Elysian Fields —1994

Robert Maggio’s top selling work, Elysian Fields for solo flute was commissioned by the James Pappoutsakis Memorial Fund to be performed by the finalists in the James Pappoutsakis Memorial Competition at the Boston Conservatory of Music in 1994.

Program Note

Elysian Fields is a fantasy on themes from Gluck’s “Dance of the Blessed Spirits”—one of the “greatest hits” in the flute repertoire, and a favorite of Mr. Pappoutsakis—from the opera ORFEO ED EURIDICE.  The narrative flow of the music is drawn from the reunion of Orpheus and his beloved Eurydice in the fields of Elysium, the mythological dwelling place of virtuous people after death.  Today the word “Elysium” describes a place or condition of ideal bliss or complete happiness—in short, paradise.

Part One:  . . . the lyre gave forth some mournful notes . . .

Part Two:  . . . The poet’s shade fled beneath the earth . . .

Part Three:  . . . and, seeking through the blessed fields, found Eurydice . . .

The mourning birds wept for thee, Orpheus, the throng of beasts, the flinty rocks, and the trees which had so often gathered to thy songs; yes, the trees shed their leaves as if so tearing their hair in grief for thee.  They say that the rivers also were swollen with their own tears, and that naiads and dryads alike mourned with disheveled hair and with dark-bordered garments.  The poet’s limbs lay scattered all around; but his head and lyre, O Hebrus, thou didst receive, and (a marvel!) while they floated in mid-stream the lyre gave forth some mournful notes, mournfully the lifeless tongue murmured, mournfully the banks replied.  And now, borne onward to the sea, they left their native stream . . .

. . . The poet’s shade fled beneath the earth, and recognized all the places he had seen before; and, seeking through the blessed fields, found Eurydice and caught her in his eager arms.  Here now side by side they walk; now Orpheus follows her as she precedes, now goes before her, now may in safety look back upon his Eurydice.

—from Ovid’s METAMORPHOSES, Book XI, translated by Frank Justus Miller, 1916