ORPHEUS and EURYDICE

Rubens, Peter Paul and Workshop, Orpheus and Eurydice, 1636-1638, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Oil on canvas.

Young You

In Greek mythology, where most of the stories are of gods, there are a few human heroes and heroines who have had a great influence on posterity as much as gods. Orpheus and Eurydice are indispensable among them because they had a great influence both on the religion and art culture of later generations.

There are many different versions of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, but most are told as the sad story that he lost her forever. Orpheus was a genius poet and musician who could calm even ferocious beasts by playing the lyre. He met Eurydice and quickly fell in love and married her, but she was bitten by a snake on their wedding day and went to the underworld. Orpheus went all the way to the underworld to find Eurydice and played the lyre desperately in front of Hades and Persephone to get her back, and Hades eventually allowed him to go back with her on the condition that he would not look back until they left the underworld. However, he turned around, unable to overcome his doubts, and lost her forever. (Madeleine; Pommaux)

From a religious point of view, this myth has many similarities with the doctrines of modern religions. The separation of the soul from the body at death is a general doctrine in many modern religions, and the underworld guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed dog, is portrayed as the hell of modern religions. (Museo Del Prado) The fact that we can be reincarnated through earnest prayer or the way we lived our life also appears in some modern religions, like Buddhism. (Tsuji)

Around 500 B.C., Orpheusism, which followed such a doctrine of reincarnation, was even founded. Although there is not enough evidence, Orpheus was regarded as the founder of the religion and a prophet whose disciples devoted themselves to writing holy words that provided a bible for doctrines, rituals, and behaviors. (Morford, Mark, et al. H178) Orpheusism emphasized compensation and punishment after the death of the body in its doctrine and considered that the human soul was released after receiving these rewards and punishment. (Nel) The curiosity about the preservation of the human soul after death and the hope of reincarnation seem to be the main human concerns even after thousands of years.

As befits the fact that Orpheus was a talented musician, his mythology has had a greater impact on the field of arts. The story of Orpheus in Greek mythology, whose singing and playing his lyre made fierce beasts gentle and rocks weep, was a staple topic of early opera. Like Perry's 'Eurydice (1600)', the first opera with an extant score, Monteverdi's 'Orfeo (1607)', which marked the new beginning of opera, Gluck's 'Orfeo and Eurydice (1762)', Haydn's 'The Soul of the Philosopher' or 'Orpheus and Eurydice (1791)', and Offenbach's 'Orpheus in the Underworld (1858)', the most satirical opera, the story of Orpheus has been a source of inspiration for composers throughout the ages. (Lee; “Orpheus and Eurydice.”)

Perhaps, considering that the genre of opera is an art that combines poetry and music, perhaps people couldn't have come up with a more suitable protagonist than Orpheus. However, the more significant reason why the story of Orpheus and Eurydice has been so much loved in opera throughout the ages is that their story encompasses themes appropriate to the ages. At a time when religion and the gods were important, most early Orpheus operas focused on the relationship between god and man rather than a couple's love story. As opera became the most secular art in the Baroque era, the love between the two was gradually emphasized. The story of Orpheus, who impresses the god with passionate love and creates the ultimate victory in a relationship with a god that humans cannot recklessly challenge, shows well the story of 'absolute and unchanging love', which has reigned as the most important theme in opera history for over 400 years. (Lee)

When their story was put into Offenbach's 'Orpheus in the Underworld (1858) in 1858, it also greatly influenced the music genre. Cancan, a famous French classical piece of music that has been handed down to this day, was originally the overture composed by Offenbach for the final scene in which all the gods dance madly in this unconventional opera, which satirizes the story of two people. The overture quickly became popular in its own right and has remained a favorite of orchestral pop concerts. (Sayer; Schwarm) Their lovely myth does not stop even in modern culture. Harrison Birtwistle's The Mask of Orpheus (1986), which showed their story with electronic music in the opera, and Anais Mitchell's Broadway hit Hadestown (2006) are among the additions to an ever-expanding canon. (“Orpheus”)

Robinson Nguyen

Through the use of vivid illustrations and a compelling narrative structure, Yvan Pommaux’s graphic novel Orpheus in the Underworld reimagines the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and offers a fresh perspective on the power of love and the struggle for redemption. While the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is portrayed in various ways, one of the commonalities they all share is that the nature of tragedy is the true theme of the story. The illustrations in the graphic novel contain somber colors to capture a tragic atmosphere from beginning throughout the hero’s journey to the end, as one part of the opening sentence even states, “Two star-crossed lovers who experienced the greatest love and the deepest sorrow” (Pommaux).

        In a literary sense, the story of Orpheus and Eurydice highlights the importance of music, poetry, and the power of art to move people as it symbolizes the mortal experiences with all things in terms of talent, beauty, courage, love, and grief and sorrow to create strong connections with humanity. Orpheus, the son of a muse and young musician, was born with those features, all while having to experience grief and sorrow, playing music through his instrument called the lyre and singing through his voice to express his emotions. As stated in the original myth, the hero’s journey for Orpheus in the graphic novel begins when Eurydice is bitten by a venomous snake on their wedding day and tragically dies, ending up in the Underworld.

        Orpheus’ ability to charm animals, ferocious beasts, and even gods make him a powerful hero despite being a mortal human. His musical talent and love for Eurydice was enough for him to cross the River Styx alone and enter the Underworld. The term “crossing the threshold” could be used to define this stage in the monomyth as Orpheus separates himself from the known world and into the realm of the unknown. After reaching the palace of Hades, he sang to the God of the Underworld and Persephone his love for Eurydice in which the narrative descriptively highlights, “He sang of his undying love for his dear Eurydice and of the pain it caused him to be apart from her. He sang of his love, and it was as if no one had ever loved him before” (Pommaux). Greatly moved by Orpheus’ songs, Hades agreed to let him return to Earth with Eurydice only under one condition in which he cannot turn back to look at her to check if she is still following him. When close to reaching the end, his doubts finally caused him to look back at Eurydice and he lost her as she descended back into the Underworld, leaving him by himself once again with his efforts to rescue her in vain.

        After the tragedy, the graphic novel continued to depict the aftermath of Orpheus with no hope or joy left as his songs were so depressing. In the end, the other women of Thrace grew bitter and tired of listening to his songs about Eurydice while no attention was given to them, to the point where they could no longer stand it and killed him as his songs were making them sad. All the texts of Orpheus’ doubts realistically capture the human mental state as they were written in the background of pitch black, which could symbolize the empty mind. Even while the last image of the story depicts Orpheus’ dying brutally, Pommaux briefly mentions what happens to soul and body, and how he is reunited with Eurydice in the afterlife in the remaining narrative of the graphic novel to provide somewhat of a sense of relief after reading through this tragic tale of the myth.

Works Cited

Lee, Yong Sook. “Humans and Gods in Orpheus and Eurydice.” Auditorium, 1 Aug. 2014, auditorium.kr/2014/08/%EC%98%A4%EB%A5%B4%ED%8E%98%EC%98%A4%EC%99%80-%EC%97%90%EC%9A%B0%EB%A6%AC%EB%94%94%EC%B2%B4%EC%9D%98-%EC%9D%B8%EA%B0%84%EA%B3%BC-%EC%8B%A0%EB%93%A4/. Accessed 30 July 2023.

Madeleine. “The Tragic Myth about Orpheus and Eurydice.” Theoi - Exploring Mythology in Classical Literature & Art, 26 Nov. 2019, www.theoi.com/articles/the-tragic-myth-about-orpheus-and-eurydice/. Accessed 29 July 2023.

Morford, Mark, et al. “Life of Orpheus, Religious Poet and Musician.” Classical Mythology, 12th ed., Oxford University Press, 2023, p. H178.

Museo Del Prado. “Orpheus and Eurydice - the Collection.” The Collection - Museo Nacional Del Prado, www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/orpheus-and-eurydice/07c9d839-8284-44bd-9c37-79585a88770f. Accessed 28 July 2023.

Nel, Aiden. “Orpheus & the Mystery Cult of Orphism.” The Collector, 25 Jan. 2023, www.thecollector.com/orpheus-cult-orphism/. Accessed 30 July 2023.

“Orpheus and Eurydice.” History Today, 8 Aug. 2019, www.historytoday.com/archive/foundations/orpheus-and-eurydice. Accessed 29 July 2023.

Pommaux, Yvan. Orpheus in the Underworld. Trans. by Richard Kutner, TOON Books, an Imprint of RAW Junior, LLC, 2015.

Sayer, Raina. Song of the Week: Cancan, The Music Class, themusicclass.com/blog/song-week-cancan. Accessed 29 July 2023.

Schwarm, Betsy. "Orpheus in the Underworld". Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Apr. 2015, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Orpheus-in-the-Underworld. Accessed 29 July 2023.

Tsuji, Takashi. “On Reincaranation.” A Basic Buddhism Guide: On Reincarnation, www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/reincarnation.htm. Accessed 30 July 2023.