Orphée aux enfers

Orphée aux enfers

Orpheus in the Underworld and Orpheus in Hell are English names for Orphée aux enfers (French: [ɔʁfe oz‿ɑ̃fɛʁ]), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act "opéra bouffon" at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, Paris, on 21 October 1858, and was extensively revised and expanded in a four-act "opéra féerie" version, presented at the Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris, on 7 February 1874.

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Orphée aux enfers
  • Orphée aux enfers (1971)

    "Orpheus in the Underworld represents a quantum leap in Offenbach’s operetta output, for it would have been unthinkable to have created a stage work of such opulence and extravagance in Paris prior to that time. Strict regulations dating from the era of Napoleon I assigned to each of the city’s t...

  • Orphée aux enfers (1984)

    "Orpheus in der Unterwelt", Offenbach’s satirical answer to Gluck’s “Orfeo”, was premiered in Paris 1858 and portrays society as amoral, the upper class as lax and indifferent to all and public opinion in charge of both.

    In the early 1980s legendary director Götz Friedrich created his own conte...