"Che farò senza Euridice?"
What shall I do without Eurydice?
RECITATIVE:
Alas! Where do I find myself?
Where has delirious love pushed me?
Wife! Euridice! My consort....Ah, she lives no more! I am calling in vain.
I am bereft, she is lost and this new state is forever! O nature! O death! Ah memories cruel.
I have no hope, I have no one to advise me, I go on alone. O what fiery vista reflects on my mournful face and my horrid state!
ARIA:
What shall I do without Eurydice?
Where shall I go without my beloved?
Eurydice, oh God, answer me!
I am still faithful to you.Eurydice!
Ah, there is no help for me anymore,
No hope anymore,
Neither from this world, nor from heaven.
Orfeo ed Euridice by Christoph Willibald Gluck
Orpheus entrances the beautiful wood nymph, Eurydice, with his sublime singing and he is equally spellbound by her beauty. They fall in love and are married, but soon after the wedding, Eurydice dies of a snake bite. Orpheus is distraught.
He journeys to the Underworld to bring Eurydice back from the dead. Eros appears and tells Orpheus the power of his music will allow him to enter the Underworld and reclaim his wife. There is one condition: he must not look back at Eurydice until she reaches the daylight.
Orpheus urges Eurydice to follow him, without looking at her, but just before she re-enters the world, he looks back and she is lost to him forever. Inconsolable at the prospect of living without Eurydice, Orpheus resolves to kill himself so he can join her in the Underworld. Contrary to the usual tragic ending of the myth, in Gluck’s opera Eros intervenes and declares that Orpheus' love for Eurydice will restore her to him. Together again, they celebrate their reunion and the power of love.