0789OrpheusEurydice

Franz Josef Haydn, composer, libretto by Carlo Francesco Badini, "L'Anima del Filosofo ossia Orfeo ed Euridice," dramma per musica, 1791.

Comissioned at a high price during Haydn's remarkable 1791 London visit but not then performed (and perhaps never actually completed), Haydn's approach to the Orpheus material is truer than contemporaries' to Vergilian-Ovidian, classical antecedents.

Haydn's conclusion retains the classical tragedy, reversing the lieto fine (happy ending) of Monteverdi and Gluck's compromise, i.e. Orpheus's suicide. The latter was extraordinarily popular in 1790's London and has a distinct musical influence on Haydn's score; still, Baldini & Haydn can be seen as classizing reformers in this matter. Haydn has the frenzied maenads kill Orpheus in jealous rage. Still, the production is not without stunning novelties: Eurydice's father is named Creon and plays a key role in the plot, the Sibyl is called "Genio" (or sprite?) and sings an understated aria in which she consoles the despondent Orpheus with philosophical dogma. Creonte's first aria, il pensier sta negli oggetti, also has philosophical overtones.