Les Malheurs d'Orphee (1924) is a
chamber opera in three acts by
Darius Milhaud, with a
libretto by
Armand Lunel.
The story of the opera is as follows:
The healer Orpheus resolves to marry the outcast gypsy Eurydice. To avoid her relatives, they escape to the mountains, where she succumbs to a mysterious disease. She is then carried away by the animals that mourn her. Orpheus returns to his village, where Eurydice's gypsy sisters accuse him of her death and kill him. Only after one of the sisters succumbs to Orpheus' charms (post mortem) do the sisters realize their mistake.
The opera is very short (35-45 minutes) and is very rarely performed.
The first perfomance was at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, on 7th May 1926.