What is Orpheus and Eurydice?
Orpheus, the legendary lyre player of Greek myth, has been treated in opera many times, with particular focus on the death of his wife, Eurydice, and Orpheus’s attempts to free her from the underworld. Operatic treatments were created by such noteworthy composers as Monteverdi, Telemann, Rameau, Gluck, Haydn, Offenbach, Debussy, Milhaud, and Birtwistle. This article focuses on the operas by Christoph Gluck, which are among his so-called “reform operas.
