Prologue
In Monteverdi's operas the prologue offers, as Tim Carter puts it, "The most obvious signposts towards an interpretative framework."1
By using the scene from Act IV of Orfeo, which is a key to the entire myth, this prologue opens a window to the essence of the Tragedia as an artistic and reflective intellectual project.
This prologue intends to play with several frames of reference evoked by the action and the music.
The Myth
Those who belonged to the educated part of the late 16th-century society were familiar with a great deal of the antique myths. Ovid's Metamorphoses was popular literature and Orpheus' story was common knowledge.
The Italian translation of Ovid that Alessandro Striggio most probably used as a basis for the libretto of the opera Orfeo, was made by Giovanni Andrea Dell'Anguillara. The annotations printed as an explanation in Dall'Aguilara's book, were written by Gioseppe Horologgi, who describes Orpheus in a positive way and his instrument the lyre as a symbol of eloquence. The lyre was a gift for Orpheus by his father Apollo, who passed his first instrument made by Mercure, to his son.
"La favola di Orfeo ci mostra, quanta forza, e vigore habbia l'eloqenza, [...] La lira datagli da Mercurio, è l'arte del favellare propriamente, laquale a simiglianza della lira va movendo gli affetti col suono, ora acuto, hora grave, della voce, [...]" (Dell'Anguillara, Le metamorfosi di Ovidio, 1584 p.387)
"The fable of Orpheus shows us how much strength and vigour eloquence has, [...] The lyre given to him by Mercury is the art of speaking in the proper sense, which, like the lyre, moves the affections with the sound of the voice, now high-pitched, now low, [...]".
At the Gonzaga court in Mantua the myth of Orpheus was very present in the decorations on the walls of the palazzi by Giulio Romano (frescos in Palazzo Te) and Andrea Mantegna (illusionistic relief carvings about the life of Orpheus).
A firm connection of the Gonzaga family with the myth of Orpheus as a theatrical act started with the commission for a play by Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga in 1579/80. Angelo Poliziano, one of the most famous poets of his days, wrote for the Mantuan court his Favola d'Orfeo in the vernacular, now seen as a very early attempt at a new musical theatre. Both later libretti by Rinuccini (1600) and Alessandro Striggio (1607) show the influence of Poliziano's prototype.
Allegories
Despite his trust in his almighty lyre (mia cetra onnipotente), Orpheus' journey to the underworld was in vain. The vanity of this enterprise and the overestimation of the self provide all ingredients to make Orfeo in this prologue the representation of "Vanità" as an allegorical figure.
Eloquence, which is symbolized by the lyre, could not persuade Fate or destiny to make a turn. This shows the hero suddenly as a mortal individual and apparently in the end not one of the real gods.
As a matter of fact using the instrument as metaphor for musical persuasion can be seen as Monteverdi's profound understanding of the essentially rhetorical nature of his own music.
In this sense Orpheus is Monteverdi's alter ego at the beginning of La Tragedia di Claudio M. The word tragedia in this title has to be understood both as a reference to the creation of Arianna, as well as Monteverdi's personal tragedy in the sesason 1607-1608.
The tragic element is introduced by Orpheus' frustrated persuit of his ideal, the beloved Eurydice. In fact the ideal is a projection which turns her into a symbol for both illusion and truth (Verità). The word illusion should be taken literally here, in its meaning of being in-the-play (Latin: in-ludere). The magic of music only works when one remains in the world or dimension that is created by it. Like in 17th century Dutch genre paintings Vanity plays with the human fragility like a soap bubble that can burst any moment.
Turning his head before leaving the Hades, against his agreement with Pluto the god of the underworld, is breaking the law ("rotto hai la legge"), destroying the illusion. This makes Orpheus in Johan Huizinga's understanding a spoil-sport.
It is Reason (Ragione), this time given voice by one of the spirits, who reminds Orpheus of his misstep. Ragione is introduced here in the prologue and will come back in Act I,2 of the opera in its quality of a judge (Artusi) convicting Monteverdi for his presumed mistakes.
The origin of these so-called mistakes is their lack of reason and discipline to submit oneself to a higher goal.
By following his impulse and looking back, Orpheus betrays Eurydice in a symbolic way. He is unable to sacrifice his instinct for an act of faith. She reacts with a mini-lamento (Ahi, vista troppo dolce), deploring in a very rhetorical way her loss of enjoying light and love. In its function of prologue this lament foreshadowes the complaint in act III by Arianna, who was also abandonned by her hero, Theseus.
Reality
The end of this scene and the return of Eurydice to the underworld wakes Monteverdi out of his dream. The reality is that he will have to bury his wife and remain behind with his two young sons, for whom he will have to do the parenting single-handedly.
New music accompanies Monteverdi from the world of fantasy to the reality of his daily life. From his letters, we do not know how he experienced the death of Claudia Cattaneo. Not a single word is dedicated to her as a person he loved.