L'Orfeo 1

L'Orfeo
L'Orfeo (SV 318), sometimes called L'Orfeo, favola in musica, is an early Baroque opera by Claudio Monteverdi,
with a text by Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and tells the story of his descent to
Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to the living world. Written in 1607 for a court
performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua, L'Orfeo is one of the earliest music dramas still regularly
performed.
Within the musical theatre at the beginning of the 17th century the traditional intermedio—a musical sequence
between the acts of a straight play—was evolving into the form of a complete musical drama or "opera".
Monteverdi's L'Orfeo moved this process out of its experimental era, and provided the first fully developed example
within the new genre. After its initial performance the work was staged again in Mantua, and possibly in other Italian
centres in the next few years. Its score was published by Monteverdi in 1609 and again in 1615. After the composer's
death in 1643 the opera remained unperformed, and was largely forgotten until a revival of interest in the late 19th
century led to a spate of modern editions and performances. At first these tended to be unstaged versions within
institutes and music societies, but following the first modern dramatised performance in Paris, in 1911, the work was
seen increasingly in theatres. After the Second World War most new editions sought authenticity through the use of
period instruments. Many recordings were issued, and the opera was increasingly staged in opera houses. In 2007 the
quatercentenary of the premiere was celebrated by performances throughout the world.
In his published score Monteverdi lists around 40 instruments to be deployed, with distinct groups of instruments
used to depict particular scenes and characters. Thus strings, harpsichords and recorders represent the pastoral fields
of Thrace with their nymphs and shepherds, heavy brass illustrates the underworld and its denizens. Composed at the
point of transition from the Renaissance era to the Baroque, L'Orfeo employs all the resources then known within the
art of music, with particularly daring use of polyphony. The work is not orchestrated as such; in the Renaissance
tradition instrumentalists followed the composer's general instructions but were given considerable freedom to
improvise. This separates Monteverdi's work from the later opera canon, and makes each performance of L'Orfeo a
uniquely individual occasion.

Historical background
Claudio Monteverdi, born in Cremona in 1567, was a musical prodigy who
studied under Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, the maestro di cappella (head of music)
at Cremona Cathedral. After training in singing, strings playing and composition,
Monteverdi worked as a musician in Verona and Milan until, in 1590 or 1591, he
secured a post as suonatore di vivuola (viola player) at Duke Vincenzo
Gonzaga's court at Mantua.[1] Through ability and hard work Monteverdi rose to
become Gonzaga's maestro della musica in 1601.[2] [3]

Vincenzo Gonzaga's particular passion for musical theatre and spectacle grew
from his family connections with the court of Florence. Towards the end of the
16th century innovative Florentine musicians were developing the intermedio—a
long-established form of musical interlude inserted between the acts of spoken
dramas—into increasingly elaborate forms.[2] Led by Jacopo Corsi, these Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga,
Monteverdi's employer at Mantua
successors to the renowned Camerata[4] were responsible for the first work
generally recognised as belonging to the genre of opera: Dafne, composed by
Corsi and Jacopo Peri and performed in Florence in 1598. This work combined elements of madrigal singing and

monody with dancing and instrumental passages to form a dramatic whole. Only fragments of its music still exist,
but several other Florentine works of the same period—Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo by Emilio de'
L'Orfeo 2

Cavalieri, Peri's Euridice and Giulio Caccini's identically titled Euridice—survive complete. These last two works
were the first of many musical representations of the Orpheus myth as recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses, and as
such were direct precursors of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo.[5] [6]
The Gonzaga court had a long history of promoting dramatic entertainment. A century before Duke Vincenzo's time
the court had staged Angelo Poliziano's lyrical drama La favola di Orfeo, at least half of which was sung rather than
spoken. More recently, in 1598 Monteverdi had helped the court's musical establishment to produce Giovanni
Battista Guarini's play Il pastor fido, described by theatre historian Mark Ringer as a "watershed theatrical work"
which inspired the Italian craze for pastoral drama.[7] On 6 October 1600, while visiting Florence for the wedding of
Maria de' Medici to King Henry IV of France, Duke Vincenzo attended a production of Peri's Euridice.[6] It is likely
that his principal musicians, including Monteverdi, were also present at this performance. The Duke quickly
recognised the novelty of this new form of dramatic entertainment, and its potential for bringing prestige to those
prepared to sponsor it.[8]

Creation

Libretto
Among those present at the Euridice performance in October 1600 was a young
lawyer and career diplomat from Gonzaga's court, Alessandro Striggio,[9] son of
a well-known composer of the same name. The younger Striggio was himself a
talented musician who in 1589, as a 16-year-old, had played the viol at the
wedding festivities of Duke Ferdinando of Tuscany. Together with Duke
Vincent's two young sons, Francesco and Fernandino, he was a member of
Mantua's exclusive intellectual society, the Accademia degli Invaghiti, which
provided the chief outlet for the city's theatrical works.[10] [11] It is not clear at
what point Striggio began his libretto for L'Orfeo, but work was evidently under
way in January 1607. In a letter written on 5 January, Francesco Gonzago asks
his brother, then attached to the Florentine court, to obtain the services of a high
Orpheus with his viol; a 17th-century quality castrato from the Grand Duke's establishment, for a "play in music" being
painting prepared for the Mantuan Carnival.[12]

Striggio's main sources for his libretto were Books 10 and 11 of Ovid's
Metamorphoses and Book Four of Virgil's Georgics. These provided him with the basic material, but not the
structure for a staged drama; the events of Acts 1 and 2 of the libretto are covered by a mere 13 lines in the
Metamorphoses.[13] For help in creating a dramatic form, Striggio drew on other sources—Poliziano's 1480 play,
Guarini's Il pastor fido, and Ottavio Rinuccini's libretto for Peri's Euridice.[14] Musicologist Gary Tomlinson remarks
on the many similarities between Striggio's and Rinuccini's texts, noting that some of the speeches in L'Orfeo
"correspond closely in content and even in locution to their counterparts in L'Euridice".[15] Critic Barbara Russano
Hanning writes that Striggio's verses are less subtle than those of Rinuccini, although the structure of Striggio's
libretto is more interesting.[10] Rinuccini, whose work had been written for the festivities accompanying a Medici
wedding, was obliged to alter the myth to provide a "happy ending", suitable for this occasion. By contrast, because
Striggio was not writing for a formal court celebration he could be more faithful to the spirit of the myth's
conclusion, in which Orfeo is killed and dismembered by deranged maenads or "Bacchantes".[14] He chose, in fact,
to write a somewhat muted version of this bloody finale, in which the Bacchantes threaten Orfeo's destruction but his
actual fate is left in doubt.[16]

