Orpheus and Eurydice exit, Orpheus lost his faith and turned to see Eurydice behind him, but her shadow was whisked back among the dead, now trapped in Hades forever. Orpheus tried to return to the Underworld, but a man cannot enter the realm of Hades twice while alive. According to various versions of the myth, Orpheus started playing a mourning song with his lyre, calling for death so that he could be united with Eurydice forever. Orpheus is ultimately killed either by beasts tearing him apart, or by the Maenads, in a frenzied mood. According to another version, Zeus decided to strike him
The Mask of Orpheus with the Orpheus myth decaying. "The Mask of Orpheus", in addition to vocal and orchestral music, contains a significant amount of electronic music, (which was precisely composed by Birtwistle, and realized on his behalf by Barry Anderson). Each act has its own electronic "aura", which goes on continuously, sometimes prominently, sometimes inaudibly; the voice of Apollo is heard on several occasions as an electronic sound "speaking" in an invented language. These electronic sounds were made by Anderson in Paris at IRCAM. There are also six purely electronic interludes created by computer manipulation of harp sounds. Jocelyn Herbert was commissioned to