Watch Short Film: Sequence/Orpheus

Orpheus is pursued by the followers of Bacchus, but they pause to sing the praises of the god of wine.

The centerpiece of this film is a live performance of a scene from the 1607 edition of the libretto for Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo” (no music extant). It has been enhanced with studio and location video, archival performance art footage, a percussion track and old 78s of Greek tavern songs. Introducing this eventually evolved into a TV show which became part of the sequence. The clown at the beginning (demonstrating the “clown turn”) is from the live show. Clowning, transvestitism and crude humor appeared in Monteverdi’s works (pre-figuring Commedia dell’Arte) often extraneous to the plot. All of this is an attempt to capture the spirit of Venetian opera of the era,