Orpheus in the Underworld and Orpheus in Hell are English names for (), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act "opéra bouffon" at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, Paris, on 21 October 1858, and was extensively revised and expanded in a four-act "opéra féerie" version, presented at the Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris, on 7 February 1874.
The opera is a lampoon of the ancient legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. In this version Orpheus is not the son of Apollo but a rustic violin teacher. He is glad to be rid of his wife, Eurydice, when she is abducted by the god of the underworld, Pluto. Orpheus has to be bullied by Public Opinion into trying to rescue Eurydice. The reprehensible conduct of the gods of Olympus in the opera was widely seen as a veiled satire of the court and government of Napoleon III, Emperor of the French. Some critics expressed outrage at the librettists' disrespect for classic mythology and the composer's parody of Gluck's opera ; others praised the piece highly.
was Offenbach's first full-length opera. The original 1858 production became a box-office success, and ran well into the following year, rescuing Offenbach and his Bouffes company from financial difficulty. The 1874 revival broke records at the Gaîté's box-office. The work was frequently staged in France and internationally during the composer's lifetime and throughout the 20th century. It is one of his most often performed operas, and continues to be revived in the 21st century.
In the last decade of the 19th century the Paris cabarets the Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergère adopted the music of the "Galop infernal" from the culminating scene of the opera to accompany the can-can, and ever since then the tune has been popularly associated with the dance.
Background and first productions
Between 1855 and 1858 Offenbach presented more than two dozen one-act operettas, first at the Bouffes-Parisiens, Salle Lacaze, and then at the Bouffes-Parisiens, Salle Choiseul. The theatrical licensing laws then permitted him only four singers in any piece, and with such small casts, full-length works were out of the question. In 1858 the licensing restrictions were relaxed, and Offenbach was free to go ahead with a two-act work that had been in his mind for some time. Two years earlier he had told his friend the writer Hector Crémieux that when he was musical director of the Comédie-Française in the early 1850s he swore revenge for the boredom he suffered from the posturings of mythical heroes and gods of Olympus in the plays presented there.Teneo, Martial. "Jacques Offenbach: His Centenary" , The Musical Quarterly, January 1920, pp. 98–117 Cremieux and Ludovic Halévy sketched out a libretto for him lampooning such characters.Luez, p. 106 By 1858, when Offenbach was finally allowed a large enough cast to do the theme justice, Halévy was preoccupied with his work as a senior civil servant, and the final libretto was credited to Crémieux alone.Gammond, p. 49 Most of the roles were written with popular members of the Bouffes company in mind, including Désiré, Léonce, Lise Tautin, and Henri Tayau as an Orphée who could actually play Orpheus's violin.Lamb, Andrew. "Orphée aux enfers", Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2002. Retrieved 27 April 2019
The first performance took place at the Salle Choiseul on 21 October 1858. At first the piece did reasonably well at the box-office but was not the tremendous success Offenbach had hoped for. He insisted on lavish stagings for his operas: expenses were apt to outrun receipts, and he was in need of a substantial money-spinner.Gammond, p. 49; and Yon, p. 213 Business received an inadvertent boost from the critic Jules Janin of the . He had praised earlier productions at the Bouffes-Parisiens but was roused to vehement indignation at what he maintained was a blasphemous, lascivious outrage – "a profanation of holy and glorious antiquity".Gammond, p. 54 His attack, and the irreverent public ripostes by Crémieux and Offenbach, made headlines and provoked huge interest in the piece among the Parisian public, who flocked to see it. In his 1980 study of Offenbach, Alexander Faris writes, " became not only a triumph, but a cult."Faris, p. 71 It ran for 228 performances, at a time when a run of 100 nights was considered a success."Edmond Audran" , Opérette – Théâtre Musical, Académie Nationale de l'Opérette (in French). Retrieved 16 April 2019 Albert Lasalle, in his history of the Bouffes-Parisiens (1860), wrote that the piece closed in June 1859 – although it was still performing strongly at the box-office – "because the actors, who could not tire the public, were themselves exhausted"."Orphée aux enfers" , Encyclopédie de l'art lyrique français, Association l'art lyrique français (in French). Retrieved 26 April 2019
In 1874 Offenbach substantially expanded the piece, doubling the length of the score and turning the intimate opéra bouffon of 1858 into a four-act opéra féerie extravaganza, with substantial ballet sequences. This version opened at the Théâtre de la Gaîté on 7 February 1874, ran for 290 performances,"Le succès au théâtre" , Le Figaro, 23 August 1891, p. 2 and broke box-office records for that theatre."Orphée aux enfers" , Opérette – Théâtre Musical, Académie Nationale de l'Opérette (in French). Retrieved 21 April 2019 During the first run of the revised version Offenbach expanded it even further, adding ballets illustrating the kingdom of Neptune in Act 3 and bringing the total number of scenes in the four acts to twenty-two.
