Orpheus and Eurydice is an opera in three acts by the German-born composer Christoph Willibald Gluck (see Gluck, Christoph Willibald ). The Italian libretto (text), written by Ranieri de’ Calzabigi, was based on a classical legend. The Italian title of the opera is Orfeo ed Euridice. It was first performed in Vienna on Oct. 5, 1762.
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The action of the opera takes place in ancient Greece. A grief-stricken Orpheus mourns the death of his wife Eurydice. His sadness moves Zeus, the father of the gods, to pity. Zeus permits Orpheus to visit Hades to see if he can, through the power of his music, persuade Pluto, god of the underworld, to let Eurydice return with him to the upper world. But Orpheus is warned that he must not look back at Eurydice until they have returned across the River Styx in the underworld.
At the entrance to Hades, the Furies seek to stop Orpheus’s progress. They call upon Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding the way into the underworld, to tear him to pieces. But Orpheus charms them all with his lovely music. In the Elysian Fields, he finds Eurydice and gently begins to lead her back to the world of the living. Eurydice fails to understand Orpheus’s strange behavior, and he is not allowed to explain his actions to her. When she says she believes that he no longer loves her, he turns to face her, and she immediately falls dead. The lament that Orpheus now sings is the beautiful aria “Che faro senza Euridice” (usually translated as “What is life to me without thee”). It is one of Gluck’s most famous melodies. Amor, the god of love, is so moved by this lament that he restores Eurydice to life.
