Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi
Freedom for a Song

Have you heard the one about the opera singer who was abducted by kidnappers? They thought she was an heiress and were hoping to collect ransom. When they discovered their mistake, they offered to release her if she could prove she was an opera star by singing for them. “What?” she said; “Sing here? In this place? With no orchestra, no audience, no contract?” “Let her go,” sighed the criminal ringleader. “She’s an opera singer all right.”

Now, in that story the diva didn’t actually have to sing for her freedom. But she DID have a special talent which allowed her to escape a fate someone else might have been forced to endure. There are lots of other examples of the same phenomenon. One was the famous blues/folk legend Huddie Ledbetter - better known as Lead Belly. Once, he was convicted of murder in Louisiana and sent to prison. But when the governor came to inspect the penitentiary, Lead Belly sang him a number he had put together for just such an occasion, hoping it might get him a break. And it did. The governor was so impressed that Lead Belly was pardoned - and went down in history as the man who sang his way out of jail.

And there was also a guy named Orpheus. Or at least, legend says there was. He was a famous singer and guitar player whose songs were said to calm wild beasts. When his wife Euridice died of a snakebite, Orpheus sang his way into the Underworld and won her back from Pluto. Of course, he did lose her again. It turns out Euridice’s “pardon” was more like probation, and Orpheus vioated the conditions. Still, a more affable deity, Jupiter, was also impressed with Orpheus. So eventually the loving couple at least wound up in a more pleasant afterworld than Pluto’s domain.

That last story is the one we look into this week on At the Opera, with Lou Santacroce, as we explore Monteverdi’s opera, ORFEO. Lou discusses the legend and its modern-day implications with critic and regular guest Ed Rothstein; conductor Jane Glover tells us about the Monteverdi, and why he’s often credited with inventing the entire form of opera; and Thomson Smillie directs us to the opera’s Underworldly musical delights.

Hear Lou's conversation with opera conductor Jane Glover, who explains how she interprets Monteverdi's works 400 years after they were written. (Requires the free RealPlayer 5.0 or higher. You can also listen with a 14.4 connection.)

And as usual on this show, we hear more music than just the opera in question - including:

• “Governor Neff” by Lead Belly
• “Samba de Orfeo” and “Morning of the Carnival” from the “Black Orpheus” film score
• “Orpheus in the Underworld” by Jacques Offenbach
• “Samba de Orfeo” performed by saxophonist Sonny Stitt
• “Ballet of the Ungrateful Ladies” by Claudio Monteverdi

Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, performed at the Municipal Theatre of Lausanne (Switzerland) by the Ensemble La Fenice; Veronique Carrot, director. Check it out on NPR World of Opera.

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