Orpheus mournful songs that all the nymphs and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus travelled to the underworld. His music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone, who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. He set off with Eurydice following, and, in his anxiety, as soon as he reached the upper world, he turned to look at her, forgetting that both needed to be in the upper world, and she vanished for the second time,
Eurydice (Ruhl play) she trips and falls to her death on the stairs. At the beginning of the second movement, there is no set change, but "the movement to the underworld is marked by the entrance of stones": Little Stone, Big Stone, and Loud Stone, who serve as a chorus. Eurydice enters the Underworld through an elevator, inside which it is raining. Upon arrival, she meets her father, who tries to reteach Eurydice about her past since she has lost her memory after being dipped in the river Lethe. The Stones try unsuccessfully to stop them, because the dead are not allowed to