The Mask of Orpheus
The Mask of Orpheus is an opera with music by Harrison Birtwistle, electronic music realised by Barry Anderson and a libretto by Peter Zinovieff. It was premiered in London at the English National Opera on 21 May 1986 to great critical acclaim.[1] A recorded version conducted by Andrew Davis and Martyn Brabbins has also received good reviews.[2][3] A new production of the opera was staged at the English National Opera in 2019, conducted by Martyn Brabbins and James Henshaw.[4] The work is around three hours long.
The Mask of Orpheus
Act 1[edit]
Orpheus and Eurydice fall in love and marry. Eurydice later dies from a snake bite, and Orpheus consults the Oracle of the Dead, intending to follow her to the Underworld.
Orpheus journeys to the Underworld through seventeen arches, each with a symbolic name. On his journey back, he believes Eurydice is following him, but it is actually Persephone and the mime Eurydice. Orpheus goes back for Eurydice but realises she cannot follow him. Orpheus hangs himself. The act ends with Orpheus waking up, realising that his journey to the Underworld was a dream.
The Seventeen Arches
Each of the arches that Orpheus must travel through is given a symbolic name.
Act 3[edit]
At the start of this act, time is moving backwards: Orpheus travels back out of and into the Underworld, and Eurydice dies once more. Then time moves forwards as Orpheus leaves the Underworld again. One version of the Orpheus story is that he is then killed by a thunderbolt thrown by Zeus, while another is that he is dismembered by the women of Dionysus. Orpheus then becomes the subject of a cult and an oracle. Time flows backwards once more, and Orpheus' death is acted out again, and the opera ends with the Orpheus myth decaying.
The electronic music[edit]
The Mask of Orpheus, in addition to vocal and orchestral music, contains a significant amount of electronic music, which was realised on behalf of Birtwistle by Barry Anderson. Anderson's premature death in 1987, as well as a paucity of extant sketch material, has made an objective assessment of the collaboration unclear. The issue has been raised of whether Birtwistle has acknowledged the true extent of his collaboration with Anderson as a fellow composer.[5] Anderson mapped out the electronic music in detail at the IRCAM studios in Paris between 1981 and 1984.
Each act has its own electronic "aura", which goes on continuously, sometimes prominently, sometimes inaudibly; the voice of Apollo is heard on several occasions as an electronic sound "speaking" in an invented language. There are also six purely electronic interludes created by computer manipulation of harp sounds.
The staging[edit]
Jocelyn Herbert was commissioned to design the sets and costumes for the opera's premiere. The staging was complex, involving suns, rivers, and a flying golden carriage. Each singer wore (and sang through) a mask. Large puppets were created to change proportion on stage. All the masks and costumes were designed to appear timeless, so as to avoid placing the opera in a specific era.