Orpheus Stravinsky's ballet "Orpheus" (1948) and two operas by Harrison Birtwistle: "The Mask of Orpheus" (1973–1984) and "The Corridor" (2009). The Bulgarian Rousse State Opera commissioned and performed "Orpheus: A Masque" by John Robertson. It debuted in 2015. Rainer Maria Rilke's "Sonnets to Orpheus" (1922) are based on the Orpheus myth. Poul Anderson's Hugo Award-winning novelette "Goat Song", published in 1972, is a retelling of the story of Orpheus in a science fiction setting. Some feminist interpretations of the myth give Eurydice greater weight. Margaret Atwood's "Orpheus and Eurydice Cycle" (1976–86) deals with the myth, and gives Eurydice a more prominent
Orpheus "to change allegiance, status, ownership". Cognates could include Greek ὄρφνη ("órphnē") "darkness", and surely Greek ὀρφανός ("orphanós") "fatherless, orphan", from which comes English "orphan" by way of Latin. Fulgentius, a mythographer of the late 5th to early 6th century AD, gave the unlikely etymology meaning "best voice," "Oraia-phonos". The earliest literary reference to Orpheus is a two-word fragment of the sixth-century BC lyric poet Ibycus: "onomaklyton Orphēn" ("Orpheus famous-of-name"). He is not mentioned in Homer or Hesiod. Most ancient sources accept his historical existence; Aristotle is an exception. Pindar calls Orpheus "the father of songs" and identifies him as a