The Descent of Orpheus Charpentier
Opera Atelier

The Descent of Orpheus is based on Ovid’s myth of Orpheus, who uses his gift of music to gain entry to the underworld and to return his lover Eurydice to the land of the living.

Unlike other performance versions of this myth, Charpentier’s opera defies Baroque theatrical convention by opening with the death of Eurydice. In this bittersweet tragedy, Orpheus’ journey through the underworld transforms him from Arcadian shepherd to godlike hero.

The Descent of Orpheus is quintessentially French in style, and as such, includes some of the finest dance music ever created for French 17th-century lyric theatre.