Milwaukee Opera Theatre and Aperi Anamam Visit ‘The Source’ with ‘L’Orfeo’

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Photo Credit: Mark Frohna

Milwaukee Opera Theatre's 'L'Orfeo'

When Orpheus appears before Pluto, the lord of the Underworld, to plead for the life of his wife, Eurydice, he sways Pluto with the power of song. Orpheus is the protagonist of what many have called the first opera, L’Orfeo (1607). Scholars dispute whether L’Orfeo was first, an argument similar to more recent debates over the first rock and roll record (no, Elvis didn’t sing it). But whether he came first or second, Orpheus became the first operatic hero, clearing the stage for a thousand passionate arias to come.

Milwaukee Opera Theatre has chosen L’Orfeo, historically significant if seldom staged in recent centuries, for its next performance. Says MOT’s Artistic Director Jill Anna Ponasik, “L’Orfeo is one of the earliest and most foundational of all operas. It’s essentially the first opera written that is still performed today. In choosing this piece, we wanted to go back to The Source, as it were, to explore the roots of our artform and to mine its depths for connections to the more frequently performed operas by such composers as Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini which followed in L’Orfeo’s footsteps.”

L'Orfeo’s composer, Claudio Monteverdi, a child of the Italian Renaissance, was steeped in the era’s revival of what was understood (or misunderstood) as ancient Greece culture. Monteverdi’s ambition was to restore Greek drama as he imagined it. Instead, he encouraged the development of a new art form, eventually called opera. However, enter the scholars again: Monteverdi wasn’t the first Italian composer drawn to his subject. An earlier musical drama called Orfeo is dated at 1480, and the hero’s undying love was honored in not one but three versions of Euridice in the early 1600s. Working within that backdrop, Monteverdi composed a “musical fable” sung throughout, complete with dances and instrumental interludes. The persuasive power of music was integral to the story drawn from Greek mythology.

“Although the opera itself may not be familiar to contemporary audiences, the story of Orfeo (Orpheus) and his descent to the Underworld to rescue his fallen bride Euridice is well-known as a cornerstone of Western mythology and culture,” Ponasik explains. “At the heart of the story is Orfeo’s grief at the loss of his wife, and although not everyone has experienced the loss of a love one, his grief serves as a universal metaphor for the losses that we've all experienced. At a time when we’ve collectively been plunged into a globally cataclysmic situation, Orfeo’s journey from Light to Dark and back again felt poignant to us.”

As they have done in past productions of historical operas, MOT has commissioned a new English translation of L’Orfeo’s libretto, this time by Milwaukee’s Joseph Krohlow and MOT Company Manager Danny Brylow, who translated Mozart’s The Magic Flute into MOT’s endearing Zie Magic Flute. “In creating the translation, Brylow and Krohlow sought to capture the spirit of the original while taking selective liberties to accommodate our larger vision for the production,” Ponasik explains. “While most of the word choices seek to remain neutral and timeless, modern touches sneak in from time to time, because, well, we couldn’t resist.”

Although MOT has also performed contemporary productions, history has long informed the company’s season schedules. “I think each of our productions begins by blowing the dust off the score, listening to it carefully, and tugging out what strikes us as fascinating, exciting, and/or relevant,” Ponasik says. “Sometimes that leads to mad cap high jinks and singers on roller skates. In this case, L’Orfeo revealed other riches. Here, we embraced the delicate, etherial, meditative beauty in the score, and the special directness of the storytelling.”

For L’Orfeo, MOT collaborates with the dazzling vocal ensemble Aperi Animam and an ensemble playing period instruments, including harpsichord, viola da gamba, theorbo, violin, sackbut and recorder. “That’s completely new territory for us!” Ponasik says. Does this signal an early music concert? “Well, yes, and of course, also no,” she continues. “The members of Aperi Animam are already more acquainted with this style than most singers, but even so, we scheduled several workshops with Dr. William Hudson to help us understand specific distinctions in this score. Some of them were just lectures over Zoom, but they were marvelous, and you could hear the piece become more alive immediately. That said, we’re trying not to hold too tightly to the ‘rules’ of early performance.”  

MOT veteran Jackie Willis stars as Orfeo amidst a rotating cast of characters. “L’Orfeo is unique in that, aside from the central role of Orfeo, the other named roles are quite brief, making short but pithy appearances to help or hinder Orfeo in his journey to retrieve Euridice from the Underworld,” Ponasik says.

“The cast of 16 is comprised entirely of current and former Aperi Animam members: four of these singers will sing only principal roles (Orfeo, Euridice, La Musica and Apollo), while the 12 singers on Aperi's current roster form the chorus, with six of these singers also taking principal roles (High Priest of Apollo, The Messenger, Speranza, Caronte, Proserpina, and Pluto). If that sounds confusing to you, you aren’t the only one.  Danny Brylow had to use a Venn Diagram to explain the casting to us at a production meeting!”

Milwaukee Opera Theatre performs L’Orfeo June 9-12 at Calvary Presbyterian Church, 628 N 10th St.