Cecilia in the voice of Orpheus

There is something curious about Christoph Willibald Gluck. Music history remembers him as a reformer, a transcendental artist who rescued so called “opera seria” from the excesses of Baroque opera. This marked the end of convoluted plots and the singers’ abuse of impossible vocal acrobatics: Gluck heroes and heroines put into practice a new and noble simplicity which, to cite an illustrious follower, Mozart knew how to continue. Yet, the composer’s ranking in the encyclopaedias is considerably higher than his actual popularity. When we mention great names of opera, we tend to forget Gluck. Back in 2001, Cecilia Bartoli corrected our error. The Roman mezzosoprano who has done so much to broaden our musical experience, retrieved a handful of Italian arias by Gluck for a memorable album. Aside from being sublime, it demonstrated he was a passionate composer, innovative and inspired, infinitely more seductive than one would have supposed.

Orfeo ed Euridice (here in the revised version for its premiere in Parma in 1769) is, by far, his most well-known opera, and the ideal gateway to immerse oneself in a world where beneath the marble, passions blaze. The Orfeo impersonated in the voice of Cecilia Bartoli is accompanied by the historically informed sound of Les Musiciens du Prince-Monaco. Founded in 2016, this orchestra is based in Montecarlo, with the singer as its Artistic Director. The music of Gluck deserves no less.

Opera in three acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck
Libretto by Ranieri de’ Calzabigi based on the myth of Orpheus
Premiere on 5 October 1762 at the Burgtheater of Vienna
Parma version (1769)