Charles Daniels, Montreal Baroque - Orfeo Fantasia (2005)

It is not surprising that the musicians of the Baroque period were fascinated, in the legend of Orpheus, both by the tragic love story of the mythical couple and by the relation of the extraordinary powers of music, to which the ancients Greeks bore faith.

Thus, among the very first operas are two Euridice, the first by Jacopo Peri, the other by Giulio Caccini, as well as Orfeo by Monteverdi. And right up to Haydn, via Luigi Rossi, Telemann and Gluck, composers have brought this unfortunate story to the stage, recalling at the same time the power of the art of sound, of which they themselves were the guardians.

Our recording uses various music chosen to evoke the central episode of the myth and composed in Italy, England and France during the first two decades of the 17th century. While the lute and harpsichord pieces suggest the art of Orpheus himself, charming men, beasts and gods with his lyre, a few instrumental pages and some beautiful interventions by the hero are borrowed from Monteverdi's Orfeo. Finally, Italian monodies, court airs and airs by John Dowland and Tobias Hume express the various vicissitudes that weave the fabric of all existence.