And while Monteverdi might be surprised to find himself hailed as the inventor of the opera, L’Orfeo is a radically innovative and extraordinary work. The individual elements, including the aria, the strophic song, recitative, choruses, dances, and dramatic musical interludes that make up Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo score, are blended into a “favola in musica,” simply indicating that all actors are singing their parts. Experiencing intense grief and despair, his emotional state mirrored the circumstances of the Orpheus of Greek mythology, “who suffers, loves, exults, mourns, goes on a heroic rescue mission, stumbles at the last hurdle and finally reaches a new and deeper understanding of himself.” Having already worked in Mantua for 16 years, Monteverdi had a thorough grounding in theatrical music. Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) was working as a court musician in Mantua when his wife Claudia passed away in 1607. The legend of Orpheus and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to the world of the living is central to the emergence of opera in the late Italian Renaissance. And since Orpheus was a flawed mortal, he miserably failed his task. They eventually agreed that Orpheus could take his beloved Eurydice back to the world of the living, but under the condition that he doesn’t turn back to look at his wife until he has reached the world of the living. Orpheus took his golden lyre and descended into the Underworld, where he first charmed the hellhound Cerberus, the ferryman of death Charon and eventually melted the hearts of Hades, the King of the Underworld, and his consort Persephone. There is considerable variation in the story of how he met and married the beautiful Eurydice, but everybody agrees that she was bitten by an angry viper and perished. It was said that his character matched the sweetness of his playing and singing, and that he performed for the love of music and for the celebration of the beauty of the world and the glory of love. His singing and playing moved even wild beasts and inanimate rocks to tears, and rivers diverted their courses just to hear him. But more than that, he was the Mozart, Shakespeare, Pavarotti, and Lady Gaga all rolled into one. Orpheus was not only a legendary hero of Greek mythology he was also the first superstar musician.
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