The libretto published in Mantua in 1607 to coincide with the premiere incorporates Striggio's ambiguous ending.
However, Monteverdi's score published in Venice in 1609 by Ricciardo Amadino shows an entirely different
L'Orfeo 3

resolution, with Orpheus transported to the heavens through the intervention of Apollo.[10] According to Ringer,
Striggio's original ending was almost certainly used at the opera's premiere, but there is no doubt that Monteverdi
believed the revised ending was aesthetically correct.[16] The musicologist Nino Pirrotta argues that the Apollo
ending was part of the original plan for the work, but was not staged at the premiere because the small room which
hosted the event could not contain the theatrical machinery that this ending required. The Bacchantes scene was a
substitution; Monteverdi's intentions were restored when this constraint was removed.[17]

Composition
When Monteverdi wrote the music for L'Orfeo he had a thorough
grounding in theatrical music. He had been employed at the Gonzaga
court for 16 years, much of it as a performer or arranger of stage music,
and in 1604 he had written the ballo Gli amori di Diane ed Endimone
for the 1604–05 Mantua Carnival.[18] The elements from which
Monteverdi constructed his first opera score—the aria, the strophic
song, recitative, choruses, dances, dramatic musical interludes—were,
as conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt has pointed out, not created by
him, but "he blended the entire stock of newest and older possibilities
into a unity that was indeed new".[19] Musicologist Robert Donington
writes similarly: "[The score] contains no element which was not based
on precedent, but it reaches complete maturity in that
recently-developed form ... Here are words as directly expressed in
music as [the pioneers of opera] wanted them expressed; here is music
expressing them ... with the full inspiration of genius."[20]
Front cover of the 1609 published score of
Monteverdi states the orchestral requirements at the beginning of his L'Orfeo
published score, but in accordance with the practice of the day he does
not specify their exact usage.[19] At that time it was usual to allow each interpreter of the work freedom to make
local decisions, based on the orchestral forces at their disposal. These could differ sharply from place to place.
Furthermore, as Harnoncourt points out, the instrumentalists would all have been composers and would have
expected to collaborate creatively at each performance, rather than playing a set text.[19] Another practice of the time
was to allow singers to embellish their arias. Monteverdi wrote plain and embellished versions of some arias, such as
Orfeo's "Possente spirito",[21] but according to Harnoncourt "it is obvious that where he did not write any
embellishments he did not want any sung".[22]

Each act of the opera deals with a single element of the story, and each ends with a chorus. Despite the five-act
structure, with two sets of scene changes, it is likely that L'Orfeo conformed to the standard practice for court
entertainments of that time and was played as a continuous entity, without intervals or curtain descents between acts.
It was the contemporary custom for scene shifts to take place in sight of the audience, these changes being reflected
musically by changes in instrumentation, key and style.[23]
L'Orfeo 4

Instrumentation
For the purpose of analysis, music scholar Jane Glover divides
Monteverdi's list of instruments into three main groups: strings, brass
and continuo, with a few further items not easily classifiable.[24] The
strings grouping is formed from ten members of the violin family
(Viole da brazzo), two double basses (Contrabassi de Viola), and two
small violins (Violini piccoli alla Francese). The Viole da brazzo are in
two five-part ensembles, each comprising two violins, two violas and a
cello.[24] The brass group contains four or five trombones (sackbuts),
three trumpets and two cornetts. The continuo forces include two
harpsichords (Duoi Gravicembani), a double harp (Arpa doppia), two
or three chitarroni, two pipe organs (organi di legno), three bass Viola
da gamba, and a regal or small reed organ. Outside of these groupings
are two recorders (flautini alla Vigesima secunda), a clarino which is
used only in the opera's opening toccata. and possibly one or more
citterns—unlisted by Monteverdi, but included in instructions relating
1609 score: Monteverdi's listing of instruments is
to the end of Act 4.[24]
shown on the right.
Instrumentally, the two worlds represented within the opera are
distinctively portrayed. The pastoral world of the fields of Thrace is
represented by the strings, harpsichords, harp, organs, recorders and chitarroni. The remaining instruments, mainly
brass, are associated with the Underworld, though there is not an absolute distinction; strings appear on several
occasions in the Hades scenes.[22] [25] Within this general ordering, specific instruments or combinations are used to
accompany some of the main characters—Orpheus by harp and organ, shepherds by harpsichord and chitarrone, the
Underworld gods by trombones and regal.[22] All of these musical distinctions and characterisations were in
accordance with the longstanding traditions of the Renaissance orchestra, of which the large L'Orfeo ensemble is
typical.[26]

Monteverdi instructs his players generally to "[play] the work as simply and correctly as possible, and not with many
florid passages or runs". Those playing ornamentation instruments such as strings and flutes are advised to "play
nobly, with much invention and variety", but are warned against overdoing it, whereby "nothing is heard but chaos
and confusion, offensive to the listener."[27] Since at no time are all the instruments played together, the number of
players needed is less than the number of instruments. Harnoncourt indicates that in Monteverdi's day the numbers of
players and singers together, and the small rooms in which performances were held, often meant that the audience
barely numbered more than the performers.[28]

Roles
In his personaggi listed in the 1609 score, Monteverdi unaccountably omits La messaggera (the Messenger), and
indicates that the final chorus of shepherds who perform the moresca (Moorish dance) at the opera's end, are a
separate group (che fecero la moresca nel fine).[29] Little information is available about who sang the various roles in
the first performance. A letter published at Mantua in 1612 records that the distinguished tenor and composer
Francesco Rasi took part, and it is generally assumed that he sang the title role.[5] Rasi could sing in both the tenor
and bass ranges "with exquisite style ... and extraordinary feeling".[2] The involvement in the premiere of a
Florentine castrato, Giovanni Gualberto Magli, is confirmed by correspondence between the Gonzaga princes. Magli
sang the prologue, Proserpina and possibly one other role, either La messaggera or Speranza.[30] The musicologist
and historian Hans Redlich mistakenly allocates Magli to the role of Orfeo.[31]
L'Orfeo 5

