Breaking the mould: Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice

For those in the original audience expecting a gentle, pastoral scene, they were in for a shock. Gluck’s creation announced a seismic shift, revolting against the excesses that had befallen Italian opera. Instead, Gluck communicates Orfeo’s grief at his wife’s death, and his struggle as he is forbidden to look at her when she is resurrected, with a direct and beautiful simplicity.