The story of Orpheus, and the truth in our hearts

At its core, music is not about technique or ornamentation. It begins with truth drawn from close to the heart.

Na Sung-in

The author is a music critic and director of the classical music brand Poongwoldang.

The story of Orpheus, who loses his wife Eurydice, has long been one of the most frequently revisited subjects in the early history of opera. From Claudio Monteverdi’s “Orfeo” (1607), often described as the genre’s point of origin, to countless later works, composers have repeatedly returned to the same myth. Even in the film “Farinelli” (1994), which depicts the life of the legendary castrato Carlo Broschi, the opera his brother Riccardo is shown composing is none other than “Orfeo.”

Fourth-century Roman statuette of Orpheus with the lyre, surrounded by beasts, from Aegina, now on display in the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens. [WIKIPEDIA]

Why did Orpheus exert such a hold on early opera? The answer lies in the way his story captures the essence of the art form. Orpheus was the son of Calliope, the muse of epic poetry. From her, he learned verse and song. From Apollo, god of music, healing and the sun, he learned to play the lyre. He became a master musician, capable of calming wild beasts, fierce dragons and even the raging sea. These images symbolically express the lyrical power of art to tame what is violent and chaotic.

Tragedy, however, defines Orpheus’s legend. One day, his wife Eurydice wandered into the forest and was bitten by a venomous snake, dying suddenly. Overcome with grief, Orpheus sang. His song was not one of accusation or protest. It carried instead the sorrow of loss, love that remained intact and an intense, complete immersion in feeling. It was the honest and unadorned expression of a human heart laid bare.

According to the myth, Orpheus’s song moved not only animals and people in the forest but also the twelve Olympian gods and even Hades, ruler of the underworld, who wept upon hearing it. The episode suggests that genuine human emotion holds extraordinary power. Orpheus’s song thus became a symbol of all music grounded in sincerity rather than display.

At its core, music is not about technique or ornamentation. It begins with truth drawn from close to the heart. The lyre Orpheus held near his chest gave rise, linguistically and conceptually, to lyric poetry and to the German art song, or Lied. Perhaps this year calls for reading more poetry and singing more songs, even if only to oneself. After all, the reason we return to poetry and music may be a shared desire to recover emotions that are honest and pure.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.