A clue about who played Euridice is contained in a 1608 letter to Duke Vincenzo. It refers to "that little priest who
performed the role of Euridice in the Most Serene Prince's Orfeo". Possibly this priest was Padre Girolamo Bacchini,
a castrato known to have had connections to the Mantuan court in the early 17th century.[5] Monteverdi scholar Tim
Carter speculates that two prominent Mantuan tenors, Pandolfo Grande and Francesco Campagnola may have sung
minor roles in the premiere.[32]
There are solo parts for four shepherds and three spirits. Carter calculates that through the doubling of roles that the
text allows, a total of ten singers—three sopranos, two altos, three tenors and two basses—is required for a
performance, with the soloists (except Orfeo) also forming the chorus. Carter's suggested role-doublings include La
musica with Euridice, Ninfa with Proserpina and La messaggera with Speranza.[32]

Role [33] Appearances Notes

Voice type

La musica (Music) soprano, originally castrato Prologue

Orfeo (Orpheus) tenor Act 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Euridice (Eurydice) soprano, originally castrato Act 1, 4

La messaggera (The Messenger) soprano Act 2 Named in the libretto as "Silvia"

Speranza (Hope) soprano Act 3

Caronte (Charon) bass Act 3

Proserpina (Proserpine) soprano Act 4

Plutone (Pluto) bass Act 4

Apollo tenor Act 5

Ninfa (Nymph) soprano Act 1

Eco (Echo) tenor Act 5

Ninfe e pastori (Nymphs and shepherds) soprano, alto, tenor, bass Act 1, 2, 5 Soloists: alto, two tenors

Spiriti infernali (Infernal spirits) tenor, bass Act 3, 4 Soloists: two tenors, one bass

Synopsis
The actions take place in two contrasting locations: the fields of Thrace (Acts 1, 2 and 5) and the Underworld (Acts 3
and 4). An instrumental toccata (English: "tucket", meaning a flourish on trumpets)[34] precedes the entrance of La
musica, representing the "spirit of music", who sings a prologue of five stanzas of verse. After a gracious welcome to
the audience she announces that she can, through sweet sounds, "calm every troubled heart." She sings a further
paean to the power of music, before introducing the drama's main protagonist, Orfeo, who "held the wild beasts
spellbound with his song".[35]
Act 1
After La musica's final request for silence, the curtain rises on Act 1 to reveal a pastoral scene. Orfeo and
Euridice enter together with a chorus of nymphs and shepherds, who act in the manner of a Greek chorus,
commenting on the action both as a group and as individuals. A shepherd announces that this is the couple's
wedding day; the chorus responds, first in a stately invocation ("Come, Hymen, O come") and then in a joyful
dance ("Leave the mountains, leave the fountains"). Orfeo and Euridice sing of their love for each other,
before leaving with most of the group for the wedding ceremony in the temple. Those left on stage sing a brief
chorus, commenting on how Orfeo has been changed by love from one "for whom sighs were food and
weeping was drink" to a state of sublime happiness.
Act 2
L'Orfeo 6

Orfeo returns with the main chorus, and sings with them of the beauties of nature. Orfeo then muses on his
former unhappiness, but proclaims: "After grief one is more content, after pain one is happier". The mood of
contentment is abruptly ended when La messaggera enters, bringing the news that, while gathering flowers,
Euridice has received a fatal snakebite. The chorus expresses its anguish: "Ah, bitter happening, ah, impious
and cruel fate!", while the Messaggera castigates herself as the bearing of bad tidings ("For ever I will flee,
and in a lonely cavern lead a life in keeping with my sorrow"). Orfeo, after venting his grief and incredulity
("Thou art dead, my life, and I am breathing?"), declares his intention of descending to the Underworld and
persuading its ruler to allow Euridice to return to life. Otherwise "I shall remain with thee in the company of
death". He departs, and the chorus resumes its lament.
Act 3
Orfeo is guided by Speranza to the gates of Hades. Having pointed out the words inscribed on the gate
("Abandon hope, all ye who enter here"),[36] Speranza leaves. Orfeo is now confronted with the ferryman
Caronte, who addresses Orfeo harshly and refuses to take him across the River Styx. Orfeo attempts to
persuade Caronte by singing a flattering song to him ("Mighty spirit and powerful divinity"), but the ferryman
is unmoved. However, when Orfeo takes up his lyre and plays, Caronte is soothed into sleep. Seizing his
chance, Orfeo steals the ferryman's boat and crosses the river, to enter the Underworld while a chorus of spirits
reflects that nature cannot defend herself against man: "He has tamed the sea with fragile wood, and disdained
the rage of the winds."
Act 4
In the Underworld Proserpina, Queen of Hades, who has been deeply affected by Orfeo's singing, petitions
King Plutone, her husband, for Euridice's release. Moved by her pleas, Plutone agrees subject to the condition
that, as he leads Euridice towards the world, Orfeo must not look back. If he does, "a single glance will
condemn him to eternal loss". Orfeo enters, leading Euridice and singing confidently that on that day he will
rest on his wife's white bosom. But as he sings a note of doubt creeps in: "Who will assure me that she is
following?". Perhaps Plutone, driven by envy, has imposed the condition through spite? Suddenly distracted
by an off-stage commotion, Orfeo looks round; immediately, the image of Euridice begins to fade. She sings,
despairingly: "Losest thou me through too much love?" and disappears. Orfeo attempts to follow her but is
drawn away by an unseen force. The chorus of spirits sings that Orfeo, having overcome Hades, was in turn
overcome by his passions.
Act 5
Back in the fields of Thrace Orfeo, in a long soliloquy, laments his loss, praises Euridice's beauty and resolves
that his heart will never again be pierced by Cupid's arrow. An off-stage echo repeats his final phrases.
Suddenly, in a cloud, Apollo descends from the heavens and chastises him: "Why dost thou give thyself up as
prey to rage and grief?" He invites Orfeo to leave the world and join him in the heavens, where he will
recognise Euridice's likeness in the stars. Orfeo replies that it would be unworthy not to follow the counsel of
such a wise father, and together they ascend. A shepherds' chorus concludes that "he who sows in suffering
shall reap the fruit of every grace", before the opera ends with a vigorous moresca.

