Orpheus - Orpheus (English spelling)

Japanese: オルフェウス - おるふぇうす（英語表記）Orpheus

A musician and poet who appears in Greek mythology. His father was Oeagros, said to be the son of Ares or Pierus, and his mother was said to be Calliope, one of the Muses. He was born in Thrace, north of Mount Olympus. His beautiful voice and the melodies of his lyre moved not only wild animals but also the trees of the forest. He is said to have improved the seven-stringed lyre given to him by the god Apollo to a nine-stringed instrument in honor of his mother and her sisters, the Muses, and is also said to be the inventor of the lyre in another legend. During the expedition of the Argo, Orpheus repelled the temptations of the witch Sirens of the island of Antimoessa with his lyre and song, and also put the dragon of Colchis to sleep and calmed the raging waves. When he traveled to Egypt, he initiated the mysteries of Osiris, and later founded the Eleusisian Mysteries based on his inspiration.

When his wife, the nymph Eurydice, died after being chased by the shepherd Aristaeus and bitten by a poisonous snake, Orpheus went down to the underworld to get his beloved wife back. His music charmed all the inhabitants of hell, including Cerberus, the guard dog of the underworld, and the angry Erinides. Hades, the god of the underworld, and his wife Persephone allowed him to bring her back on the condition that he would never see her face until they reached the surface. However, Orpheus happily hurried to the surface with his wife, but he gave in to temptation and looked back just before they reached the surface, and Eurydice was cast down to the underworld again. Orpheus, who was so fond of his wife that he continued to reject the courtship of all women, was hated by the women of Thrace, torn to pieces, and thrown into the River Hebros. His head and lyre drifted down the river to the island of Lesbos, where the inhabitants of the island gave him a gracious burial. It is said that the melody of the lyre was often heard from Orpheus' tomb, and Lesbos came to be known as the center of lyric poetry due to this legend. Later, at the request of Apollo and the Muses, Orpheus' lyre was carried further up into the heavens to become a constellation, and Orpheus' soul was led to the eternal paradise of Elysium.

Orpheus is also considered to be the founder of Orphicism, which flourished around the 6th century BC.

[Masahiro Ogawa]

music

The legend of Orpheus, which symbolizes the supernatural power of the gods and is blessed with dramatic developments, has also been a popular subject in the field of music, giving rise to numerous cantatas (e.g. Pergolesi), symphonic poems (e.g. Liszt), and especially operas. Among them, Monteverdi's Orfeo (premiered in 1607) was a step towards modern music with rich expressiveness, with its powerful recitation and diverse instrumentation, while Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (premiered in 1762) was an important work that realized a reform of opera by placing importance on the nuance of words and eliminating excessive musical ornamentation. Both works replaced the tragic ending with a Christian divine salvation, but Offenbach's famous operetta Orpheus in the Underworld (originally titled Orpheus in the Underworld, premiered in 1858) turned the entire plot into a comic one.

[Yukio Miyake]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

ギリシア神話に登場する楽人であり、詩人。父はアレスの子、あるいはピエロスの子といわれるオイアグロスで、母はムーサたちの一人カリオペといわれ、オリンポス山の北のトラキアで生まれた。彼の美しい声と妙なる竪琴(たてごと)の調べは、野獣はもちろん森の樹木にも感動を与えたという。彼はアポロン神から授けられた7本弦の竪琴を、母とその姉妹のムーサたちをたたえて9本弦に改良したとされ、別伝では竪琴の発明者ともされる。アルゴ船遠征のとき、オルフェウスはアンテモエッサ島の魔女セイレンの誘惑を竪琴と歌によってはねのけ、またコルキスの竜を眠らせ、荒波をも静めた。またエジプトに旅行したとき、オシリスの秘儀に入信し、のちにその霊感に基づいてエレウシスの秘教を創設した。

　彼の妻であるニンフのエウリディケが、散歩の途中に牧人アリスタイオスに追われて毒蛇にかまれ世を去ったとき、オルフェウスは、愛する妻を取り戻すために冥界(めいかい)に下った。彼の奏でる音楽は、冥府の番犬ケルベロスや、怒れるエリニデスをはじめ、地獄のあらゆる住人を魅了した。冥界の神ハデスとその妻ペルセフォネは、地上に出るまではけっしてエウリディケの顔を見ないという約束で彼女を連れ戻すことを許した。しかし、喜んで妻を従えて地上へ急いだオルフェウスは、あと一歩というところで誘惑に負けて後ろを振り返ったため、エウリディケはふたたび冥府へ落とされた。妻を慕うあまり、そののちすべての女の求愛を退け続けたオルフェウスは、トラキアの女たちに恨まれて八つ裂きにされ、ヘブロス川へ投げ捨てられた。彼の首と竪琴は、川を下ってレスボス島に漂着し、島の住民はこれを手厚く葬った。そのオルフェウスの墓からはしばしば竪琴の調べが聞こえてきたと伝えられ、レスボス島はこの伝説に由来して叙情詩の中心地とよばれるようになった。のちにオルフェウスの竪琴は、アポロンとムーサらの求めでさらに天上に運ばれて星座となり、オルフェウスの魂は永遠の楽園エリシオンへ導かれたという。

　なお、オルフェウスは紀元前6世紀ごろに栄えたオルフェウス教の創始者ともみなされている。

［小川正広］

音楽

の超自然的な力を象徴し、劇的な展開にも恵まれたオルフェウスの伝説は、音楽の分野でも格好の題材として取り上げられ、カンタータ（例ペルゴレージ）や交響詩（例リスト）、そしてとりわけオペラにおいて数多くの作品を生み出した。なかでもモンテベルディの『オルフェオ』（1607初演）は、力強い朗唱と多彩な楽器編成によって、豊かな表出力をもつ近代音楽への一歩を踏み出し、またグルックの『オルフェオとエウリディーチェ』（1762初演）は、ことばのニュアンスを重んじ、過度の音楽的装飾を排してオペラ改革を実現した重要な作品である。なお、両者とも悲劇的な結末をキリスト教的な神の救済に置き換えているが、筋書き全体を喜劇的にもじったのが、オッフェンバックの有名なオペレッタ『天国と地獄』（原題『地獄のオルフェ』、1858初演）である。

［三宅幸夫］

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