Orfeo (Rossi)

Orfeo (Orpheus) is an opera in three acts, a prologue and an epilogue by the Italian composer Luigi Rossi.

During his stay in France, Rossi learnt that his wife, Costanza, had died and the grief he felt influenced the music he was writing.

The expense of the performance was just one of many reasons stoking popular discontent against Cardinal Mazarin which soon broke out into full-scale rebellion (the Fronde).

The first modern revival was given at La Scala in June 1982[2] with Jadranka Jovanović in the leading role.

[3] It was also performed on 2 April 1988 at the Indiana University Opera Theater, Bloomington and on 27 November 1990 at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London.

The goddess Juno persuades Proserpine, the wife of Pluto (the king of the underworld), that she should be jealous of Eurydice's beauty and allow her to return to the land of the living with Orpheus.

Proserpine persuades Pluto to release Eurydice and he does so on condition that Orpheus does not turn round to look at her before they have reached the upper world.

In his grief, he seeks only death but Jupiter appears to tell him he, Eurydice and his lyre will be turned into constellations.