Original libretto ending

In Striggio's 1607 libretto, Orfeo's Act 5 soliloquy is interrupted, not by Apollo's appearance but by a chorus of
maenads or Bacchantes—wild, drunken women—who sing of the "divine fury" of their master, the god Bacchus.
The cause of their wrath is Orfeo and his renunciation of women; he will not escape their heavenly anger, and the
longer he evades them the more severe his fate will be. Orfeo leaves the scene and his destiny is left uncertain, for
the Bacchantes devote themselves for the rest of the opera to wild singing and dancing in praise of Bacchus.[37] Early
music authority Claude Palisca believes that the two endings are not incompatible; Orfeo evades from the fury of the
Bacchantes and is then rescued by Apollo.[38]
L'Orfeo 7

Reception and performance history

Premiere and early performances

The date for the first performance of L'Orfeo, 24 February 1607, is
evidenced by two letters, both dated 23 February. In the first,
Francesco Gonzaga informs his brother that the "musical play" will be
performed tomorrow; it is clear from earlier correspondence that this
refers to L'Orfeo. The second letter is from a Gonzaga court official,
Carlo Magno, and gives more details: "Tomorrow evening the Most
Serene Lord the Prince is to sponsor a [play] in a room in the
apartments which the Most Serene Lady had the use of ...it should be
most unusual, as all the actors are to sing their parts."[12] The "Serene The Ducal Palace at Mantua, where L'Orfeo was
premiered in 1607
Lady" is Duke Vincenzo's widowed sister Margherita Gonzaga d'Este,
who lived within the ducal palace. The room of the premiere cannot be
identified with certainty; according to Ringer, it may have been the Galleria dei Fiumi, which has the dimensions to
accommodate a stage and orchestra with space for a small audience.[39]

There is no detailed account of the premiere, although Francesco wrote on 1 March that the work had "been to the
great satisfaction of all who heard it", and had particularly pleased the Duke.[12] The Mantuan court theologian and
poet, Cherubino Ferrari wrote that: "Both poet and musician have depicted the inclinations of the heart so skilfully
that it could not have been done better ... The music, observing due propriety, serves the poetry so well that nothing
more beautiful is to be heard anywhere".[12] After the premiere Duke Vincenzo ordered a second performance for 1
March; a third performance was planned to coincide with a proposed state visit to Mantua by the Duke of Savoy.
Francesco wrote to the Duke of Tuscany on 8 March, asking if he could retain the services of the castrato Magli for a
little longer.[12] However, the visit was cancelled, as was the celebratory performance.[40]
There are suggestions that in the years following the premiere, L'Orfeo may have been staged in Florence, Cremona,
Milan and Turin,[34] though firmer evidence suggests that the work attracted limited interest beyond the Mantuan
court.[40] Francesco may have mounted a production in Casale Monferrato, where he was governor, for the 1609–10
Carnival, and there are indications that the work was performed on several occasions in Salzburg between 1614 and
1619, under the direction of Francesco Rasi.[41] Years later, during the first flourish of Venetian opera in 1637–43,
Monteverdi chose to revive his second opera, L'Arianna there, but not L'Orfeo.[40] There is some evidence of
performances shortly after Monteverdi's death: in Geneva in 1643,[34] and in Paris, at the Louvre, in 1647.[42] [43]
Although according to Carter the work was still admired across Italy in the 1650s,[34] [41] it was subsequently
forgotten, as largely was Monteverdi, until the revival of interest in his works in the late 19th century.[34] [44]
L'Orfeo 8

20th-century revivals
After years of neglect, Monteverdi's music began to attract the interest of pioneer
music historians in the late 18th century and early 19th century, and from the
second quarter of the 19th century onwards he is discussed increasingly in
scholarly works.[41] In 1881 a truncated version of the L'Orfeo score, intended
for study rather than performance, was published in Berlin by Robert Eitner.[45]
In 1904 the composer Vincent d'Indy produced an edition in French, which
comprised only Act 2, a shortened Act 3 and Act 4. This edition was the basis of
the first public performance of the work in two-and-a-half centuries, a concert
performance at d'Indy's Schola Cantorum on 25 February 1904.[46] [47] The
distinguished writer Romain Rolland, who was present, commended d'Indy for
bringing the opera to life and returning it "to the beauty it once had, freeing it
from the clumsy restorations which have disfigured it"—presumably a reference
to Eitner's edition.[48] [49] The d'Indy edition was also the basis of the first
modern staged performance of the work, at the Théâtre Réjane, Paris, on 2 May Vincent d'Indy, who oversaw the
first 20th-century revival of L'Orfeo
1911.[44]
in 1904

An edition of the score by the minor Italian composer Giovanni Orefice received
several concert performances in Italy and elsewhere before and after the First World War. This edition was the basis
of the opera's United States debut, another concert performance at the New York Met in April 1912. The opera was
introduced to London, in d'Indy's edition, when it was sung to piano accompaniment at the Institut Français on 8
March 1924.[50] The first British staged performance, with only small cuts, was given by the Oxford University
Operatic Society on 7 December 1925, using an edition prepared for the event by Jack Westrup. In the London
Saturday Review, music critic Dyneley Hussey called the occasion "one of the most important events of recent
years"; the production had "indicated at once Monteverdi's claim to rank among the great geniuses who have written
dramatic music".[51] Westrup's edition was revived in London at the Scala Theatre in December 1929, the same year
in which the opera received its first US staged performance, at Smith College, Northampton, MA.[44] The three Scala
performances resulted in a financial disaster, and the opera was not seen again in Britain for 35 years.[52]

