the underworld | Tenor |
| AIAKOS, judge of the underworld | Tenor |
| RHADAMANTHYS, judge of the underworld | Bass |
| PUBLIC OPINION | Mezzo Soprano |
| A Lictor | Tenor |
| Public council | Bass |
| Children | Sopranos |
| Gods, goddesses |
The surroundings of Thebes; in the Olymp; in the underworld. Antiquity.
The married life of Orpheus and Eurydike is far from being a classical one. Eurydike has had enough of her husband, a violin virtuoso and director of the conservatory of Thebes, and has given up hiding her affair with the shepherd Aristeus. Aristeus, however, is in truth Pluto, the lord of the underworld, who stages a tragic death for Eurydike so he can take his loved one down to Hades. Orpheus feels relieved, for now he can fully devote himself to his female pupils. But at that point, Public Opinion steps in. After all, the good reputation of classical antiquity is at stake, so he asks the characters to keep to the mythology. Thus Orpheus, like it or not, is ordered to call at Mount Olympus and to lodge a complaint against Pluto.
Comic, Poetic