Monteverdi in Barcelona For all fans of classical music, I recommend the 2002 production of the opera Orpheus by the Italian Renaissance composer Claudio Monteverdi on the stage of the Barcelona Opera House.
This is a well-known story from ancient Greek mythology about the musician Orpheus, who went to the underworld of the dead for his beloved Eurydice.
An interesting fact is that Orpheus, written by the composer in 1607, is generally considered the first opera in the world in the sense that we understand the opera art - the theater of singing. Before that, from 1597 on the court stage it was fashionable to put interludes - recitations of poems on ancient subjects to music, alternated with chants. This is due to the slow, viscous recitative sound of the opera.
The brilliant scenography of this production is made in classical traditions and, together with disguised orchestrators and trumpeters on the balconies, immerses the viewer in the atmosphere of the Renaissance.
Although many musical instruments of those years have not survived to our time, the performance of music and the technique of singing are restored to the representation of that period - perhaps so heard opera in that ancient era.
I think that the sad music of Monteverdi will not leave indifferent even not quite prepared listener, and the choreography, scenery and costumes will please theatrical stylization of the ancient time of action.
10 out of 10