Offenbach: Orpheus in the Underworld

“Orpheus in the Underground? I know that. It’s about a Greek bloke who got lost on the Paris Metro, isn’t it?. Written by a Frenchman. It’s got the can-can in it”. Well, let’s scotch a few misconceptions right at the outset! No it isn’t; no it wasn’t and no it doesn’t. Hopefully I will help to correct these misunderstandings by the end of this review.

Regular readers may be aware that I am about half way through my series of articles ...
...operas by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. So, what am I doing, writing about an operetta that is not G&S and is patently not English? Well, there is a whole raft of reasons why it is appropriate – and my timing here is more in the way of an intermission.

Richard D’Oyly Carte was instrumental in bringing W.S. Gilbert (librettist) and Arthur Sullivan (Composer) together in 1875 in a collaboration to write a short piece in English as ... more

“Orpheus in the Underground? I know that. It’s about a Greek bloke who got lost on the Paris Metro, isn’t it?. Written by a Frenchman. It’s got the can-can in it”. Well, let’s scotch a few misconceptions right at the outset! No it isn’t; no it wasn’t and no it doesn’t. Hopefully I will help to correct these misunderstandings by the end of this review.

Regular readers may be aware that I am about half way through my series of articles about the re-released DECCA recordings of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. So, what am I doing, writing about an operetta that is not G&S and is patently not English? Well, there is a whole raft of reasons why it is appropriate – and my timing here is more in the way of an intermission.

Richard D’Oyly Carte was instrumental in bringing W.S. Gilbert (librettist) and Arthur Sullivan (Composer) together in 1875 in a collaboration to write a short piece in English as a curtain raiser from the Offenbach comic opera ‘La Perichole’. This became ‘Trial By Jury’ and their subsequent output together became a thing of history. Richard also set up the Opera Company which still bears his name and built the Savoy theatre and Hotel in the Strand in London.

OFFENBACH

Jacques Offenbach (a German jew) was born Jakob Wiener in Cologne in 1819. His family moved to France when he was a boy. He studied cello in Paris and initially earned his living playing in the orchestra of the Opera Comique. In 1850 he became conductor of the Theatre Francais and started to compose light and humorous operettas. He founded a theatrical company (the Bouffes-Parisiens) in 1855 which staged many of his operettas.

He was granted French citizenship by Emporer Louis-Napoleon in 1860. Between 1858 and 1880 he wrote over 100 operettas and other works, guaranteeing his great popularity the world over. The most enduring of these are The Grand Six: Orpheus in the Underworld (1858), La Belle Helene (1864), La Vie Parisienne (1866), La Grande-duchesse de Gerolstein (1867), La Perichole (1868) and The Tales of Hoffmann. Offenbach was still working on this latter piece at the time of his death (October 5th 1880) and it was subsequently completed by others for performance purposes.

“ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD” (“Orphée aux Enfers”)

Orpheus was Offenbach’s first full length operetta. The legend had been used as a theme (usually as a tragic one) for opera several times before. Here, though, is an irreverent romp through a classic tale of Gods and mortals, supposed good and evil – with blurring of both around the edges, scattered about by wicked wit, salacious humour and at times down right bawdy comedy set within a framework of timeless music.

Offenbach used two librettists: Hector Crémieux (who is usually credited with the majority of the text) and laterally Ludovic Halévy. The first night was at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, Paris on October 21st 1858. The first run lasted until June 5th 1859 having played 228 times.

Jules Noriac writing his review in Le Figaro the next day said of the first performance: “Unheard-of, Splendid, Outrageous, Graceful, Charming, Witty, Amusing, Successful, Perfect, Melodious”.

THE PLOT

Orpheus, a mortal keen on music, is married to Eurydice. Their marriage is in difficulty as Orpheus is having an affair with Cynthia (a nymph) and Eurydice (who can’t stand Orpheus’ lyre playing) is in love with Aristaeus – a shepherd. Unknown to Eurydice, Aristaeus is really Pluto, God of the Underworld. He and Orpheus have plotted to kill Eurydice. When he reveals himself to her he finds her not averse to this plan and upon her death he takes her off to his kingdom. Public Opinion (a sort of narrator who fills in plot details for the audience) intervenes at this point and sends Orpheus to seek an audience with the Gods on Mount Olympus to ask for his wife’s return.

