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''Orphée aux enfers,'' whose title translates from the French as ''Orpheus in the Underworld,'' is an opéra bouffe (a form of operetta), or opéra féerie in its revised version. Its score was composed by Jacques Offenbach to a French text written by Ludovic Halévy and later revised by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux. The work, first performed in 1858, is said to be the first classical full-length operetta.〔Holden, p. 267〕 Offenbach's earlier operettas were small-scale one-act works, since the law in France did not allow full-length works of certain genres. ''Orpheus'' was not only longer, but more musically adventurous than Offenbach's earlier pieces.〔Lamb, Andrew, "Orphée aux enfers", in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7〕 This also marked the first time that Offenbach used Greek mythology as a background for one of his pieces. The operetta is an irreverent parody and scathing satire on Gluck and his ''Orfeo ed Euridice'' and culminates in the risqué ''Galop infernal'' ("Infernal Galop") that shocked some in the audience at the premiere. Other targets of satire, as would become typical in Offenbach's burlesques, are the stilted performances of classical drama at the Comédie-Française and the scandals in society and politics of the Second French Empire. The "Infernal Galop" from Act 2, Scene 2, is famous outside classical circles as the music for the "can-can" (to the extent that the tune is widely, but erroneously, called "can-can"). Saint-Saëns borrowed the Galop, slowed it to a crawl, and arranged it for the strings to represent the tortoise in ''The Carnival of the Animals''. ==Performance history== The first performance of the two-act, opéra bouffe version took place at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in Paris on 21 October 1858 and ran for an initial 228 performances. It then returned to the stage a few weeks later, after the cast had had a rest. For the Vienna production of 1860, Carl Binder provided an overture that became famous, beginning with its bristling fanfare, followed by a tender love song, a dramatic passage, a complex waltz, and, finally, the renowned can-can music.〔Hall, George. Notes to Decca CD 425 083-2, 1994〕 In America the work played in German at the Stadt Theatre, on Broadway, from March 1861.〔Holden, p. 268〕 It had its Czech premiere in 1864, under Adolf Čech.〔(Cesky hudebny slovnik ); Retrieved 21 April 2013〕 It had a run of 76 performances at Her Majesty's Theatre, in London, beginning on 26 December 1865, in an adaptation by J. R. Planché.〔"Haymarket Theatre", ''The Observer'', 31 December 1865, p. 3〕 A four-act version, designated as an opéra féerie, was first performed at the Théâtre de la Gaîté on 7 February 1874.〔("Orpheus in the Underworld" ) ''Musical Theatre Guide''〕 (This has proved less popular over time than the original two-act version.) Sadler's Wells opera presented an English version by Geoffrey Dunn beginning on 16 May 1960.〔"A Modern Orpheus", ''The Times'', 18 May 1960, p. 18〕 In the 1980s, English National Opera staged the opera freely translated into English by Snoo Wilson with David Pountney. The production was notable for its satirical portrayal of the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as the character Public Opinion. The first performance was at the Coliseum Theatre in London on 5 September 1985.〔Sleeve notes to the CD recording of the ENO production: CDTER 1134〕 The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company performed the work in the 1990s.〔Milnes, Rodney. "All down to a hell of a good snigger" ''The Times'', 22 Monday, March 1993; and Sutcliffe, Tom. "Styx for Kicks", ''The Guardian'' 21 April 1993, p. A6〕In September 1997 a production by Laurent Pelly was mounted in a former hydroelectric plant near Geneva while the stage area of the Grand Théâtre was being renovated, with Yann Beuron and Annick Massis in the title roles and Marc Minkowski conducting;〔Kasow, J. Massis's Eurydice - report from Geneva. ''Opera,'' January 1998, Vol 49, No 1, p101-2.〕 this production moved on to Lyon where it was recorded and filmed. The Toronto Operetta Theatre staged a controversial performance in Dec. 1993-Jan. 1994 in which heaven was Club Med, and hell was a leather bar.〔http://www.torontooperetta.com/past-shows.html〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Orpheus in the Underworld」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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