From The Archives 19: The Fantastic of Orfeo and his Lyre

I was first introduced to the operatic Orfeo in my Western Art Music Tradition class, but I returned to him when I took Opera, Ballet, & the Supernatural during my final semester. Needless to say, I'm pretty familiar with the subject at this point. If you're gonna study any opera though, historically, Monteverdi's Orfeo is an important one.

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April 2019

            When it comes to opera, there are many elements that can be seen as a form of “instrument.” Musically, there is the orchestra in the pit, and the singers on the stage, but sometimes there are instruments on the stage as well. Stage instruments provide not only music of their own, but also a distinct element of fantastic that sets them apart from the other instruments involved in the production in the various operas that use them. The music from Orfeo’s golden lyre may be assumed to be marvelous, but the physicality of the instrument and humanity’s relationship with music brings Orfeo into the realm of the fantastic.

            Todorov’s idea of the fantastic dictates that any event appearing supernatural falls into one of three categories. If a particular situation, or event, appears as a supernatural illusion but can be very much placed into and explained by reality, it categorized as “uncanny.” If the occurrence definitively cannot be explained by reality, it is an appearance of the “marvelous.” If however the event resides somewhere in the spectrum between uncanny and marvelous, with no certain answer as to whether it is possible or impossible and its relationship with reality is unknown, then that is the “fantastic.” 

            Orfeo is not Orfeo without his musical ability and his lyre, and both Monteverdi and Gluck’s Orfeos interact with his lyre in the similar way, but I will be focusing on Monteverdi’s representation. In Monteverdi’s Orfeo, La Musica, the personified version of music, first introduces the instrument of the lyre. She tells of playing her “golden lyre” and inspiring mortals to reach for “the resounding harmony of the lyre of Heaven.” She then introduces Orfeo and his talent with song. While she is the literal personification of music and expected to be the utmost talent at all things musical, for Musica to introduce the lyre and then Orfeo as the introduction of the Orfeo indicates an importance to the instrument of the lyre more than just as a random instrument.

            The lyre becomes an important character when Orfeo heads down into the underworld to retrieve Eurydice. While previously there had been mentions of Orfeo’s lyre, when he is left by Hope at the boatman, he defends his intentions by proclaiming that, “on a golden Lyre my fingers are only armed with sweet strings.” While we, as the audience, have not been told whether Orfeo received his lyre from Musica, common myth indicates that his lyre came from Apollo. It is unknown if it is the same lyre that Musica used for charming mortals, but either way, it is definitely a lyre with power. Of course, some of the power of his lyre music comes from Orfeo himself, but it is unclear how much comes from him, how much comes from the lyre, and what exactly that power entails.

            Orfeo’s world is that of Greek mythology, where gods and celestial beings exist and reality includes more “magic” or unusual occurrences than what would be accepted from our own reality. A lot of the myths helped to provide an explanation for situations the ancient Greeks couldn’t understand because of their limited knowledge of science and the workings of the natural world. However, Orfeo’s journey to the underworld entails an event more elaborate than the origins of lightning or weaving. While some may assume any Greek mythology-based story to be in the realm of the marvelous, Orfeo’s relationship with music rides that line between marvelous and fantastic. 

            To define music is a near-impossible feat, because it is more than just sound, but it can have different meaning to each person who hears it. Whatever it might come to mean to someone, most would have to agree that music is inexplicably intertwined with emotion, in a way that is almost its own form of magic. When Orfeo plays his lyre for the boatman, it is not out of the ordinary for there to be a reaction to the music. For Orfeo’s music to put him to sleep may be an unusual occurrence, but it is not so farfetched as to be unequivocally marvelous. 

When Hades, or Plutone, decides to allow Orfeo to bring back Eurydice, a spirit decribes Orfeo as a “gentle singer,” but when Orfeo gives his thanks, he credits his “all-powerful lyre” for winning him over.  Is it actually a powerful lyre or is it Orfeo’s own talent that makes his combination of lyre playing and singing so powerful? All he created was an emotional response from the gods, so was there anything magical or marvelous in order to convince them? Perhaps the boatman was tired and the gods were feeling sentimental and his music only needed to be good enough to convince them to be on his side. 

While Orfeo’s music may have some kind of power or music that places it outside of the realm of normal, and while Orfeo may exist in a reality slightly different for our own, music has a way of transcending both the real and the unreal that makes it fantastic. If the music came out of thin area, that would be a marvelous occurrence, but the use of an instrument, which in this case is a golden lyre, grounds it in a state of reality, causing the audience to be wonder and be uncertain as to where the power in music is coming from. 

            As one of the earliest operas, Monteverdi’s Orfeo exists with a purpose of proving that music can be powerful in different forms, like that of opera. To gloss over all the various aspects and questions about music would be a disservice to the opera, and to throw Orfeo into the category of marvelous without a deeper analysis would alienate music from its humanity. Orfeo and his lyre may have some godly benefits helping him along with his goal of retrieving Eurydice, but there is also some normal human in him. The combination of both godly and magical, and human and emotional creates the perfect setting for the existence of the fantastic.