Recommended for Grades 6-12
In this resource, you will:
- Learn the opera’s background and synopsis
- Meet the opera’s composer
Euridice
by Jacopo Peri
Euridice
by Jacopo Peri
A quick overview of the oldest surviving opera.
Background
Euridice by Jacopo Peri is the earliest surviving opera, Peri’s 1597 Dafne being lost. The libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini is based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which recounts the story of the legendary musician Orpheus, a great musician who journeyed to the underworld to plead with the gods to revive his wife Euridice after she had been fatally injured (the same source of many adaptations, including the modern stage musical, Hadestown). Euridice was created for the marriage of King Henry IV of France and Maria de Medici.
With Euridice, Peri managed to establish sound principles for operatic composition. The work establishes the dual resource of aria and recitative in opera, and it explores the use of solo, ensemble, and choral singing.
In creating the music for Euridice, Peri envisioned a vocal style that is half-sung and half-spoken. For less dramatic parts, he created vocal lines close to the style of spoken language set over a sustained accompaniment. For impassioned scenes, he explored stronger and more rapid melodies with steadily changing harmonies. Peri used ranges and widths of register, as well as frequency and power of cadences, to distinguish different characters and dramatic moods. The voice and accompaniment are carefully paced to emphasize the tension and release in the text. Rhythmic and melodic inflections in the vocal lines closely—almost scientifically—imitate dramatic speech. In addition, impassioned exclamations are set with unprepared dissonances and unexpected movements in the bass.
Synopsis
Act I
Euridice opens with a simple melody by a singer representing the Tragic Muse, La Tragedia, and a short ritornello. Shepherds nearby and the Tragic Muse sing a conversation in recitatives and choruses. Daphne enters to notify everyone that Euridice has been fatally bitten by a serpent.
Scene 1
All of the nymphs and shepherds gather to celebrate the wedding of Orpheus and Euridice.
Scene 2
Orpheus is content after his wedding but is soon interrupted by Dafne. She brings the terrible news that Euridice has been bitten by a venomous snake and has died. Orpheus then vows to rescue her from the underworld.
Scene 3
A shepherd named Arcetro recounts that while Orpheus lay weeping, Venus, goddess of love, carries him off in her chariot.
Act II
Act II opens with Orpheus pleading with Venere, Plutone, Prosperina, Caronte, and Radamanto in the underworld for the return of his beloved wife, Euridice. Nearly the entire scene is carried in recitative. When the act closes, Orpheus is back with Tirsi and the other shepherds.
Scene 4
Venus and Orpheus arrive at the gates of the underworld. Venus suggests that through his legendary voice he might persuade Pluto to return Euridice to life. Orpheus succeeds and is allowed to leave with his bride.
Scene 5
Orpheus and Euridice return from the underworld and rejoice.
Meet the Artists
Watch & Listen
Euridice - Prologue. Nurani Huet, mezzosoprano; Santiago Álvarez, clavecín.
Euridice - Scene 4. Performed by the Euridice Project at St. Cecilia at the Tower V. April 30, 2016.
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