Gluck – Orphée & Eurydice – Paul Agnew

After Iphigénie en Tauride in 2006, we continue the Gluck cycle on period instruments with the famous Orphée et Eurydice. This version in French for tenor was composed by Gluck for the Royal Academy of Music in Paris in 1774, at the request of Dauphine Marie-Antoinette. Twelve years after his Orfeo in Italian, premiered in Vienna in 1762, Gluck composed numerous new pages, such as Orphée’s aria, “L’Espoir renaît dans mon âme“, or Eurydice’s air, “Cet asile aimable et tranquille.” The ballets are developed to cater to French taste. The public success was magnificent. Eurydice’s arias, “Fortune ennemie,” in Act II, or Orphée’s, “Objet de mon amour,” in the first act, “Laissez-vous toucher par mes pleurs,” in the second act, and the famous “J’ai perdu mon Eurydice” touch the sublime. To Voltaire’s enthusiasm, Julie de Lespinasse adds, “This music drives me crazy. It carries me away; I cannot miss a day…”

Distribution

Les Arts Florissants / Conductor : Paul Agnew

Orphée - Reinoud Van Mechelen, countertenor
Eurydice - Ana Vieira Leite, soprano
Amour - Julie Roset, soprano