Composers › Jacques Offenbach › Programme note
Orpheus in the Underworld: Overture (arr. Binder)
Gerald Larner wrote 2 versions of differing length — choose one below.
arranged Binder
Orpheus in the Underworld: Overture
The difference between Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld and other versions of the ancient Greek myth is that Orpheus and Eurydice cannot stand the sight of each other. She particularly dislikes his violin playing, which is supposed to be his greatest virtue. So when Pluto arranges for her to be bitten by a poisonous snake and then carries her off to the Underworld they are both quite happy about it. Orpheus goes to rescue his wife only because Public Opinion insists on it.
The Overture normally heard in the concert hall is not the one Offenbach wrote for the first performance of his satirical “opéra bouffon” in Paris in 1858 but an arrangement made by Carl Binder for a production in Vienna two years later. Its central feature is the violin solo that, to her great exasperation, Orpheus plays for Eurydice in the first act. Its culminating glory is the brilliantly vulgar cancan danced by Eurydice and her divine companions at a bacchanal in Hades just before Orpheus so irritatingly comes to rescue her.
From Gerald Larner’s files: “Orpheus in… - Overture/w174”
arranged Binder
Orpheus in the Underworld: Overture
The difference between Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld and other versions of the ancient Greek myth is that Orpheus and Eurydice cannot stand the sight of each other. She particularly dislikes his violin playing, which is supposed to be his greatest virtue. So when Pluto arranges for her to be bitten by a poisonous snake and then carries her off to the Underworld they are both quite happy about it. Orpheus goes to rescue his wife only because Public Opinion insists on it. Fortunately for them both, Jupiter - who fancies Eurydice himself - stipulates that if Orpheus looks round as he leads her out of the Underworld she will be lost to him for ever. Distracted by the thunderbolt Jupiter throws behind him, Orpheus turns round…
The Overture normally heard in the concert hall is not the one Offenbach wrote for the first performance of his satirical “opéra bouffon” in Paris in 1858 but an arrangement made by Carl Binder for a production in Vienna two years later. Its central feature is the violin solo that, to her great exasperation, Orpheus plays for Eurydice in the first act. Its culminating glory is the brilliantly vulgar cancan danced by Eurydice and her divine companions at a bacchanal in Hades just before Orpheus so irritatingly comes to rescue her.
From Gerald Larner’s files: “Orpheus in… - Overture/w216”