The role of Orpheus in this score was written for a contralto and was designed for the eunuch Quadagni.

The Venetian engravers of that day were either incompetent or, perhaps, there were none, for the scores of Gluck's _Alceste_ in Italian and Haydn's _Seasons_ were printed from type.

However that may be the score of _Orfeo_ was engraved in Paris.
The composer Philidor corrected the proofs.

He little thought that _Orfeo_ would ever get so far as Paris, so he appropriated the romanza in the first act and introduced it with but slight modifications into his opera-comique _Le Sorcier_.

Later on Marie Antoinette called Gluck to Paris and thus afforded him the opportunity for the complete development of his genius.