Orpheus in the Underworld to rework the story of Orphée (Orpheus) and Eurydice – who, despite being husband and wife, hate each other – into a moral tale for the ages. However, she has her work cut out for her: Eurydice is in love with the shepherd, Aristée (Aristaeus), who lives next door ("La femme dont le coeur rêve"), and Orphée is in love with Chloë, a shepherdess. When Orphée mistakes Eurydice for her, everything comes out, and Eurydice insists they break the marriage off. However Orphée, fearing Public Opinion's reaction, torments her into keeping the scandal quiet using violin music, which she hates.
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