L’Orfeo
Favola in Musica SV 318, 1607
Music has the power to melt hearts. When Orfeo sings, even the gods relent and the gates to the Underworld open. But will the singer succeed in snatching his beloved Euridice from the shadow of death? The tragic love story of Orpheus and Eurydice from Greek mythology combines all the elements that make for a great opera plot. Monteverdi’s version from 1607 is not just one of the earliest operas, but also one of the most famous.
The Carus edition meets the highest scholarly standards while simultaneously satisfying the demands of modern performance and operatic practice. Based on a thorough evaluation of the surviving printed copies of the 1609 and 1615 versions, editor Uwe Wolf clearly documents the inconsistencies and transmission errors to create a critical edition focused on performance practice. Wolf, who has studied Monteverdi intensively as both a musicologist and a performer, also provides detailed information on instrumentation, notation, transpositions, and historical instruments.
Thanks to the highly flexible design of the performance materials, ensembles can take a creative approach to orchestration: the instrumental parts of a given register and the corresponding choral parts are consolidated into just a few parts, which can be assigned to different instruments. The realized continuo part also features the main vocal lines. Rehearsal work is aided by a clear and consistent numbering of the various movements and sections.
Carus provides all the performance materials you need for your production: vocal score, choral score, rehearsal scenario, and additional materials, also in digital format. The libretto is given in three languages (Italian, German, and English).
Large and small opera houses, universities, festivals, and – not least due to the extensive choral writing – choirs will appreciate an edition that enables a wide variety of performances of this timeless opera, whether staged or in concert.
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Composer
Claudio Monteverdi
| 1567-1643During his youth in Cremona, Monteverdi received his first musical training from Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, the maestro di cappella at the Cathedral. After making his name with his first publications, including his First Book of Madrigals, he moved to the Gonzaga court in Mantua in 1590: he remained in the service of the family for twenty-two years, first as singer and violist, and later as maestro di cappella. There he composed further books of madrigals and, with L'Orfeo in 1607, one of the earliest operas in the history of music. The Vespers of the Blessed Virgin were also written in Mantua in 1610. In 1613 became Monteverdi maestro di cappella at St Mark's in Venice. He spent thirty musically fruitful years in this post. He composed sacred works, but remained interested in secular music and published his most extensive secular collections with books six to eight of his Madrigals. After the opening of the Venice opera house in 1637, the first public opera house ever , he returned to composing opera once more: both of his late operas, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria and L'incoronazione di Poppea received their first performances here. Personal details
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Editor
Uwe Wolf
| 1961As a musicologist, Dr. Uwe Wolf is particularly at home in the 17th and 18th centuries. The focus of his work ranges from the time of Monteverdi and Schütz to Bach and the generation of Bach's sons and pupils through to Viennese Classicism. He has been head of the editorial department at Carus-Verlag since October 2011. Prior to this, he worked in Bach research for over 20 years. Personal details
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Songwriter / Librettist
Alessandro Striggio d.J.
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Continuo realization
Andreas Gräsle
| 1964Andreas Gräsle (harmonium) studied church music in Stuttgart (organ: Jon Laukvik) and took his concert diploma in organ with Daniel Roth in Saarbrücken, followed by early music studies with Andrea Marcon. He was a scholarship holder of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and a prizewinner at the International Johann Pachelbel Competition in Nuremberg in 1991. From 1996 to 2003 he was choirmaster and organist at the Augustinuskirche in Schwäbisch Gmünd, and in April 2003 he became district choirmaster in Ditzingen. In addition, he is much in demand as chamber music partner, organist and harpsichordist. He has made several CDs of organ and chamber music, and his own improvisations and arrangements of children’s songs round off his musical activities. He has taught score reading at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart since 1997. Personal details
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