The Window of Orpheus (, Orufeusu no Mado), also known as Orpheus no Mado or Das Fenster von Orpheus,[Ikeda 1995] In the front cover of each volume in the Bunkobon series (9 volumes, 1995), the following title appears: " DAS FENSTER VON ORPHEUS". This is, "Ikeda Riyoko, Orufeusu no Mado, Das Fenster von Orpheus". is a Japanese shōjo manga and historical romance series written and illustrated by Riyoko Ikeda. The Manga was partially adapted into Takarazuka Revue musical entitled The Window of Orpheus - Story of Isaak, however this does not include the story in its entirety.[Takarazuka pamphlet] , Orufeusu no Mado - Izāku-hen. The manga series was published by Shueisha, first in weekly Margaret from 1975 to 1976,[Encyclopedia 2005] Interview, p.29. then in monthly Seventeen from 1977 to 1981.[Encyclopedia 2005] p.21.
The series was collected in 18 bound volumes. It takes place in Germany, Austria and Russia with the backdrop stories of the World War I and the Russian Revolution.
Theme Riyoko Ikeda published her first long story The Rose of Versailles in 1973. The story had two main themes. One is the life of Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France. And the other is the love and the life of Oscar François de Jarjayes. These two themes were in resonance, and The Rose of Versailles got great popularity and success.
On the other hand, The Window of Orpheus has the three themes.[Encyclopedia 2005] Interview, pp.31-32. Ikeda says there were two themes, "music" and "revolution". But in contrast with Oscar, formation of Julius was also required. The one is the life and the love of another Oscar François, that is, Julius von Ahrensmeyer. The second is the story of music and the life of a musician (Isaak) which Ikeda truly wished to describe.[Encyclopedia 2005] Interview, pp.33-34. And the third is the historical romance in the Russian Revolution. Ikeda wrote the French Revolution in the Rose of Versailles, but she did not satisfy it.[Encyclopedia 2005] Interview, p.34. Ikeda says it is my "Representative work", but my "Life work" is The Window of Orpheus. She wanted to describe the deeper human drama in the background of another revolution.
Origin and development Riyoko Ikeda learned piano from a young age. She loved music and wished to become a professional musician, but became aware that she lacked the talent for it. She gave up, but her passion for music has vividly remained throughout her life.[Encyclopedia 2005] Interview, p.34-35.[Sekai 2012] Long Interview p.23. For this passion for music, Ikeda entered the Tokyo College of Music in 1995, when she was 47 years old, and after graduation she started her music activities as a classic vocalist. -- As a result, after 1996, she was a story creator in her most stories, and the illustrators were other persons such as Erika Miyamoto ().
In October 1973, after she completed The Rose of Versailles, serialized in Margaret, she travelled to Europe with her friends, the manga artists Toshie Kihara and Yōko Tadatsu (JA) for around a month and a half. They happened to stay in Regensburg by chance.[Encyclopedia 2005] Interview, p.26. There, Ikeda was inspired to create the stories of the music and romance which she could not fully express in The Rose of Versailles.
There were two obstacles in writing the first long story La Rose de Verailles. One was the editors of Margaret who asked and forced her to make Oscar a strong, high pride female protagonist. The true protagonist, the true "Rose" was Marie Antoinette though. And the other was that the readers of Margaret were early teens girls. What Ikeda wished to depict was the adult human love and life, but the media Margaret did not allow it.
Julius is apparently a feminine and sensitive aspect of Oscar François.[Encyclopedia 2005] Interview, p.31.[Encyclopedia 2005] Interview, p.33. Ikeda did not want to weaken the themes of her manga arts. She calmly judged that Margaret was not proper media where she expressed and realized her true themes. She changed the media from Margaret to Seventeen. Ikeda firmly decided she would never compromise in her creation of the work. Her decision gave birth the story The Window of Orpheus.
