Eurydice (Aucoin)
Eurydice | |
---|---|
Opera by Matthew Aucoin | |
Librettist | Sarah Ruhl |
Language | English |
Based on | Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl |
Premiere | February 1, 2020 |
Eurydice is an opera composed by Matthew Aucoin with a libretto by Sarah Ruhl based on her 2003 play of the same name, a retelling of the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. It had its premiere at the Los Angeles Opera on February 1, 2020, with Aucoin conducting. It had its Metropolitan Opera premiere on November 23, 2021.
Composition history
The work was co-commissioned and co-produced by the Metropolitan Opera, and was mostly written while Aucoin was serving as the Los Angeles Opera's artist in residence. The Los Angeles Times noted that this production, "the world's newest major opera", is on the same subject as the world's oldest surviving opera, Jacopo Peri's Euridice, which premiered 420 years earlier in 1600.[1]
Roles
Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, February 1, 2020 (Conductor: Matthew Aucoin)[2] |
---|---|---|
Eurydice | soprano | Danielle de Niese |
Orpheus | baritone | Joshua Hopkins |
Orpheus's Double | countertenor | John Holiday |
Eurydice's Father | baritone | Rod Gilfry |
Hades | tenor | Barry Banks |
Little Stone | soprano | Stacey Tappan |
Big Stone | mezzo-soprano | Raehann Bryce-Davis |
Loud Stone | tenor | Kevin Ray |
Synopsis
This opera retells the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice from Eurydice's point of view. Ruhl explained that "in the myth, we never hear from Eurydice – she is always a cipher. I'm interested in her voice, a voice that hasn't been heard before."[3]
Act 1
Orpheus, a musician, and Eurydice are playing on the beach. Orpheus proposes to Eurydice and she accepts. Her deceased father is seen in the underworld, writing a letter to her and wondering how to get it delivered. At her wedding, Eurydice steps outside and expresses a wish to see more interesting people. A mysterious "interesting man" appears and invites her to his apartment. After giving her champagne, he shows her the letter from her father. She tries to grab it but trips and falls down a long flight of stairs to her death in the underworld.
Act 2
The three Stones, a kind of Greek chorus, explain that Eurydice has crossed the river of forgetfulness (which is portrayed as a shower in the elevator descending to the underworld), and now has no memory and no power of language. Her father greets her, but she does not know who he is. In the land of the living, Orpheus mourns Eurydice's death and writes her a letter, but does not know how to get it to her; he decides he might give it to a worm. It flutters down to the underworld, where her father reads it to her. The name of Orpheus helps her to regain her memory and recognize her father. Orpheus then lowers the collected works of Shakespeare on a string, and her father reads it to her, helping her to relearn language. Orpheus resolves to go to the underworld and bring Eurydice back. He sings outside the gate and rouses Hades, the lord of the underworld, who was the "interesting man" she met just before her death.
Act 3
Orpheus tells Hades that he is determined to take Eurydice back to the land of the living. Hades explains that she can follow him, but he must not look back to see if she is there; if he does she will be lost to him forever. Eurydice is fearful and does not want to leave her father, but he insists she must return with her husband. Afraid that she is being tricked and that it not really Orpheus she is following, she calls out his name. He turns around and she is pulled back to the underworld.
Meanwhile, her father, desolate at losing her, dips himself in the river of forgetfulness. Eurydice, returning after her second death, finds that her father now has no memory or power of speech. Hades declares that he will take Eurydice as his bride. She writes a letter to Orpheus, lays it on the ground, and steps into the river of forgetfulness. Orpheus arrives and sees her, but then the shower robs him of his memory. He finds the letter she wrote him, but does not know how to read it.
Performance history
The critical reaction to the opera's Los Angeles premiere was varied.
Eurydice was given its Metropolitan Opera premiere on November 23, 2021. The cast included
See also
References
- ^ a b Swed, Mark (February 3, 2020). "Review: At L.A. Opera, Matthew Aucoin's Eurydice almost has it all". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ^ "Eurydice fact sheet | LA Opera". Archived from the original on October 4, 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ^ Alspaugh, Leann Davis. "Eurydice: A Myth for Modern Times". Performances Magazine.
- ^ Tommasini, Anthony (February 3, 2020). "Review: Eurydice, a New Opera, Looks Back All Too Tamely". The New York Times. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ^ Farber, Jim (February 3, 2020). "Los Angeles Opera's Eurydice is a triumph with fresh twists". Orange County Register. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
- ^ Martinez, Matthew Richard (February 2, 2020). "Matthew Aucoin's Eurydice: a new take on an heroic journey". Bachtrack. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ^ Eurydice (November 23, 2021) Archived July 13, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, Met Opera Archive.
- ^ Woolfe, Zachary (November 24, 2021). "Review: The Met Opera's 'Eurydice' Tries to Raise the Dead". The New York Times.
- ^ Eurydice (2021–2022 season) Archived August 22, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, Met Opera Archive.
- ^ Eurydice (December 4, 2021) Archived July 13, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, Met Opera Archive.
- ^ Eurydice (December 4, 2021), Met Opera on Demand.
- ^ Eurydice (December 16, 2021) Archived July 13, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, Met Opera Archive.