«L’ho capito tra i morti mentre cantavo il mio canto»: la vox Orphea tra prodigio e fallimento

The article aims to investigate the intertextual relationship between Ov. Met. 10,3 and Verg. Georg. 4, 525-426 through Ovid’s reuse of the etymological figure voce vocare, which is reflected in the Pavese dialogue L’Inconsolabile. From the Virgilian epyll Orpheus’ sorrow for Euridice’s premature death and the exceptional power of the voice of the mythical cantor place the character in a border area between success and sudden failure which constitutes the premise for Ovidian reinterpretation in an anti-heroic key. To the etymological figure Virgil and Ovid entrust one the task of amplifying the exceptional nature of Orpheus’ vox, the other that of decreeing the fallibility of the song addressed to the gods. The shady areas of the character and of his relationship with Eurydice are essential features in the Pavese dialogue L’inconsolabile, taken from the collection Dialoghi con Leucò.