The Best of Opera Vol. 2

Christoph Willibald von Gluck was a figure of great importance in the operatic reforms of the second half of the eighteenth century that ensured a greater degree of dramatic realism, notably with his Orfeo ed Euridice of 1762, based on the traditional story of the legendary Greek musician Orpheus and his beloved Eurydice, bitten by a snake and taken down to the Underworld, from where, by the power of his music, Orpheus seeks to rescue her. The reported success of this venture varies. In Gluck's opera, however, Orpheus fails to observe the command of Pluto, God of the Underworld, not to look round to see if Eurydice is following him. He looks round and she dies, only to be revived by Amor, providing the opera with the necessary happy ending. In the famous second act aria Che farņ senz'Euridice Orpheus laments the apparent loss of his beloved.

Mozart belongs to a slightly later generation. He realised his ambitions as