USM School of Music

USM celebrates the birth of opera with “L’Orfeo” Oct. 14

The ancient Greek myth of Orpheus, the musician, and his bride, Euridice, inspired several Florentine composers in the late 1500’s. A number of dramatic vocal interpretations were written on this tragic love story. But it was Claudio Monteverdi’s landmark work on the same theme, “L’Orfeo” first performed in Mantua in 1607, that is now considered the first great opera.

On this, the 400^th anniversary year of the opera, the USM School of Music and the Evenings at Abromson series of the Center for Continuing Education will co-present a concert performance of this landmark work in the original Italian. The cast of 14 singers will be joined by the Choral Art Camerata and a chamber orchestra with continuo section of period instruments -- all conducted by USM professor of music, Robert Russell of Portland.

The concert begins at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007 in Hannaford Hall of the Abromson Community Education Center on the USM Portland campus. A reception will follow in the lobby. Tickets are $15 for the general public. Call 780-5900 or go to www.usm.maine.edu/cce. This gala operatic anniversary is sponsored by Head and Associates; Macdonald Page & Co LLC; and Murray, Plumb & Murray.

Bruce Fithian, tenor, of Gorham, professor of music and the artistic director of this opera, will also sing the title role. Two USM music alumnae – sopranos Erin Niland, ’05 of Warren, and Jenny Lynd Robinson, ’98 of Belfast -- will perform Euridice and Proserpina (the wife of Hades – Persephone in the original Greek) respectively. USM artist faculy members Christina Astrachan, soprano, of Portland appears in the role of the narrator, La Musica; and Malcolm Smith, bass, of Cape Elizabeth performs Plutone.

Also in the cast are: Martin Lescault, Andrea Graichen, Barbara Sutcliffe, George Eisenhauer, Sheldon Bird, Sarah Johnson, Stuart Bailey, Matthew Jones, and John Coons.

In Monteverdi's story of Orfeo (Orpheus in Greek, the greatest musician and poet of antiquity) his young bride Euridice is bitten by a snake and dies while picking flowers for her wedding. Orfeo goes to the underworld to rescue her. His songs are so beautiful, he is allowed in, and Hades releases his bride under one condition – that he should not look back at her as they ascend. But he does glance back, and Euridice is lost forever to the underworld.

“The great breakthrough that the early composers made was to radically transform the role of music and words,” explains Fithian of the foundations of that first opera. “The Renaissance spirit closely followed the sentiment in poetry, but always garbed it in a highly sophisticated web of counterpoint. Although musically satisfying, the meaning of the words was imperiled, due to the overlapping of lines (somewhat like trying to follow four different conversations going on at the same time at a dinner party).

“A group of composers, poets, artists and philosophers, mostly centered in Florence in the 1600’s, decided to totally change procedures. Harkening back to the distant past of Greece, they attempted to re-enact the dramatic monody from classical theater. Their solution was ingenious: the rhythms of spoken words would be transcribed carefully, musical pitches would be assigned according to the natural ebb and flow of speech, and most important, harmonies would strategically support the singing line. That is why Monteverdi’s work is entitled ‘favola in musica,’ a play in music. The libretto is by Alessandro Striggio.

“As the symbol of music’s power, the character of Orfeo was a perfect vehicle for Monteverdi. What is remarkable about his achievement is that, even though music was supposed to take a second place to the words, the very choice of his rhythms and harmonies transforms and intensifies the character’s emotions. Thus, Orfeo comes across as a very introspective, brooding, highly poetic and emotional personality. Monteverdi consistently assigns his music to a brooding g minor tonality. We feel Orfeo’s anguish by Monteverdi’s use of dissonance, both melodic and harmonic.”