The Mélodie (Masterworks of the Violin No 8), is a sensitive transcription of the Lento from the Dance of the Blessed Spirits in Gluck’s opera Orfeo ed Euridice.

from notes by Tully Potter © 2014

Mélodie (Chef-d’œuvre du violon nº 8) est une sensible transcription du Lento de la Danse des Esprits bienheureux tirée de l’opéra de Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice.

extrait des notes rédigées par Tully Potter © 2014
Français: Hypérion

Die Mélodie (Meisterwerke für Violine Nr. 8) ist eine einfühlsame Transkription des „Reigens seliger Geister“ (Lento) aus Glucks Oper Orfeo ed Euridice.

aus dem Begleittext von Tully Potter © 2014
Deutsch: Christiane Frobenius

The first of Gluck’s ‘reform’ operas, Orfeo ed Euridice (1762/74), ‘symbol of the modern music drama’ (Paul Henry Láng), received its premiere at the Burgtheater, 5 October 1762, marking the name-day festivities of Francis I. Setting an Italian libretto by Calzabigi, including dancing in the action, the later French expansion, as Orphée et Eurydice, to a libretto by Pierre-Louis Moline and with the castrato part of Orfeo (Guadagni) re-allocated to haute-contre (Legros), was produced at the Académie-Royale de Musique, 2 August 1774. The three-act story, from Greek mythology, relates how Orfeo the poet-musician braves the Furies to bring back his wife Euridice from the Underworld. In saving her, part of the contract is that he will not look at her until she is back on earth. But, succumbing to her sadness that he apparently no longer loves her, he does. She dies. He sings of his grief in ‘Che farò senza Euridice?’/‘J’ai perdu mon Eurydice’ (Act III)—wondrously beautiful music that has never lost its power to grip the heart.

from notes by Ateş Orga © 2010