Mount Olympus is not a happy place either. The Gods are bored with their diet of bland ambrosia and nectar. The only God having any fun is Jupiter who is a philanderer and master of disguise. The rest of the Gods are discontent. When Orpheus arrives with Public Opinion, Jupiter decides that they will all go down to Hell to check the situation for themselves.

Eurydice has found that life in Hell is not as exciting as she expected and Pluto proved not to be exciting either. She is kept in solitary confinement guarded by the creepy dead warder, John Styx, who professes his love for her. When the entourage arrives, Jupiter is quite taken with Eurydice himself. He manages to change himself into a fly to get into her room. Eurydice persuades him to help her escape.

While this is going on a party starts in Hell which degenerates into an orgy. At its height Jupiter and Eurydice attempt to make their escape but are stopped by Pluto just as Orpheus and Public Opinion arrive. Jupiter agrees that Orpheus may lead Eurydice back to Earth on the condition that he does not look back at her on the journey to the surface. On the way, Jupiter sets off a thunderbolt, making Orpheus turn around. Eurydice is lost for a second time. Jupiter gives her to Bacchus, the God of Wine, as a priestess to sing and dance for eternity.

VARIATIONS.

The initial format was of a conventional opera in two acts each with two tableaux (Act I: The Countryside near Thebes, Mount Olympus. Act II In Pluto’s Boudoir, In Hell). This was the staging which opened in 1858. Offenbach made almost constant revisions to the work ever since its first performance, dropping some verses, adding couplets and ballet pieces. Fifteen years later he was to reintroduce it as a fantasy-opera in four acts and twelve tableaux. Controversy has raged (and still does) as to which is the preferable and “honest” work. Currently most performances tend to be based on the original 1858 work with a few of the later “high points” grafted in.

TRANSLATIONS

“Orphée aux Enfers” was originally written in French but was translated very early for performance on the English stage. Much of the ribald humour and saucy nature of the French text was toned down for the Victorian ears. Since then there have been many further translations as new stage productions and recordings are carried out.

Of course, we English (or most other non-Francophones for that matter) would prefer to hear our operas sung in our native language. That in turn can lead to problems; not only with the translation of the direct meaning of the words from one language to the other but also with the maintenance of the structure of the verses and couplets to fit the available music.

Here is one example taken from the Mount Olympus tableau of the first Act. It is the “Rondeau des metamorphoses” Couplets where Minerva, Diana, Cupid, Venus and Pluto take it in turns to rebuke Jupiter for his lechery and debauchery. Europa was the daughter of an ancient king that Jupiter seduced and carried off. I have provided two translations of the verse which provides the title of this review; the first is used in this CD set; the second an alternative. You will notice that the gods have also been redistributed!

Offenbach original:

DIANE: Est-ce de la même envelope
Que tu te servis de nouveau
Lorsque, pour enlever Europe
Tu pris les cornes d’un taureau.

CHORUS: Ne prends plus l’air patelin
On connaît tes farces, Jupin!

The D’Oyly Carte version:

DIANA Remember when you wooed Europa
Then as a bull you were reborn
Remember when you tried to grope her
She had to grab you by the horn

CHORUS We can see how lecherous and treacherous you are
Stupider than Jupiter it’s very hard to be.
English translation by Jeremy Sams

Alternative version:

MINERVA By all accounts, a cad and coward!
So you became a horny bull!
And though Europa you deflowered,
It was a sleazy stunt to pull.

CHORUS Jupiter, the superstud, the universal sham!
What a great impersonator! What a hunk of ham!...
English Version by Donald Pippin

THE MUSIC

The short overture opens Act I and contains some of the gentler themes from the songs. There is an Entr’acte prior to Act II which recapitulates “Metamorphoses” and hints at the gallop. The original French version (sung and spoken) is written mainly in rhyming couplets. The Fly duet – where Eurydice is willingly seduced in Pluto’s bedroom by Jupiter who has changed himself into a fly is a very funny sequence.

