page_title: The Corridor (opera)
section_title: Synopsis
hierarchical_section_title: The Corridor (opera) / Synopsis
context_page_description: The Corridor is a chamber opera composed by Harrison Birtwistle to an English language libretto by David Harsent. It premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival on 12 June 2009. The title refers to the corridor through which Orpheus and Eurydice passed as he was leading her from the underworld.
context_section_description: In a long corridor, Orpheus leads Eurydice out of the underworld. Hades had made a condition on Eurydice returning to life that Orpheus not look at her while leading her out. The opera opens just as Orpheus is about to reach the end of the corridor. He turns around to make sure Eurydice is still there, thus condemning her to remain in the underworld forever. In a series of arias, the couple sing to each other as Eurydice retreats down the corridor back to the underworld, leaving Orpheus to return to the world alone. The members of the orchestra are on stage with the singers and serve as the Shades (spirits of the dead). At times, they are directly addressed by the singers.
caption: The moment when Orpheus looks back at Eurydice in an 1806 painting by Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein
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