Bad kissingen: how a new opera can do mourning work
There was a rough tension in the air of the rossini hall. For the premiere of a composition commissioned by the kissinger sommers (something that had never happened before outside the liederwerkstatt) was imminent: christoph willibald gluck’s "orfeo ed euridice in a new version by damian scholl.
Was it necessary? No and yes. No, because the opera has survived the last 257 years well and will continue to do so. Yes, if you want to get the opera out of the historical preservation to use it in the here and now. Because if you tell the story of the singer orpheus, who descends into hades to bring his beloved euridice from death back to life, fails because of the strict rules, but thanks to cupid’s intervention gets his beloved back, then in antiquity it fell into the realm of allegory, today it falls into the realm of mourning work.