Among a flurry of revivals after 1945 was Paul Hindemith's edition, a full period reconstruction of the work prepared
in 1943, which was staged and recorded at the Vienna Festival in 1954. This performance had a great impact on the
young Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and was hailed as a masterpiece of scholarship and integrity.[53] The first staged New
York performance, by the New York City Opera under Leopold Stokowski on 29 September 1960, saw the
American operatic debut of Gérard Souzay, one of several baritones who have sung the role of Orfeo. The theatre
was criticised by New York Times critic Harold C. Schonberg because, to accommodate a performance of Luigi
Dallapiccola's contemporary opera Il prigioniero, about a third of L'Orfeo was cut. Schonberg wrote: "Even the
biggest aria in the opera, "Possente spirito", has a good-sized slash in the middle ... [L'Orfeo] is long enough, and
important enough, not to mention beautiful enough, to have been the entire evening's opera."[54]
By the latter part of the 20th century the opera was being shown all over the world. In 1965, Sadler's Wells,
forerunner of English National Opera (ENO), staged the first of many ENO presentations which would continue into
the 21st century.[44] Among various celebrations marking the opera's 400th anniversary in 2007 were a semi-staged
performance at the Teatro Bibiena in Mantua,[55] a full-scale production by the English Bach Festival (EBF) at the
Whitehall Banqueting House in London on 7 February,[56] and an unconventional production by Glimmerglass
Opera in Cooperstown, New York, conducted by Antony Walker and directed by Christopher Alden.[57] On 6 May
2010 the BBC broadcast a performance of the opera from La Scala, Milan.[58] Despite the reluctance of some major
opera houses to stage L'Orfeo,[59] it is a popular work with the leading Baroque ensembles. During the period
2008–10 the French-based Les Arts Florissants, under its director William Christie, has presented the Monteverdi
L'Orfeo 9

trilogy of operas (L'Orfeo, Il ritorno d'Ulisse and L'incoronazione di Poppea) in a series of performances at the
Teatro Real in Madrid.[60]

Music
A page from the 1609 score of L'Orfeo
depth and convey appropriate emotions.[62]
L'Orfeo is, in Redlich's analysis, the product of two
musical epochs. It combines elements of the traditional
madrigal style of the 16th century with those of the
emerging Florentine mode, in particular the use of
recitative and monodic singing as developed by the
Camerata and their successors.[61] In this new style, the
text dominates the music; while sinfonias and
instrumental ritornelli illustrate the action, the audience's
attention is always drawn primarily to the words. The
singers are required to do more than produce pleasant
vocal sounds; they must represent their characters in

Monterverdi's recitative style was influenced by Peri's, in Euridice, although in L'Orfeo recitative is less
preponderant than was usual in dramatic music at this time. It accounts for less than a quarter of the first act's music,
around a third of the second and third acts, and a little under half in the final two acts.[63]
The importance of L'Orfeo is not that it was the first work of its kind, but that it was the first attempt to apply the full
resources of the art of music, as then evolved, to the nascent genre of opera.[64] In particular, Monteverdi made
daring innovations in the use of polyphony, of which Palestrina had been the principal exponent. In L'Orfeo,
Monteverdi extends the rules, beyond the conventions which polyphonic composers, faithful to Palestrina, had
previously considered as sacrosanct.[65] Monteverdi was not in the generally-understood sense an orchestrator;[66]
Ringer finds that it is the element of instrumental improvisation that makes each performance of a Monteverdi opera
a "unique experience, and separates his work from the later operatic canon."[62] The opera begins with a
martial-sounding toccata for trumpets which is repeated twice. When played on period wind instruments the sound
can be startling to modern audiences; Redlich calls it "shattering".[67] Such flourishes were the standard signal for the
commencement of performances at the Mantuan court; the opening chorus of Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers, also
composed for Gonzaga's court, employs the same fanfare.[62] The toccata acted as a salute to the Duke; according to
Donington, if it had not been written, precedent would have required it to be improvised.[20] As the brass sound of
the toccata fades, it is replaced by the gentler tone of the strings ritornello which introduces La musica's prologue.
The ritornello is repeated in shortened form between each of the prologue's five verses, and in full after the final
verse. Its function within the opera as a whole is to represents the "power of music";[34] as such it is heard at the end
of Act 2, and again the beginning of Act 5, one of the earliest examples of an operatic leitmotiv.[68]
After the Prologue, Act 1 follows in the form of a pastoral idyll. Two choruses, one solemn and one jovial are
repeated in reverse order around the central love-song "Rosa del ciel" ("Rose of the heavens"), followed by the
shepherds' songs of praise. The buoyant mood continues into Act 2, with song and dance music influenced,
according to Harnoncourt, by Monteverdi's experience of French music.[69] The sudden entrance of La messaggera
with the doleful news of Euridice's death, and the confusion and grief which follow, are musically reflected by harsh
dissonances and the juxtaposition of keys.[34] [69] The music remains in this vein until the act ends with La musica's
ritornello, a hint that the "power of music" may yet bring about a triumph over death.[70] Monteverdi's instructions as
the act concludes are that the violins, the organ and harpsichord become silent and that the music is taken up by the
trombones, the cornetts and the regal, as the scene changes to the Underworld.[69]
L'Orfeo 10

The centrepiece of Act 3, perhaps of the entire opera, is Orfeo's extended aria "Possente spirto e formidabil nume"
("Mighty spirit and powerful divinity"), by which he attempts to persuade Caronte to allow him to enter Hades.
Monteverdi's vocal embellishments and virtuoso accompaniment provide what Carter describes as "one of the most
compelling visual and aural representations" in early opera.[71] Instrumental colour is provided by a chitarrone, a
pipe-organ, two violins, two cornetts and a double-harp. This array, according to music historian and analyst John
Whenham, is intended to suggest that Orfeo is harnessing all the available forces of music to support his plea.[72] In
Act 4 the impersonal coldness of the Underworld is broken by the warmth of Proserpina's singing on behalf of Orfeo,
a warmth that is retained until the dramatic moment at which Orfeo "looks back". The cold sounds of the sinfonia
from the beginning of Act 3 then remind us that the Underworld is, after all, entirely devoid of human feeling.[69]
The brief final act, which sees Orfeo's rescue and metamorphosis, is framed by the final appearance of La musica's
ritornello and the lively moresca that ends the opera. This dance, says Ringer, recalls the jigs danced at the end of
Shakespeare's tragedies, and provides a means of bringing the audience back to their everyday world, "just as the
toccata had led them into another realm some two hours before. The toccata and the moresca unite courtly reality
with operatic illusion."[73]

Recording history
For the complete discography, see L'Orfeo discography
The first recording of L'Orfeo was issued in 1939, a freely adapted version of Monteverdi's music by Giacomo
Benvenuti,[74] given by the orchestra of La Scala Milan conducted by Ferrucio Calusio.[75] [76] In 1949, for the
recording of the complete opera by the Berlin Radio Orchestra under Helmut Koch, the new medium of long-playing
records (LPs) was used. The advent of LP recordings was, as Harold Schonberg later wrote, an important factor in
the postwar revival of interest in Renaissance and Baroque music,[77] and from the mid-1950s recordings of L'Orfeo
have been issued on many labels. The 1969 recording by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Vienna Concentus Musicus,
using Harnoncourt's edition based on period instruments, was praised for "making Monteverdi's music sound
something like the way he imagined".[78] In 1981 Siegfried Heinrich, with the Early Music Studio of the Hesse
Chamber Orchestra, recorded a version which re-created the original Striggio libretto ending, adding music from
Monteverdi's 1616 ballet Tirsi e Clori for the Bacchante scenes.[79] [80] Among more recent recordings, that of
Emmanuelle Haim in 2004 has been praised for its dramatic effect.[81]

Editions
After the publication of the L'Orfeo score in 1609, the same publisher (Ricciardo Amadino of Venice) brought it out
again in 1615. Facsimiles of these editions were printed in 1927 and 1972 respectively.[44] Since Eitner's first
"modern" edition of L'Orfeo in 1884, and d'Indy's performing edition 20 years later—both of which were abridged
and adapted versions of the 1609 score—there have been many attempts to edit and present the work, not all of them
published. Most of the editions that followed d'Indy up to the time of the Second World War were arrangements,
usually heavily truncated, that provided a basis for performances in the modern opera idiom. Many of these were the
work of composers, including Carl Orff (1923 and1939) and Ottorino Respighi in 1935.[34] Orff's 1923 score, using a
German text, included some period instrumentation, an experiment he abandoned when producing his later
version.[82]
In the post-war period, editions have moved increasingly to reflect the performance conventions of Monteverdi's day.
This tendency was initiated by two earlier editions, that of Jack Westrup used in the 1925 Oxford performances,[83]
and Gian Francesco Malipiero's 1930 complete edition which sticks closely to Monteverdi's 1609 original.[83] After
the war, Hindemith's attempted period reconstruction of the work[53] was followed in 1955 by an edition from
August Wenzinger that remained in use for many years.[84] The next 30 years saw numerous editions, mostly
prepared by scholar-performers rather than by composers, generally aiming towards authenticity if not always the
complete re-creation of the original instrumentation. These included versions by Raymond Leppard (1965), Denis
L'Orfeo 11

Stevens (1967), Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1969), Jane Glover (1975), Roger Norrington (1976) and John Eliot
Gardiner.[34] [85] Only the composers Valentino Bucchi (1967), Bruno Maderna (1967) and Luciano Berio (1984)
produced editions based on the convention of a large modern orchestra.[83] In the 21st century editions continue to be
produced, often for use in conjunction with a particular performance or recording.[34] [44]

Notes and references

Notes
[1] Carter, Tim (2007). "Monteverdi, Claudio: Cremona" (http:/ / www. oxfordmusiconline. com/ public/ ). In Macy, Laura (ed.). Oxford Music
Online. . Retrieved 4 September 2010.(subscription required) See note (1) below
[2] Fenlon, Iain, "The Mantuan Orfeo" pp. 5–7
[3] Carter, Tim (2007). "Monteverdi, Claudio: Mantua" (http:/ / www. oxfordmusiconline. com/ public/ ). In Macy, Laura (ed.). Oxford Music
Online. . Retrieved 4 September 2010.(subscription required) See note (1) below
[4] The Florentine Camerata, led by Giovanni de' Bardi, was a group of scholars and musicians dedicated to the revival of Ancient Greek-style
theatre, mainly active in the 1570s and 1580s. Later groups with similar aims are also loosely referred to as "Camerata".Ringer, pp. 12–13
[5] Fenlon, "The Mantuan Orfeo" pp. 1–4
[6] Sternfeld, p. 26
[7] Ringer, pp. 30–31
[8] Ringer, p. 16
[9] Carter (2002), p. 38
[10] Hanning, Barbara (2007). "Striggio, Alessandro (Alessandrino)" (http:/ / www. oxfordmusiconline. com/ public/ ). In Macy, Laura (ed.).
Oxford Music Online. . Retrieved 5 September 2010.(subscription required) See note (1) below
[11] Carter (2002), p. 48
[12] Fenlon, "Correspondence" pp. 167–72
[13] Sternfeld, pp. 20–25
[14] Sternfeld, pp. 27–30
[15] Tomlinson, Gary (1981). "Madrigal, Monody, and Monteverdi's "via actuale alla imitatione"" (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ pss/ 831035). Journal
of the American Musicological Society 34 (1). . Retrieved 11 September 2010.(subscription required)
[16] Ringer, pp. 39–40
[17] Pirrotta, pp. 258–59
[18] Carter (2002), pp. 143–44
[19] Harnoncourt, p. 19
[20] Donington, p. 257
[21] Robinson, p. 61
[22] Harnoncourt, p. 20
[23] Whenham (1986), pp. 42–47
[24] Glover, pp. 139–41
[25] Glover, p. 142
[26] Beat, pp. 277–78
[27] Beat, pp. 280–81
[28] Harnoncourt, p. 21
[29] Glover, pp. 146–48
[30] Fenlon, "The Mantuan Orfeo" pp. 11–15
[31] Redlich, p. 15
[32] Carter (2002), pp. 97–98
[33] Monteverdi's 1609 score does not specify voice parts, but indicates the required ranges by clef.Zanette, Damian H. (February 2007). "Notes
to the transcription of the 1609 Venetian score of L'Orfeo" (http:/ / icking-music-archive. org/ scores/ download. php?file=monteverdi/ orfeo/
notas. pdf). Icking Musical Archive. . Retrieved 22 September 2010. In the early productions the principal "high voice" parts were sung by
castrati. Modern productions have generally allocated the parts to soprano, alto, tenor and bass singers. See Carter (2002), pp. 91–97, Glover,
pp. 146–48.
[34] Whenham, John (2007). "Orfeo (i)" (http:/ / www. oxfordmusiconline. com/ public/ ). In Macy, Laura (ed.). Oxford Music Online. .
Retrieved 12 September 2010.(subscription required) See note (2) below
[35] English translations quoted in the synopsis are from the version accompanying Nikolaus Harnoncourt's 1969 recording.Harnoncourt, pp.
73–96
[36] The pun (Speranza means "hope") in this quotation from Inferno by Dante Alighieri can be considered, according to John Whenham, as a
"learned witticism" on Striggio's part.Whenham (1986), p. 66
[37] Whenham (1986), pp. 35–40
[38] Palisca, p. 39
L'Orfeo 12

[39] Ringer, p. 36
[40] Fenlon, "The Mantuan Orfeo" pp. 17–19
[41] Carter (2002), pp. 3–5
[42] "Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia" (http:/ / www. amadeusonline. net/ almanacco. php?Start=0& Giorno=& Mese=& Anno=& Giornata=&
Testo=L'Orfeo& Parola=Stringa). Amadeusonline. . Retrieved 26 October 2009.(Italian)
[43] There may also have been a revival in Paris in 1832.
[44] Fortune and Whenham, "Modern editions and performances" pp. 173–181
[45] Fortune, "The rediscovery of Orfeo" pp. 80–81
[46] Carter (2002), p. 6
[47] Fortune, "The rediscovery of Orfeo" p. 84
[48] Rolland, pp. 124–25
[49] Whenham (1986), p. 196
[50] Howes, Frank (1 June 1924). "Notes on Monteverdi's Orfeo" (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ pss/ 913262). The Musical Times. . Retrieved 16
September 2010.(subscription required)
[51] Hussey, Dyneley (19 December 1925). "Monteverdi at Oxford" (http:/ / myweb. tiscali. co. uk/ scribe/ Oxford-1925. pdf). The Saturday
Review (London): p. 735. . Retrieved 14 September 2010.
[52] Fortune, "The rediscovery of Orfeo" p. 104
[53] Fortune, "The rediscovery of Orfeo" p. 105
[54] Schonberg, Harold C. (30 September 1960). "2 Works Sung as City Opera Starts Year" (http:/ / select. nytimes. com/ gst/ abstract.
html?res=F30811FE3C551A7A93C2AA1782D85F448685F9& scp=13& sq=Monteverdi+ Orfeo& st=p). The New York Times. . Retrieved 14
September 2010.(subscription required)
[55] Riding, Alan (2007). "400 years on, Opera Looks to the Next Act" (http:/ / www. publicbroadcasting. net/ michigan/ . artsmain/ article/ 12/
1083/ 1045382/ 400. Years. on. . Opera. Looks. to. the. Next. Act. / ). Michigan Radio. . Retrieved 15 September 2010.
[56] Pettit, Stephen (22 March 2007). "The Power of Orfeo" (http:/ / www. prospectmagazine. co. uk/ 2007/ 03/ thepoweroforfeo/ ). Prospect
(132). . Retrieved 15 September 2010.
[57] Tomassini, Anthony (7 August 2007). "Four Trips to Hell and Back at the Opera" (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2007/ 08/ 07/ arts/ music/
07glim. htm). The New York Times. . Retrieved 1 October 2010.
[58] "Monteverdi's Orfeo" (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ programmes/ b00s7dkc). British Broadcasting Corporation, Radio 3. 6 May 2010. .
Retrieved 15 September 2010.
[59] For example, as of 2010 the opera remains unstaged at New York Met, the Royal Opera House and Glyndebourne. "Operas performed
1934–2010" (http:/ / www. glyndebourne. com/ archive/ productions/ glyndebourne_festival_operas_performed/ ). Glyndebourne Festival
Opera. . Retrieved 15 September 2010. "Royal Opera House Collections" (http:/ / www. rohcollections. org. uk/ SearchResults.
aspx?searchtype=workprodperf& title=L'Orfeo). The Royal Opera House. . Retrieved 15 September 2010.
[60] "Les Arts Florissants" (http:/ / www. barbican. org. uk/ music/ event-detail. asp?id=8520& pg=1729). Barbican.org. . Retrieved 30 October
2009.
[61] Redlich, p. 99
[62] Ringer, pp. 27–28
[63] Palisca, pp. 40–42
[64] Grout, pp. 53–55
[65] Hull, Robert H. (15 September 1929). "The Development of Harmony" (http:/ / myweb. tiscali. co. uk/ scribe/
Monteverdi-Development-of-harmony. pdf). The School Music Review: pp. 111. . Retrieved 17 September 2010.
[66] Westrup, Jack (1940). "Monteverdi and the Orchestra" (http:/ / ml. oxfordjournals. org/ content/ XXI/ 3/ 230. extract). The Musical Times 21
(3). . Retrieved 17 September 2010.(subscription required)
[67] Redlich, p. 97
[68] Grout, p. 56
[69] Harnoncourt, pp. 24–25
[70] Ringer, pp. 63–64
[71] Carter, Tim (1993). "Possento spirto: on taming the power of music" (http:/ / em. oxfordjournals. org/ content/ XXI/ 4/ 517. extract). Early
Music 21 (4). . Retrieved 17 September 2010.(subscription required)
[72] Whenham (1986), p. 68
[73] Ringer, p. 89
[74] Fortune, "The rediscovery of Orfeo" p. 93
[75] "Continental Record Issues" (http:/ / www. gramophone. net/ Issue/ Page/ June 1944/ 17/ 857239/ HIS+ MASTERS+ VOICE). Gramophone
(London: Haymarket). June 1944. . Retrieved 18 September 2010.
[76] "Monteverdi – L'Orfeo – Milan 1939 – Calusio" (http:/ / www. amazon. co. uk/ Monteverdi-LOrfeo-Milan-1939-Calusio/ dp/
B0003021NG/ ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8& s=music& qid=1284584924& sr=1-1). Amazon.co.uk. . Retrieved 15 September 2010.
[77] Fortune, "The rediscovery of Orfeo" p. 109
[78] Arnold, Denis (March 1970). "Monteverdi: L'Orfeo complete" (http:/ / www. gramophone. net/ Issue/ Page/ March 1970/ 80/ 780424/
MONTEVERDI. + LOrfeo—complete. ). Gramophone (London: Haymarket). . Retrieved 18 September 2010.
L'Orfeo 13

