Know Thyself – Musical

30.00

Josep Maria Gregori

MUSIC

Act IV of L’Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi (1607) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mD16EVxNOM  [1.13:08 to 1.38:50 = 25′ of video & music]

Introductory remarks:

Orpheus’s katabasis to Hades shows that ‘only the force of love allows mutations’ (Ct 8:6); because of this, ‘today, Piety and Love have overcome Hell’ (L’Orfeo, Coro di Spiriti). The force of the love for his Euridice and the power of Music allow Orpheus to penetrate the darkness of the infernal regions and to revive piety and love at the very heart of the divinities that inhabit them. Orpheus sees himself as complete, but his turning round shows that he has not yet achieved his true identity.