Return of the Opera

Sometimes, a musician is more than a musician. Sometimes, they prove that beyond the singing and the playing, they are ultimately brilliant artists on a completely different creative level than mainstream music.

We've all surely heard excerpts of Tommy from The Who, or The Wall from Pink Floyd. Both rock operas are hard to avoid in pop culture since they were, and remained for many years, favorites in the music world.

Rock operas and folk operas have continued since the '70s with recent releases by The Decemberists (The Hazards of Love) and Green Day (21st Century Breakdown) among others. In a related genre, last year, Muse released what many musical critics have dubbed a "rock symphony" with The Resistance. (It's great, by the way!)

Well my friends, I have a new folk opera for you: Hadestown by Anais Mitchell. Aaaah!! This is SO good; you have no idea!



The fact that the opera features one of my favorite artists, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, is like icing on the cake for me. His voice is so haunting and beautiful. I swear, anytime I hear a song by Vernon, I just feel like I've entered into a musical dreamland. I could lay in a field of wild flowers and pick shapes out of the clouds while listening to his songs...but, I digress. This isn't a post about the greatness of Bon Iver/Justin Vernon. It's about the musical genius of the compilation that is Hadestown.

"Hadestown is a folk opera based on the Orpheus myth and set in a post apocalyptic American depression era." --From Anais Mitchell's website.

But, before I get ahead of myself, let's review the Orpheus myth:

Orpheus and Eurydice marry, and according to one myth she's bitten by a snake and dies. But really, the important part is that she ends up the the underworld, Hades, which is incidentally also the name of the god of the underworld.



Orpheus, a great musician and son of gods and muses, travels into the underworld to retrieve his love. While there, he gleans the sympathy of Persephone, the wife of Hades, and is eventually granted permission to lead Eurydice out of the underworld, but there's a catch: Eurydice has to follow Orpheus out of the underworld, several steps behind him, and he must not look back at her until they are both out of Hades, or she will disappear forever back into the underworld.

Tragically, when Orpheus emerges from Hades, he's so anxious for his wife that he mistakenly looks behind himself before he should. She's not yet stepped out of the underworld and vanishes from him forever. Yet another Greek tragedy!

Fast forward to 2010 and we have Anais Mitchell, featuring some fantastic artists, reworking the Orpheus myth. Everything feels very early 20th century. Persephone regularly haunts a speakeasy, and sounds like it when she sings. There's a country, folksy sound that is reminiscent of bluegrass from the '40s, and many times, I envision Oh, Brother Where Art Thou while listening to the album. Coincidentally, Oh, Brother is based on The Odyssey and set in the real American Depression era.

There are awesome song samples on anaismitchell.com and I highly suggest them! Don't flinch from the "folk opera" moniker; you'll miss out on some really fantastic artistry if you avoid it based on the genre alone.



The musicality of the album is astounding. The use of strings evokes an image of a pit orchestra before a Vaudeville stage. Accordions and trumpets are used with finesse. The deep, dark, speech-singing of Hades contrasts with the light, pure, high crooning of Eurydice, and Orpheus is lyrical and haunting beyond imagination.

Hadestown was written by Anais Mitchell who plays Eurydice; featuring: Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) as Orpheus, Ani DiFranco as Persephone, Ben Knox Miller (The Low Anthem) as Hermes, Greg Brown as Hades, and The Haden Triplets as The Fates, and will not disappoint!

Enjoy!

(Photos of album and Mitchell from www.anaismitchell.com; painting of Orpheus and Eurydice courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)