#hilarious scene where right after hades (although we're using roman names in this one so pluto actually) lets eurydice go

[comradesummers]

watching some of the opera adaptations of the orpheus and eurydice story for a paper, and can i just say, giving it a happy ending is for cowards only. this is opera for god's sake! how are you not committing to the angst? christoph willibald gluck this is a callout post

[comradesummers]

i actually kind of liked monteverdi's l'orfeo though. it was written in 1607 and it's actually considered one of the first operas ever, which is pretty cool. there's this hilarious scene where right after hades (although we're using roman names in this one so pluto actually) lets eurydice go, orpheus sings a whole aria about how awesome his lyre is and how he's the sickest musician ever, only to immediately fuck it up by turning around. which is very funny and eurydice stays dead so i'm on board with this one.

but gluck is my mortal enemy. it's a shitty opera and the songs are boring on purpose because he was part of this weird movement where they decided arias should be simple and and unornamented because he hated fun, i guess? plus, hades and persephone don't even show up, instead there's this weird cupid guy who's considerably less cool. plus it has that aforementioned godawful happy ending where the whole thing was like a test set up by the strange cupid man, and orpheus actually proved he really loved her by turning back so she gets to live. it's the worst. the only part i liked was the weird marital argument orpheus and eurydice have while actively walking out of hell. like it was fully mommy and daddy are getting a divorce vibes which is a strange choice for the dramatic climax of the story but at least it was funny and an interesting take on the myth. the rest sucked. which is saying a lot because the version i watched had an all-female cast. they managed to make dyke orpheus boring (it's not actually dyke orpheus, it's a woman playing a man, but it's the closest i've ever gotten). truly, disgusting.

watching some of the opera adaptations of the orpheus and eurydice story for a paper, and can i just say, giving it a happy ending is for cowards only. this is opera for god's sake! how are you not committing to the angst? christoph willibald gluck this is a callout post