Of particular note are:

Chœur de la Révolte: (“To arms you Gods and Demi-Gods”) – Pluto, Jupiter and Chorus
Rondeau des metamorphoses: (“When you pursued the fair Alcmana”) – Minerva, Diana, Cupid, Venus, Pluto and Chorus
Couplets du roi de Béotia (“When I was King of the Beotians”) – John Styx
Duo de la mouche (The Fly Duet: “I’m feeling all lovely and shivery”) – Jupiter and Eurydice
Menuet, gallop infernal et chœur (“It’s party time in Hell” – includesthe famous gallop) - Chorus

THE CAN CAN

Special mention should perhaps be made at this point about the ‘Can Can’. Around 1830, formal balls included dances such as the quadrille, the waltz and the galop – the latter a furious paced charge around the dance floor by couples. Students in Paris took this further when they started kicking their legs high in the air while dancing. Their partners also joined in revealing their underwear (if worn) and sparked off the notoriety that was to surround the dance.

By the 1840s the dance was picked up, stylised and choreographed in the music halls. Greater reliance was placed on the costumes and the athleticism of the performers to create a spectacle and the Can Can became a spectator rather than a participator activity. It is said that the introduction of the crinoline dress was also instrumental in the introduction of the underwear and frilly leggings of the performers. This popularity reached a peak in the early 1900s in such theatres as the Moulin Rouge (The Red Windmill).

The term ‘galop infernal’ is attributed to the journalist Gustave Doré in the 1840s who used it as a title to an illustration depicting the mad gallop at the Paris Opera carnival ball. “The conductor stands like a devil with horns, leading the orchestra as the revellers cavort around the floor”.

So Offenbach did not invent the can can or even use the name. His music was taken up later by the theatre producers to accompany the stage performances.

THE STAGE PERFORMANCE

I was lucky enough to see this Opera North production of ‘Orpheus’ in their Spring Season 2000 at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne. Our party consisted of three generations with ages spanning early teens to early 70s. At that time, I had the same misconceptions that I listed at the start of the article and, apart from one production of Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute’ none of us had seen opera outside of the G&S catalogue and none of us had any idea what to expect.

This was without doubt one of the most memorable evenings of music that we have had the pleasure of seeing. The music was light, jolly, fast and furious. Sure, the libretto was bawdy but it was also easy to hear and understand – and it was funny, very funny. The costumes were brash, vibrant and colourful. This was theatre, drama, music and pantomime at their very best.

If the opportunity presents itself again, grab it with both hands. Book up early and go along and see this one. I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

THE MATERIALS

As mentioned in the introduction Gilbert and Sullivan were brought together as a result of an Offenbach opera. There is also no doubt that both had considerable admiration for the Frenchman. Gilbert may well have been inspired by several sequences from these operettas when writing his own (the policeman chorus from “Pirates of Penzance” for instance). It is also on record that Sullivan would have liked to be known as both the English Bach and the English Offenbach (covering both branches of “high” Classical and light “Classical” music).

This two disc boxed set of ‘Orpheus In The Underworld’ is the first non-G&S work to have been recorded by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. It is therefore a most appropriate work for the Company to cover in this manner. The original project was a collaboration between the Company and Opera North to produce a new working of the original two act version of Offenbach’s opera both for a national tour and this subsequent album. It also spurred the development of D’Oyly Carte’s repertoire beyond the mainstream G&S.

The orchestration and playing is sparkling. The soloists and chorus are very clear in their diction. This translation also captures much of the humour and witticism of the original. This version is sung in English and includes the spoken libretto.

ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD - Offenbach (1994)
The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company
Orchestra conducted by John Owen Edwards.
Soloists: Jill Pert (Public Opinion); Mary Hegarty (Eurydice)
David Fieldsend (Orpheus); Barry Patterson (Pluto)
Gareth Jones (John Styx); Richard Suart (Jupiter)
Rosemarie Arthars (Cupid); Pamela Baxter (Minerva)
Frances McCafferty (Juno); Sian Wyn Gibson (Venus)
CD: SONY CLASSICAL S2K 66616 (£19.99)

The set comes with a comprehensive booklet which includes the full English libretto and a series of photographs from the D’Oyly Carte stage production.

FOR REFERENCE:

I also had available the French libretto from ORPHEE AUX ENFERS – Offenbach - and the following recording of the French performance:
Orchestra and Choir of the National Opera of Lyon: Conductor Marc Minkowski
EMI Classics 72435 567252

 

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