The Lyre of Orpheus not only explores the world of early eighteenth century opera, but also follows Darcourt's research into the life of the benefactor and artist Francis Cornish.

Darcourt discovers that a painting of The Wedding at Cana, previously attributed to an unknown sixteenth century painter known only as "The Alchemical Master", was in fact the work of Francis Cornish himself, as described in the second book of the trilogy, What's Bred in the Bone.

A further plotline involves the sexual and artistic flowering of Hulda Schnakenburg under the hand of Gunilla Dahl-Soot, a distinguished Swedish musicologist who serves as Schnak's academic advisor and becomes her lover.

And the modern approach to relationships is mocked in the dysfunctional common-law situation of two minor characters, Al and Mabel, who present themselves in Toronto to monitor and record the production of the opera from start to finish.

As often happens in Davies' novels, all is not simple; for example, the ghost of Hoffman, trapped in Limbo as a result of the unsatisfactory state of his artistic work, attends and comments on the proceedings.