Orfeo or Orpheus (Pastiche) Mechelen 2023 Conservatorium Mechelen

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: Orfeo en Orpheus, een pastiche opera van Luigi Rossi en Georg Philip Telemann  
• Composer: Luigi Rossi, Georg Philip Telemann  
• Libretto:  Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Cultuurcentrum Mechelen, Belgium, Conservatorium Mechelen  
• Recorded: February 11, 2013
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Els Vanderschommen, Lien Schallenbergh, Lisbet Vermaercke, Laura Marcicci, Vira Slobodianyk, Wim Salvo, Sarah Robeys, Mathias Ghesquiere, Anouk Dubois
• Conductor: Martine Renson, Ann Cnop  
• Orchestra: Barokorkest  
• Stage Director: Hilde Moyson  
• Stage Designer: Rudy Moens, Bert Vanderstappen  
• Costume Designer:   

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Rudi Van Poele  
• Date Published: 2023  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 3 Audio:3
• Subtitles: nosubs  
• This Recording is NOT AVAILABLE from a proper commercial or public source
•  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

ORFEO & ORPHEUS, A PASTICHE OPERA
Rossi wrote his Orfeo (1647) in the weeks after the death of his beloved wife Costanza. His great sorrow makes his masterpiece one of the most dramatic operas of its time. Telemann turned his Die wunderbare Beständigkeit der Liebe oder Orpheus (1726) into a lovely setting of the famous myth. His manuscript was only discovered a few years ago and has rarely been performed.

The pastiche is a technique in music in which elements of different styles or genres are combined to create a new work. It is often a way of paying homage to earlier music or giving new context to existing elements. The pastiche can be found in pop, rock, classical and jazz music. The pastiche opera is a typical 18th-century opera form, and is composed of arias, ensembles and instrumental pieces from various existing operas, composed by one or more composers.
For this performance I have combined the operas Orfeo by Luigi Rossi (1597-1653) and Orpheus by Georg Philip Telemann (1681-1767) and cast them in a compact form. Respect for the story and a balanced choral/soli division became important guiding principles. In this opera you will hear both 17th and 18th century music, sung in Italian and German. This makes this never-before-seen pastiche opera unique.
I would like to thank everyone who has accompanied me on the adventurous and glorious path of this opera production.
May the spectacle charm and touch you.

THE STORY OF ORFEO AND EURIDICE

Part 1: The myth of Orfeo and Euridice is an ancient Greek story. Orfeo is a wonderful and talented singer. He can even touch the animals and the trees with his music. Orfeo is in love with Eurydice and marries her. Orasia, the Queen of Thrace is also in love with Orfeo and jealous of Euridice. She lures her into a trap and Euridice is killed by a snake. Orfeo is so sad that he decides to descend into the underworld to retrieve her.

Part 2: Orfeo makes such beautiful music that he can convince Pluto, the god of the underworld, to return Eurydice to the upper world. However, there is one condition: he must not look at her before they reach the light of the upper world. Orfeo cannot keep to the agreement, he looks back and Eurydice disappears again and definitively to the underworld.
The myth of Orfeo is a story of love and loss. It shows how people are willing to give up everything for the person they love. The story also shows the power of music and how it is able to move even the most hard-hearted gods. In a broader sense, the story is about the inevitability of death, about grief and how we as humans try to deal with it.

Martine Renson (opera/music theater teacher)