This dissertation traces the course of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in classical and later Western literature. Three particulars about myth serve to unify the discussion: myth evolves in literature; its meaning changes through the ages; some myths evolve art-forms in which to express themselves. Myth evolves in literature: Chapter I examines the twenty-one references to or treatments of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in Greek and Roman authors, and attempts to show that the traditional story of Orpheus' backward glance and the second loss of Eurydice is a Hellenistic development of a story originally connected with Orphic mysteries. The fully developed myth is seen to combine elements of myth, legend and folklore. The meaning of myth changes through the ages: in the classical period (Chapter II), the separate themes in the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, themes of death, music and love (stemming from the mythical, legendary and folk elements, respectively), are stated in the Culex; but Orpheus for this age is primarily a great civilizing influence, and this is the context in which Virgil places him in the Georgics. In the Middle Ages (Chapter III), the myth is allegorized in Boethius and romanticized in the Middle English poem Sir Orfeo. In the Renaissance (Chapter IV), Orpheus is once more a symbol of the civilizing force, and the descent to Hades, though often alluded to, is less important than other myths in the Orpheus-cycle. The Orpheus bequeathed to literature by the opera (Chapter V) is more human and fallible, and in the Romantic age (Chapter VI) this figure is gradually fused with the mystical Orphic poet, so that the contemporary Orpheus of Rilke and Cocteau (Chapter VII) is again a symbol, but of man in his role of artist, seeking to communicate with another world. Myth sometimes evolves art-forms in which to express itself; Politian's Orfeo, a secular subject which used music to tell its story, is seen to be the forerunner of the opera (Chapter IV); later, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice evolved the opera, in the works of the Florentine Camerata and Monteverdi, and served as the pattern for its reform, in Gluck (Chapter V). While the myth has meant something different to every age, there is a uniformity in its tradition: poets have always availed themselves of one or more of its three themes - the victory of death over life, the civilizing power of music, the problem of human emotion and its control. / Arts, Faculty of / Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of / Graduate

Zugl.: Diss. Univ. Freiburg i. Br., 2007/2008 (geringfügig überarb.). / Zugl.: Freiburg (Breisgau), Univ., Diss., 2007/2008 u.d.T.: Artsibacheva, Olga: Der Saiten süße Kunst. Originaltitel: "Der Saiten süsse Kunst" - Die Rezeption des Orpheus-Mythos in deutschen Musikdramen des 17. Jahrhunderts, Titel der Diss. Originaltitel: Der Saiten süsse Kunst. Literaturverzeichnis: S. 267-290.

Proefschrift--Utrecht. / Thesis note on t.p., and preface in Dutch. "Stellingen": [2] p. laid in.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 237-248). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (doctoral)--Philosophorum Ordine Lipsiensi, 1869. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--Philosophorum Ordine Lipsiensi, 1869. / Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis presents the myth of Orpheus through each century of opera. Beginning with Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in 1607, followed by Christoph Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, Jacques Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers, Philip Glass’s Orphée, and finally, Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice in 2001. Through the analysis of plot changes, gender characteristics, and the symbolism of these five operas, the elements that have made Orpheus one of the most prominent figures in opera will be explored.

In Servius' commentary, there are two elusive statements concerning the ending of the Georgics. Both of these statements seem to imply that Vergil changed the ending of the Georgics and that the Orpheus epyllion as it now stands was a later edition to the poem. The question of whether or not Servius is correct in this assertion is a central question in Vergilian studies. By focusing on the reception of Orpheus prior to Vergil, the Roman Orpheus of Vergil's time, and Vergil's own use of the Orpheus figure, a potential answer emerges to the Servian question. In order to answer this question, the primary inquiry of this paper seeks to find from where Vergil received his Orpheus story. A comprehensive analysis of references to Orpheus in ancient literature leads to the conclusion that before the first-century B.C.E. the primary narrative of Orpheus is not one of failure. Rather, Orpheus appears to successfully retrieve his wife from the underworld. Orpheus does not appear as an important figure in Roman literature until the second half of the first-century when nearly at the same time as Vergil is writing the Georgics Orpheus' popularity explodes in Roman art and literature. Yet, Vergil does not seem to be the source of Orpheus' popularity in Rome, nor does Vergil seem to be inventing a new narrative in which Orpheus fails. The missing source for Vergil's Orpheus figure appears to belong to the first-century. Orpheus appears as a central figure in the Georgics, the Eclogues, the poems of Propertius, and the Culex. Each of these works is rife with references to the poetry of Cornelius Gallus. Given Gallus' prominence in first-century Roman poetry, his close association with Orpheus, the Servian claims of a laudes Galli in the fourth Georgic, and the rise of Orpheus' popularity in the second half of the first-century, Gallus seems a likely source for Vergil's Orpheus.

Of the eighty-five known Roman mosaics that depict Orpheus charming the animals, or the theatrum, eight of these mosaics are located in Southwest Britain. The Orpheus mosaics were laid at the end of the third through the fourth centuries A.D. in lavish Roman villas at the sites of Barton Farm, Brading, Littlecote Park, Newton St. Loe, Wellow, Whatley, Withington, and Woodchester. Along with the central image of Orpheus, all eight mosaics contain Bacchic iconography. While the Orpheus mosaics in Roman Britain are the topic of several publications, none have addressed the appearance of Bacchic imagery in conjunction with that of Orpheus. This dissertation investigates the relationship between Orpheus and Bacchus in the Classical world in order to explain the frequent appearance of Bacchic iconography on Orpheus mosaics in southwest Britain. In order to understand how the Roman aristocracy viewed the relationship between Orpheus and Bacchus, this dissertation explores three avenues of study. First, the more then seventy-five figures and objects that are part of the Bacchic iconographic repertoire associated with the Orpheus mosaics are identified and their connection with Bacchus established. Second, the connection between Orpheus and Bacchus in the Greek Classical Period is explored to establish a literary and artistic tradition from which the Roman tradition emerged. Third, an examination of Greek and Latin literature from the third century B.C. to the sixth century A.D. is undertaken to describe how Orpheus was perceived by pagan and Christian Roman elite as the founder of the Bacchic mysteries and the author of the sacred texts used in these mysteries. Furthermore, the evidence presented within this dissertation demonstrates that the Orpheus mosaics in southwest Britain were placed in public areas of wealthy Roman villas to reflect the homeowners' knowledge of both the past and present philosophical and theological beliefs. These mosaics advertise the provincial Roman aristocrat's Classical education while maintaining their association with the city of Rome and the imperial court in Constantinople.

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