Orpheus - Epic Hero or Drama Queen?

The myths, tales, and concepts of ancient Greece echo and reach into every aspect of modern life. Often misunderstood, frequently romanticised, and sometimes deliberately twisted - to understand their origins and truth is to get a real glimpse into the universal themes that connect us to the past and each other. Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new!  …  When was it - and why? - that the cautionary tale of King Midas, a myth about the absurdity of excess, the consequences of greed and spectacularly bad judgment, magically transformed into an aspirational example of success? When did we elevate him from lowly figure of fun to a gold penthouse and the Oval Office? Written and presented by Alex Andreou Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell Music by Marianna Sangita Artwork by Simona Kanellou For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global NOTES MUSIC  MOZART - A Musical Joke - Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet - PRIVATE COLLECTION  GRIEG - Peer Gynt Suite No.1 “In the Hall of the Mountain King” - Eugene Ormandy - PRIVATE COLLECTION  BERLIN - After you get what you want you don’t want it - Marilyn Monroe - YOUTUBE  ROSSINI - Il Barbiere di Siviglia “Largo al factotum” - Rolando Panerai - YOUTUBE   BORODIN/WRIGHT - Kismet “Baubles, Bangles, and Beeds” - Ann Blyth - PRIVATE COLLECTION  BERLIN - Call Me Madam “The Money Song” - Dinah Shore - YOUTUBE  MENOTTI - Amahl And The Night Visitors “All that gold” - Rosemary Kuhlmann - PRIVATE COLLECTION STRAUSS - Die Liebe der Danae - 1952 Broadcast - PRIVATE COLLECTION   PUCCINI - Manon Lescaut “In quelle trine” - Renata Tebaldi - PRIVATE COLLECTION  BERNSTEIN - Candide “Glitter and be gay” - Roberta Peters - YOUTUBE  BACH - "Geschwinde, Geschwinde, Ihr Wirbelnden Winde", BWV 201 - PRIVATE COLLECTION  GOUNOD - Faust “Le veau d’or” - Nicolai Ghiaurov - Public Television - YOUTUBE  All that glitters is not gold - Mildred Bailey - YOUTUBE  FILM Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol (2010) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1672218/  Wall Street (1987) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/   The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993846/    Goodfellas (1990) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099685/    Scarface (1983) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086250/   Big (1988) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094737/   Trading Places (1983) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086465/  Limitless (2011) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219289/  Avengers: Infinity War (2018) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/   Goldfinger (1964) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058150/  ARTWORK  Silenus riding a donkey  The Judgment of Midas by Nicolas Mignard, 1667.  King Midas Judging the Musical Contest between Apollo and Pan, by Filippo Lauri, c1650-1694  LIFE magazine Goldfinger cover.  Images of Ancient Gordion  Midas Gate in Anatolia  Map of Ancient Anatolia  Electrum coins  Gold Croeseid  Andy Warhol - Dollar Signs  “Siren” by Marc Quinn (2008)  “America” by Maurizio Cattelan (2016)  “Madonna and child” by Sandro Boticelli (1480-81) “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” by Gustav Klimt (1907)  Ceiling Paintings by Gustav Klimt (1894)  Gold Death Mask (Tomb V, Mycenae)  Meowdas (fortnite)  READING Proust “Mensonges” dedication  “King Midas” by Howard Moss  “Mrs. Midas” by Carol Ann Duffy  Essay on Gold and Melancholy  John Lyly’s "King Midas"   “The Reading Mother” by Strickland Gillilan  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The myths, tales, and concepts of ancient Greece echo and reach into every aspect of modern life. Often misunderstood, frequently romanticised, and sometimes deliberately twisted - to understand their origins and truth is to get a real glimpse into the universal themes that connect us to the past and each other. Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new!  …  Orpheus and his lyre. Orpheus and Euridice. Orpheus and the Argonauts. Orpheus in the Underworld. Orpheus and his lament. Orpheus and his pain. Orpheus, Orpheus, Orpheus. The quintessential suffering artist. The shining example of love’s triumph over even death.  Or maybe just a performative, entitled, 'singer-songwriter' nepo-baby . Written and presented by Alex Andreou Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell Music by Marianna Sangita Artwork by Simona Kanellou For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global NOTES MUSIC  Roy Henderson - Orpheus with his lute - PRIVATE COLLECTION  Reinhold Glière - Harp Concerto In B Flat Major, Op. 4, Larghetto - on YOUTUBE    Salli Terri & Laurindo Almeida - Black is the color - on SPOTIFY  Oluf Dimitri Røe - Sabouna of Mykonos - on SPOTIFY  Elena Polonska - Ciaccona - on YOUTUBE  Monteverdi - L’Orfeo “Tu sei morta” Enrico de Franceschi (Orfeo) - PRIVATE COLLECTION  Glück - Orfeo e Euridice “Ché faró senza Euridice” Nan Merriman (Orfeo) - Telephone Hour TV ARCHIVE  Pedro Infante - Soy Infeliz - on SPOTIFY  Marianna Sangita & Oluf Dimitri Røe - Lafina (The Doe) - on SPOTIFY Korngold - Die Tote Stadt “Glück das mir verblieb” Ilona Steingruber & Anton Dermota - on YOUTUBE Billie Holiday - “I’ll be seeing you” - on SPOTIFY FILM Coco (2017) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/   Orphée (1950) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041719/  Orfeu Negru (1959) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053146/   Inception (2010) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/   The English Patient (1996) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116209/   Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101452/   Chinatown (1974) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/  Apocalypse Now (1979) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078788/  Contact (1997) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118884/  What Dreams May Come (1998) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120889/  Pet Sematary (2019) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0837563/  Weekend at Bernie’s (1989) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098627/  Death becomes her (1992) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104070/  Vertigo (1958) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/  Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8613070/  Fitzcarraldo (1982) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083946/  ARTWORK  Orpheus embracing his lyre by Unknown  Red figure vase depicting the head of Orpheus by Unknown here and here. More about red-figure pottery  Examples of Orpheus charming the animals here, here, here, here, here, and here. An example of Orphic Christ “Nymphs finding the head of Orpheus” by Waterhouse  “Thracian Girl carrying the Head of Orpheus on his Lyre” by Moreau “Euridice dying” by Lebœf “Orpheus leading Euridice from the Underworld” by Cortot  Vergil’s version of the Orpheus myth  More about the Derveni Papyrus  Reiner Maria Rilke’s “Sonnets to Orpheus” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The myths, tales, and concepts of ancient Greece echo and reach into every aspect of modern life. Often misunderstood, frequently romanticised, and sometimes deliberately twisted - to understand their origins and truth is to get a real glimpse into the universal themes that connect us to the past and each other. Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new!  …  Most of what you think you know about the story of Narcissus, is wrong. This isn’t a story of conceit or vanity. It isn’t even the story of one person. It is a story of unrequited love and pain, of the corruption of innocence, of losing oneself.  Written and presented by Alex Andreou Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith Exec. Producers Naomi Smith and Kenny Campbell Music by Marianna Sangita Artwork by Simona Kanellou For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global NOTES MUSIC  Carly Simon - “You’re so vain” - LIVE on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZmCJUSC6g  Marianna Sangita - “Glaros” - LIVE on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIGrYHF7jLA  The Clerks of Christ Church - “Slow, slow fresh fount” - on SPOTIFY https://open.spotify.com/track/61kkAfQYSZQIhw46FDLe49  Joan Sutherland - Gounod FAUST “Jewel Song” - on SPOTIFY  https://open.spotify.com/track/348lGUh1TA8t0T2Kpe0Qkm  Maria Callas - Meyerbeer DINORAH “Shadow Song” - on SPOTIFY  https://open.spotify.com/track/1QhZtlXHBuFUwn4splxosj  Joni Mitchell - “Both sides now” - on SPOTIFY  https://open.spotify.com/track/1pjATX7sbd6Y4jMVqIvzHk  Clara Rockmore - Saint-Saëns “The Swan” - LIVE on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdFSU8sn3mo  Róisín Murphy - “Narcissus” - OFFICIAL on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88p6AwgZNaw  Ann Blyth & Lorenzo Lamas - Friml ROSE-MARIE “Indian Love Call” - on SPOTIFY https://open.spotify.com/track/3Fd9Ti1AFjvEyK67Sv8U7Y  FILM The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134119/  Snow White (1937) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029583/  All About Eve (1950) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042192/  The Shape of Water (2017)  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5580390/  The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037988/  Black Swan (2010) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/  Ingrid Goes West (2017) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5962210/  ARTWORK  “Narcissus” by Caravaggio https://www.caravaggio.org/narcissus.jsp  “Metamorphosis of Narcissus” by Salvador Dalí https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dali-metamorphosis-of-narcissus-t02343  “The Nymph Echo” by Max Ernst https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79316  Narcissus Fresco in Pompeii by Anon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_%28mythology%29#/media/File:Narcissus_on_a_Pompeian_fresco.jpg  “Echo and Narcissus” by John William Waterhouse https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/echo-and-narcissus  “Narcissus” by Follower of Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/follower-of-giovanni-antonio-boltraffio-narcissus  "Mr. O'Wilde, You are not the first one that has grasped at a Shadow" by Thomas Nast   https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/820022  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Introducing Podyssey with Alex Andreou Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices