Saturday, January 24, 2009

NY Metropolitan Opera Broadcast

This week's was a 1-act version of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice. It sounded nice and melodious, but it was introduced as "Live, from the MET, Orfeo ed Euridice." I thought the whole point of the story involved one of the characters being dead.

It turns out Gluck changed the ending: he wasn't so revolutionary a composer that he'd challenge the then-current happy-ending conventions. Euridice ends up brought back to life a second time.

The original is an interesting myth, illustrating how desire can interfere with the fulfillment of the desire. A happy ending spoils the myth. But it had some nice music.

No comments: