Abstract

Each of the constituents of the operatic sign (libretto and music) contributes to the process of signification in its own way. We, the audience, are supposed to put the pieces together into a coherent reading of the opera. In this book, this process is first explored and subsequently applied to Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice. Its aim is to formulate some ideas which could serve as a basis for the foundation of a theoretical framework for further research into opera as a semiotic phenomenon.