Orfeo and Euridice

Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice” sent the 18th-century opera world into a frenzy. Suddenly, the music served the plot, not the other way around. Gluck put an end to over-the-top coloratura and endless da capo arias that interrupted the dramatic flow. The last French queen, Marie Antoinette, an ardent admirer of his music, wrote: “It is as if a religious revolution had taken place.”

At the center of the plot is the grieving Orpheus, mourning Eurydice, who died from a fatal snakebite.
Cupid allows him to rescue her from the underworld—on the condition that he not look at her on the way back. Through his singing, Orpheus subdues the Furies. But Eurydice’s lamentations cause him to falter: he looks at her; she dies. Cupid ultimately redeems the couple.

Cecilia Bartoli, the primadonna assoluta of the 21st century, has chosen the so-called “Parma version” with her ensemble. At the performance in Parma, the famous castrato soprano Giuseppe Millico took on the role of Orpheus. He sang in an extremely high register that is virtually unattainable for male voices today.