Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, semi-staged opera.

Performed in a semi-staged form, this is Christoph Willibald Gluck's opera “Orfeo ed Euridice” with a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi, presented as a guest appearance by the Opéra de Monte-Carlo; it lasts about 1 hour 30 minutes without an interval. Premiered in Vienna in 1762, the work shaped the development of the genre like hardly any other and brought together the reform ideas of its era in an almost exemplary way. At its heart lies the myth of Orpheus, who charms the gods of the underworld with his singing to win back his beloved Eurydice to life. Gluck's treatment overcame the traditional opera seria through natural, authentic expression and a dramatic truthfulness the likes of which had never been known, letting audiences share deeply in the characters' emotions.