The Mask of Orpheus Orpheus must travel through is given a symbolic name. At the start of this act, time is moving backwards: Orpheus travels back out of and into the Underworld, and Euridice dies once more. Then time moves forwards as Orpheus leaves the Underworld again. One version of the Orpheus story is that he is then killed by a thunderbolt thrown by Zeus, while another is that he is dismembered by the women of Dionysus. Orpheus then becomes the subject of a cult and an oracle. Time flows backwards once more, and Orpheus' death is acted out again, and the opera ends
Orpheus and Eurydice was merely dancing with the Nymphs. In any case, while fleeing or dancing, she was bitten by a snake and died instantly. Orpheus sang his grief with his lyre and managed to move everything living or not in the world; both humans and gods were deeply touched by his sorrow and grief. At some point, Orpheus decided to descend to Hades to see his wife. Ovid's version of the myth does not explain this decision, while other versions relate that the gods and nymphs or Apollo himself, Orpheus' father, suggest that he make this journey. Any other mortal would have