L’Orfeo was written in 1607 by Claudio Monteverdi. It is based on the Greek legend of Orfeo and tells the tale of his descent to Hades and his endeavour to bring his dead bride Euridice back to the living world. Susan McClary had a major influence on thinking about gender constructions in music and she argues that Monteverdi has represented masculine and feminine gender conceptions in the way he treats the characters, particularly Orfeo and Euridice, in this opera. Jeffrey Kurtzman, however, argues the opposite: that Orfeo and Euridice respond to the dramatic circumstances in the opera. This essay will discuss and compare those arguments of McClary and Kurtzman of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. In the introduction of McClary’s article she gives us a general statement about …show more content…
This “woman question” has an important role within the issue of rhetorical skills as Susan McClary declared that, However, Kurtzman says that McClary placesHe believes that In section 2, McClary takes a closer look into L’Orfeo. She states that there are two types of rhetoric; the rhetoric of seduction and the rhetoric of lament. She defines the rhetoric of seduction as and this is a way of drawing the listeners into his emotions. Kurtzman believes that this characterization of Orfeo is subjective to McClary. McClary states that However, I agree with Kurtzman when he says nd that there is no command evident in this recitative. As far as McClary is concerned, the second section teases the listener as Orfeo creates a sense of expectation. Orfeo manipulates notes to draw us into his own emotional words. Kurtzman, on the contrary, argues as to I agree with McClary at this point as there is anticipation for the promised resolution as we are waiting for something to happen. This creates a sense of relief in the listener as we finally get the physical pleasure of resolution. In McClary’s third