Orpheus and Eurydice - Keynotes & More

“Beginning with Orfeo ed Euridice in 1762, he [Gluck] attempted to enhance both the dramatic and musical components of opera. Superfluous virtuosity and vocal display were drastically curtailed if not eliminated by providing music that reflected the emotional or dramatic situation.”

– Encyclopedia Brittanica

Reviews

• Theatre review: Orpheus & Eurydice from Pacific Opera Victoria at Royal Theatre
• Orpheus & Eurydice | Pacific Opera Victoria | Opera Canada
• Pacific Opera takes Orpheus & Eurydice from Hades to the hospital – Victoria Times Colonist

While preparing Orpheus and Eurydice, stage director Amanda Testini was moved by Andrea Gibson’s Love Letter from the Afterlife, which imagines those we’ve lost living on through memory, grief, and healing.

This idea shaped her approach to Gluck’s opera. Rather than centering on resurrection, the production reflects on love that endures beyond death—how grief reveals its depth, and how those we love continue to echo within us.

My love, I was so wrong. Dying is the opposite of leaving. When I left my body, I did not go away. That portal of light was not a portal to elsewhere, but a portal to here. I am more here than I ever was before. I am more with you than I ever could have imagined. So close you look past me when wondering where I am. It’s Ok. I know that to be human is to be farsighted. But feel me now, walking the chambers of your heart, pressing my palms to the soft walls of your living. Why did no one tell us that to die is to be reincarnated in those we love while they are still alive? Ask me the altitude of heaven, and I will answer, “How tall are you?” In my back pocket is a love note with every word you wish you’d said. At night I sit ecstatic at the loom weaving forgiveness into our worldly regrets. All day I listen to the radio of your memories. Yes, I know every secret you thought too dark to tell me, and love you more for everything you feared might make me love you less. When you cry I guide your tears toward the garden of kisses I once planted on your cheek, so you know they are all perennials. Forgive me, for not being able to weep with you. One day you will understand. One day you will know why I read the poetry of your grief to those waiting to be born, and they are all the more excited. There is nothing I want for now that we are so close I open the curtain of your eyelids with my own smile every morning. I wish you could see the beauty your spirit is right now making of your pain, your deep seated fears playing musical chairs, laughing about how real they are not. My love, I want to sing it through the rafters of your bones, Dying is the opposite of leaving.I want to echo it through the corridor of your temples,I am more with you than I ever was before. Do you understand? It was me who beckoned the stranger who caught you in her arms when you forgot not to order for two at the coffee shop. It was me who was up all night gathering sunflowers into your chest the last day you feared you would never again wake up feeling lighthearted. I know it’s hard to believe, but I promise it’s the truth. I promise one day you will say it too– I can’t believe I ever thought I could lose you.

– Andrea Gibson

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Download the libretto for Orpheus & Eurydice here.

Inside Opera | Orpheus & Eurydice with Robert Holliston & Paul Destrooper

Experience Gluck’s Orpheus & Eurydice—a timeless tale of love, loss, and the power of music. When Eurydice dies, Orpheus braves the underworld to bring her back, forbidden to look at her until they return. With its luminous arias and the ethereal Dance of the Blessed Spirits, this opera is an unforgettable journey where hope and heartbreak walk hand in hand.

The tragic myth of Orpheus and Eurydice

The marriage of Orpheus, the greatest of all poets and musicians, to Eurydice, a wood nymph, was heralded as the perfect union. Anyone could tell the couple was deeply in love. So when their wedding ceremony ended in Eurydice’s untimely death, Orpheus had no choice but to venture into the underworld to try to reclaim his lost love. Brendan Pelsue shares the tragic myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Orpheus and Eurydice in Hades (2020)

In this critically acclaimed video game developed by Supergiant Games, players encounter characters Orpheus and Eurydice in the underworld. The game allows players to interact with these characters, exploring themes of love and loss, and even offers the possibility of reuniting the two, providing a modern, interactive twist on the classic myth.