Orfeo Ed Euridice/Orph e Et Eurydice: Italian and French Libretti

Orfeo ed Euridice is an opera composed by Christoph W. Gluck based on the myth of Orpheus, set to a libretto by Ranieri de’ Calzabigi. It is the first of Gluck’s reform operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of opera seria with a noble simplicity in both the music and the drama. Though originally set to an Italian libretto, Orfeo ed Euridice owes much to the genre of French opera, particularly in its use of accompanied recitative and a general absence of vocal virtuosity. Indeed, twelve years after the 1762 premiere, Gluck re-adapted the opera to suit the tastes of a Parisian audience at the Acad mie Royale de Musique with a libretto by Pierre-Louis Moline.