Last weekend, I went to Versailles [despite the local trains best effort to keep me from it] to listen to a choir version of Orpheo ed Eurydice, Gluck’s opera. A magnificent baroque opera, possibly in par with Monteverdi’s. Unfortunately, this version was given in French and with a piano, which simply cancelled all baroque aspects of the piece (and in addition exhibited too clearly the paucity of the text!). Although I found this version rendered beautifully by Maria Callas:
