Greek underworld are the unburied which can't be taken across from bank to bank until they receive a proper burial. Across the river, guarding the gates of the underworld is Cerberus. There is also an area where the Judges of the underworld decide where to send the souls of the person — to Elysium, the Fields of Asphodel, or Tartarus. While Tartarus is not considered to be directly a part of the underworld, it is described as being as far beneath the underworld as the earth is beneath the sky. It is so dark that the "night is poured around it in
Orpheus in the Underworld earlier pieces. This also marked the first time that Offenbach used Greek mythology as a background for one of his pieces. The operetta is an irreverent parody and scathing satire on Gluck and his "Orfeo ed Euridice" and culminates in the risqué "Galop infernal" ("Infernal Galop") that shocked some in the audience at the premiere. Other targets of satire, as would become typical in Offenbach's burlesques, are the stilted performances of classical drama at the Comédie-Française and the scandals in society and politics of the Second French Empire. The "Infernal Galop" from Act 2, Scene 2, is famous outside classical