Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, was a musical work that while is no as commonly know to the public is still held as an interesting musical piece, so much so, that some may have wanted to recreate or reconstruct it.
In my studies on L’Orfeo I had found an article that talks about an early music consort in the early 1900s named, Paul Hindemith, who attempted to reconstruct L’Orfeo with ancient instruments. In the excerpt it is stated that a photograph was found with Hindemith and his orchestra along with a recording of their performance L’Orfeo. At first glance it would seem as though it would have been an armature and sloppy presentation due to the lack of recorded performances of the orchestra prior as well as the photo containing unknown instruments. However, the recording in question was said to be in good condition and an excellent performance, so much so, that it was deemed as a better performance than the original.
The original performance seemed to be liked at its time and it is interesting to note that Hindemith’s recreation of it was increasingly better than its predecessor. I would expect that as the years become more modern these performances improve, especially over the course of 300 years as new technology helps improve performance.
In the text it stated that the rewritten recording contained unfamiliar repeats and cuts but still stuck to the original arrangement’s presence. I would like to know wat it sounded like in comparison to the original and see how the arrangement aided in the early music revival.
Paul Hindemith’s “ Attempt to Reconstruct the Premiere” of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo: https://go-gale-com.ezproxy3.library.arizona.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=uarizona_main&id=GALE|A258437068&v=2.1&it=r
