Commissioned by Cardinal Mazarin of the French court and first produced in Paris in 1647, Italian composer Luigi Rossi’s (1597-1653) three-act opera Orfeo, with libretto by Francesco Buti, is based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

One of the earliest operas, it’s a rarely heard masterpiece and its inclusion in the 2026 Adelaide Festival has provided a golden opportunity to experience it.

The story tells of the marriage of Orpheus and Eurydice despite bad omens; the envious, love-sick Aristaeus calling on Venus’s help to win Eurydice away from Orpheus and deny fate; Eurydice’s subsequent death from a snakebite; and the distraught Orpheus’s journey to the underworld to beg its ruler Pluto for her return.

Orpheus so enchants Pluto and his queen Proserpina with his music that Pluto grants Orpheus’s wish, but on the condition that he walk ahead of Eurydice and not look back at her as they leave. But Orpheus turns to see if Eurydice is following, whereupon she is returned to the underworld.

In this version of the story, Eurydice catches up to Orpheus as he walks ahead and embraces him, and he thus cannot resist turning, looking at her...