Roles RoleVoice typePremiere cast (two-act version), 21 October 1858(Conductor: Jacques Offenbach)Offenbach (1859), unnumbered introductory page; and Crémieux, p. 7Premiere cast (four-act version), 7 February 1874(Conductor: Albert Vizentini)Offenbach (1874), unnumbered introductory pagePluton (Pluto), god of the underworld, disguised as Aristée (Aristaeus), a shepherdtenorLéonceAchille-Félix MontaubryJupiter, king of the godslow tenor or high baritoneDésiréChristianOrphée (Orpheus), a musiciantenorHenri TayauMeyronnetJohn Styx, servant of Pluton, formerly king of Boeotiatenor or baritoneBacheAlexandre, filsMercure (Mercury), messenger of the godstenorJ. PaulPierre GrivotBacchus, god of winespokenAntogniniChevalierMars, god of warbassFloquetGravierEurydice, wife of OrphéesopranoLise TautinMarie CicoDiane (Diana), goddess of chastitysopranoChabertBerthe Perret (Public Opinion)mezzo-sopranoMarguerite Macé-MontrougeElvire GilbertJunon (Juno), wife of Jupitersoprano or mezzo-sopranoEnjalbertPauline LyonVénus (Venus), goddess of beautysopranoMarie GarnierAngèleCupidon (Cupid), god of lovesoprano (en travesti)Coralie GeoffroyMatz-FerrareMinerve (Minerva), goddess of wisdomsopranoMarie CicoCastelloMorphée (Morpheus), god of sleeptenor –DamouretteCybèle (Cybele), goddess of naturesoprano –MauryPomone (Pomona), goddess of fruitssoprano–DurieuFlore (Flora), goddess of flowerssoprano –B. MeryCérès (Ceres), goddess of agriculturesoprano –IriartAmourmezzo-soprano –Matz-FerrareCerbère (Cerberus), three-headed guardian of the underworldbarkedTautin, snr.MonetMinosbaritone/tenor –ScipionÉaque (Aeacus)tenor –Jean PaulRhadamante (Rhadamanthus)bass –J. VizentiniGods, goddesses, muses, shepherds, shepherdesses, lictors and spirits in the underworld
Synopsis Original two-act version Act 1, Scene 1: The countryside near Thebes, Ancient Greece A spoken introduction with orchestral accompaniment (Introduction and Melodrame) opens the work. Public Opinion explains who she is – the guardian of morality ().Crémieux, pp. 10–11 She says that unlike the chorus in Ancient Greek plays she does not merely comment on the action, but intervenes in it, to make sure the story maintains a high moral tone. Her efforts are hampered by the facts of the matter: Orphée is not the son of Apollo, as in classical myth, but a rustic teacher of music, whose dislike of his wife, Eurydice, is heartily reciprocated. She is in love with the shepherd, Aristée (Aristaeus), who lives next door (),Crémieux, pp. 11–12 and Orphée is in love with Chloë, a shepherdess. When Orphée mistakes Eurydice for her, everything comes out, and Eurydice insists they abandon the marriage. Orphée, fearing Public Opinion's reaction, torments his wife into keeping the scandal quiet using violin music, which she hates ().Crémieux, pp. 15–18
Aristée enters. Though seemingly a shepherd he is in reality Pluton (Pluto), God of the Underworld. He keeps up his disguise by singing a pastoral song about sheep ().Crémieux, pp. 21–22 Eurydice has discovered what she thinks is a plot by Orphée to kill Aristée – letting snakes loose in the fields – but is in fact a conspiracy between Orphée and Pluton to kill her, so that Pluton may have her and Orphée be rid of her. Pluton tricks her into walking into the trap by showing immunity to it, and she is bitten. As she dies, Pluton transforms into his true form (Transformation Scene).Crémieux, p. 27 Eurydice finds that death is not so bad when the God of Death is in love with one ().Crémieux, pp. 29–29 They descend into the Underworld as soon as Eurydice has left a note telling her husband she has been unavoidably detained.Crémieux, p. 29
All seems to be going well for Orphée until Public Opinion catches up with him, and threatens to ruin his violin teaching career unless he goes to rescue his wife. Orphée reluctantly agrees.Crémieux, pp. 30–32
Act 1, Scene 2: Olympus The scene changes to Olympus, where the Gods are sleeping (). Cupidon and Vénus enter separately from amatory nocturnal escapades and join their sleeping colleagues, but everyone is soon woken by the sound of the horn of Diane, supposedly chaste huntress and goddess.Crémieux, p. 35 She laments the sudden absence of Actaeon, her current love ();Crémieux, p. 36 to her indignation, Jupiter tells her he has turned Actaeon into a stag to protect her reputation.Crémieux, p. 37 Mercury arrives and reports that he has visited the Underworld, to which Pluton has just returned with a beautiful woman.Crémieux, pp. 44–45 Pluton enters, and is taken to task by Jupiter for his scandalous private life.Crémieux, pp. 48–52 To Pluton's relief the other Gods choose this moment to revolt against Jupiter's reign, their boring diet of ambrosia and nectar, and the sheer tedium of Olympus ().Crémieux, pp. 53–54 Jupiter's demands to know what is going on lead them to point out his hypocrisy in detail, poking fun at all his mythological affairs ().Crémieux, pp. 58–60
Orphée's arrival, with Public Opinion at his side, has the gods on their best behaviour ().Crémieux, pp. 65–67 Orphée obeys Public Opinion and pretends to be pining for Eurydice: he illustrates his supposed pain with a snatch of from Gluck's .Offenbach (1859), p. 73 Pluton is worried he will be forced to give Eurydice back; Jupiter announces that he is going to the Underworld to sort everything out. The other gods beg to come with him, he consents, and mass celebrations break out at this holiday ().Crémieux, pp. 68–69
Act 2, Scene 1: Pluton's boudoir in the Underworld
Eurydice is being kept locked up by Pluton, and is finding life very tedious. Her gaoler is a dull-witted tippler by the name of John Styx. Before he died, he was King of Boeotia (a region of Greece that Aristophanes made synonymous with country bumpkins),Iversen, Paul A. "The Small and Great Daidala in Boiotian History", Historia: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte, 56, no. 4 (2007), p. 381 and he sings Eurydice a doleful lament for his lost kingship ().Crémieux, p. 75