What is the Spirit of Music? From where comes artistic inspiration? Around the year 1600,

as poets and musicians experimented in the myriad genres that coalesced into what we

now call opera, answers to these eternal questions were sought in ancient Greek myths.

As patron of the Muses, associated with calm, moderation and order, Apollo ruled over the arts of music, poetry and dance, whereas Bacchus, riding on the back of a tiger, led a mob of unruly satyrs and crazed maenads. In the two surviving finales to Monteverdi’s opera, Orpheus’ lament is answered either by Apollo’s rescue or by ritual killing at the hands of Bacchus’ maenads.

Early ‘opera’ abounds with such polar contrasts. The soul is inclined to Apollo, the body to

Bacchus. Love can lead to either. The lyre of Apollo, the mythical cetra, became a symbol for music itself, and an inspiration for the development of new instruments for the emerging style of basso continuo. But however we might categorise them today, in their own time these music-dramas were not called ‘opera’. Title pages refer to rappresentatione – a show, rappresentatione cantata – a sung play, or favola in musica – a story in music. Often the most exciting moments were narrated rather than acted out, emphasising the singer’s skill as an orator in passionate story-telling.

In modern-day Early Music, the cool, intellectual discipline of historical investigation

should – at its best – serve to fuel the fire of artistic energy. In any performance, there

should be an artistic tension between technical control and wild inspiration. And as our

minds and passions respond today to this 17th-century music, Apollo and Bacchus are still

amongst us!