Ah, Orphee!

On February 14th , the Day of Love, I introduced Troy to my favorite Gluck's Orphee and his J'ai perdu mon Euridice.

I would like to share how I sing it for Troy, because he really loves it and demands that I sing it again and again. To me it means that,by pure intuition, I have probably got into the right groove, allowing him to understand it and appreciate it.

I sing it in Russian with my own poetic translation - my Russian readers out there, tell me what you think:


Потерял я Эвридику
Где найти ее не знаю.
Я страдаю
И рыдаю
И хочу ее найти.


Эвридика... Эвридика...


Средь скал холодных
Долин бесплодных
Как тебе страшно
Как тебе страшно...


Потерял я Эвридику
Не смирюсь с такой судьбою
В путь отправлюсь за тобою
И любовь свою верну
И любовь свою верну!


Эвридика... Эвридика...


The point here is to really act it out.
First Orphee is breathless with sorrow and pain of his loss. But then, quite soon in fact, like most young people, he changes grief for hope and lightens his heart with a new goal - to go to the Kingdom of the Dead and get his beloved back.
Therefore, with music being similar, those are two very different parts and I sing them very differently.
When Orphee calls out for the first time: Euridice.... there is just despair in his voice about his irretrievable loss, but the second time there is hope and quite a bit of joy of seeing his beloved again. Sooner or later they will meet and be together forever.

And then, after the second part, I do the vocalise of the same music of J'ai perdu, but it's just the voice, going softer and softer, as if Orphee is going away and gradually his voice fades away.

Plus, of course I am singing it while driving with Troy through the still much snowed up scenic Maryland... it kind of puts you in the mood.
Ah, Orphee...
Is there anything more about love than this incredible opera?
It's very romantic, yet it's pretty fairy-tale-ish, like most ancient Greek myths. It's easy to understand, it's all about adventure and devotion.
We looked at the book tonight to illustrate the singing. It was fun.

P.S.
Just thought about a little addition to my post…
For those of you who are not familiar with that particular aria, you could find it both on you tube and on CDs of so many great artists. This aria, originally written for castratti, is nowadays sung by mezzo sopranos, contra tenors, light tenors (check out Mr. Florez’s Great Tenor Arias CD) and even baritones (check out Mr. Hvorostovsky’s Aria Antiche CD). So follow your intuition there, compare, contrast and see which one you will like best.
My personal preference can be found on you tube. It’s Magdalena Kozena, singing Orphee in Theatre du Chatelet. Her Orphee is very deep, dramatic and mythological.
Enjoy and don’t forget to share your listening experience here on this blog.