[79] Arnold, Denis (March 1982). "Monteverdi: L'Orfeo" (http:/ / www. gramophone. net/ Issue/ Page/ March 1982/ 89/ 763364/
MONTEVERDI. + LORFEO. + Joachim+ Seipp+ (ten)+ Orfeo+ Melinda+ Liebermann+ (sop)+ Euridice+ Rosemarie+ Biihler+ (sop)+
Music,+ Hope+ Rochelle+ Travis+ (sop)+ Nymph,+ Proserpina+ Heide+ BlankeRoeser+ (sop)+ Messenger+ Uwe+ Bliesch+ (bass)+ Charon+
Cornelius+ Hauptmann+ (bass)+ Pluto+ Erwin+ Speen+ (ten)+ Apollo,+ Echo,+ Shepherd,+ Spirit+ Axel+ Reichardt,+ David+ Adams+
(tens)+ Shepherds,+ Spirits+ Frankfurt+ Madrigal+ Ensemble+ Bad+ Hersfeld+ Festival+ 1980+ Choir+ and+ Orchestra+ Early+ Music+
Studio+ of+ the+ Hesse+ Chamber+ Orchestra+ + Siegfried+ Heinrich. + Jubilate+ JU858102+ (three+ records,+ nas,+ £14. 50). + German+
notes,+ text+ and+ translation+ included. ). Gramophone (London: Haymarket). . Retrieved 18 September 2010.
[80] Whenham (1986), p. 204
[81] Ringer, p. 311
[82] Fortune, "The rediscovery of Orfeo" pp. 90–91
[83] Fortune, "The rediscovery of Orfeo" pp. 96–102
[84] Fortune, "The rediscovery of Orfeo" p. 107
[85] Fortune, "The rediscovery of Orfeo" pp. 110–18

References
• (1) A printed version of this source is available in Sadie, Stanley, and Tyrrell, John (eds) (2001). The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Second edition). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 1-56159-239-0.
• (2) A printed version of this source is available in Sadie, Stanley (ed.) (2004). The New Grove Dictionary of
Opera. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-01952-2186-2.

Sources
• Beat, Janet E. (1968). "Monteverdi and the Opera Orchestra of his Time" in Arnold, Denis and Fortune, Nigel
(eds): The Monteverdi Companion. London: Faber and Faber.
• Carter, Tim (2002). Monteverdi's Musical Theatre. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09676-3.
• Donington, Robert (1968). "Monteverdi's First Opera" in Arnold, Denis and Fortune, Nigel (eds): The Monteverdi
Companion. London: Faber and Faber.
• Fenlon, Ian (1986). "The Mantuan Orfeo" in Whenham, John (ed.): Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-24148.
• Fenlon, Ian (1986). "Correspondence relating to the early Mantuan performances" in Whenham, John (ed.):
Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-24148.
• Fortune, Nigel (1986). "The rediscovery of Orfeo" in Whenham, John (ed.): Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo.
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-24148.
• Fortune, Nigel; Whenham, John (1986). "Modern editions and performances" in Whenham, John (ed.): Claudio
Monteverdi: Orfeo. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-24148.
• Glover, Jane (1986). "Solving the musical problem" in Whenham, John (ed.): Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo.
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-24148.
• Grout, Donald Jay (1971). A Short History of Opera. New York: Columbia University Press.
ISBN 0-231-08978-3.
• Harnoncourt, Nikolaus (1969). "Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo: An Introduction" (in notes accompanying
TELDEC recording 8.35020 ZA). Hamburg: Teldec Schallplatten GmbH.
• Palisca, Claude V. (1981). Baroque Music. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-055947-4.
• Pirrotta, Nino (1984). Music and Culture in Italy from the Middle Ages to the Baroque. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press. ISBN 0-674-59108-9.
• Redlich, Hans (1952). Claudio Monteverdi: Life and Works. London: Oxford University Press.
• Ringer, Mark (2006). Opera's First Master: The Musical Dramas of Claudio Monteverdi. Newark, N.J.: Amadeus
Press. ISBN 1-57467-110-3.
• Robinson, Michael F. (1972). Opera before Mozart. London: Hutchinson & Co. ISBN 0-09-080421-X.
• Rolland, Romain; Perkins, Wendy (tr.) (1986). "A review of Vincent d'Indy's performance (Paris 1904)" in
Whenham, John (ed.): Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0-521-24148.
L'Orfeo 14

• Sternfeld, F.W. (1986). "The Orpheus myth and the libretto of Orfeo" in Whenham, John (ed.): Claudio
Monteverdi: Orfeo. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-24148.
• Whenham, John (1986). "Five acts, one action" in Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo. London: Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 0-521-24148.

Further reading
• Fabbri, Paolo (1994). Monteverdi. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-35133-2.
• Neef, Sigrid (ed.) (2000). Opera: Composers, Works, Performers (English edition). Cologne: Könemann.
ISBN 3-8290-3571-3.
• Sadie, Stanley (ed.) (2004). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Opera. London: Flame Tree Publishing.
ISBN 1-84451-026-3.

External links
• L'Orfeo libretto in English translation (http://www.opera-guide.ch/libretto.php?id=226&uilang=de&lang=en)
Article Sources and Contributors 15

Article Sources and Contributors

L'Orfeo  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=389886998  Contributors: 4meter4, Alanmaher, Altenmann, Andres, Andrew w munro, AndrewHowse, Annlanding, Antandrus,
Apdevries, Arria Belli, Bertport, Brianboulton, BrownHairedGirl, Burnedthru, Caesura, Catalographer, Catgut, CenturionZ 1, Chaser, Cielomobile, CommonsDelinker, Dabomb87, Daniel563,
Dhzanette, DrG, Ed g2s, Edofedinburgh, EldKatt, Eroica, Francesco Malipiero, Ganymead, GreatWhiteNortherner, GuillaumeTell, Gveret Tered, Hmains, Ixfd64, Jackyd101, JerryFriedman,
Jmundo, John Whenham, Jonathan.s.kt, Kleinzach, LiniShu, Linuxlad, MER-C, MartinDK, Michael Bednarek, Michael Devore, Moreschi, Moreschi(AWB), Morwen, Nfrankchase, Nick
Michael, Nikkimaria, Ninjaman3, Nunh-huh, OctagonJoe, Pearle, Renato Caniatti, Rigaudon, Rookkey, Rsholmes, Sidneyyin, Sietse Snel, Simone, Singingdaisies, Sluzzelin, TexasAndroid,
Thomas Gebhardt, Tim riley, Tony1, Trisdee, Twpsyn Pentref, Ucucha, Vanished user, Voceditenore, Wehwalt, Whjayg, William Avery, Woohookitty, X42bn6, 63 anonymous edits

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