Birgit Johanna Wertenson
Wie geht es eigentlich Eurydike? (How is Eurydice actually doing?)
Eine Methologie auf Spurensuche: Zu Iris ter Schiphorsts Kammeroper Euridice (2001/2002)
The myth surrounding the singer hero Orpheus, who manages to enter the underworld by virtue of his artistry and, unlike his lover Eurydice, escapes alive, is a fascinating one for the world of music. The archaic myth has played a central role in music history at least since Claudio Monteverdi's mythology L'Orfeo and has since developed a tradition of reception that goes back more than four hundred years.
It continues into the 21st century: On 20 September 2002, new musical and scenic interpretations of the Orpheus myth took place as part of a three-part Orpheus project at the Bielefeld Theatre. The mythical figure was to be confronted with three work commissions under the motto of memory topography. While Manos Tsangaris relocated his contribution 'Orpheus, Zwischenspiele' to the literal Bielefeld underworld of the underground railway shafts and Georg Nussbaumer undertook a provocative and playful 'installation opera' in 'orpheusarchipel'.installation opera', Iris ter Schiphorst presented the ancient love drama from a new perspective on the stage of the theatre at the Alter Markt, namely that of Eurydice. The composer banishes Orpheus from her work and goes in search of traces of the female part of the myth. ...