Story The story consists of four Parts. It encompassed over 30 years, from 1893 to 1924. Through this four parts story, there are three major characters: Julius von Ahrensmeyer, a daughter of the aristocratic house Ahrensmeyer of the Kingdom of Bayern, Alexei Mikhailov (alias Klaus Sommerschmitt), a son of the Marquis House of the Russian Empire, and Isaak Gotthelf Weisheit, a prodigious pianist born in the common people.[Ja-Wikipedia] Reference: the article in ja-wikipedia. 27 June 2019, thu., 20:49.[Ikeda 1995] Orufeusu no Mado, 9 volumes.[Isaak-fan] Isaak-fan Retrieved 27 August 2019
Prologue
In the Autumn of 1903,[Ikeda 1981] The year or date when an certain event took place are not explicitly written in the original manga in general. The year or date are assumed by the context of fictional story, comparing with the real history. However, there are simple chronology of the story in the reference books such as Orufeusu no Mado Daijiten.[Encyclopedia 2005] Nenpyō (chronology), pp. 114-117. a boy comes to the Saint Sebastian music school as a transfer student in Regensburg, Bayern, Germany. His name is Isaak. Hearing of a certain legend, he goes up the tower and stands in front of the old window with curiosity. He looks down through the window, and sees a person walking by. It looks like a girl at a glance, but that person is another transfer student, called Julius.
The next day, Julius hears of the legend from Isaak. Saint Sebastian is an all boys school, but Julius is a cross-dressed girl, not a boy. Thinking over the legend, Julius looks up the window. There is a person, and he sees Julius through the window. It is Klaus, an upper grade student. Here, three people, Isaak, Julius and Klaus (Alexei) are combined through the legend. The window is called the Window of Orpheus.
The Legend There is a legend dating back about 400 years ago in the Catholic Saint Sebastian school. It says if a man stands in front of the Window of Orpheus, and if he first sees a figure of a female through this window, he will fall in love with that female. But it will bring pain, for the love will end up like the tragic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Julius, Isaak, and Klaus are tied to the legend of the window. And there are other people who are tied to this legend as well. In the shadow of the legend of the window, the four parts long story opens.
Part 1 - The Secret of the House Ahrensmeyer Source:These subtitles do not exist in the original manga. Editor of this article gave the proper subtitle to each part.
The stage of Part 1 is Regensburg in the Kingdom of Bayern, Germany, 1903 to 1905.
Julius is a girl. Her mother Renate was a concubine of Julius' aristocratic father Ahrensmeyer. Renate was abandoned by him when she had Julius. For revenge against the Ahrensmeyers, Renate gave her daughter a male name Julius and raised her as a boy.
After the death of Ahrensmeiyer's wife, Julius and her mother are accepted into the Ahrensmeyer house, and since there are no other male children, Julius becomes heir of the Ahrensmeyers. Julius learns piano from her earliest days, so she enters the Saint Sebastian school as a boy when she is 15.
Julius spends her school life with friends Isaak, Klaus and other students. But the legend of the Window casts a shadow on her mind since she is a girl, and she starts feeling a kind of love toward Klaus, a manlike, yet mysterious student.
There are conflicts between the rich and the poor, the noble and the common. The Ahrensmeyer is the old aristocratic house. The newly rising merchant house Kippenberg is a rich family, while the Ahrensmeyer's is declining. Moreover, strange and terrible events take place to the Ahrensmeyers in succession. There seems to be some secret with the Ahrensmeyers, something that may have ties to the German Empire and Russian Empire.
Part 2 - The Road of Isaak as a Pianist Source:
More of the secrets of the Ahrensmeyers are unraveled, but in the course of the search, Klaus, real name Alexei Mikhailov, suddenly disappears, having returned to his homeland, Russia. Julius, now having fallen in love with Klaus, follows him to Russia. Isaak remains alone in Regensburg, but is later invited to the Vienna Music Academy, and becomes a student there. Thus Part 2 begins.
The stage of Part 2 is Vienna, the capital of Austria, 1907 to 1920. The protagonist is Isaak Weisheit.[Encyclopedia 2005] Interview, p.31. Ikeda says that the original protagonist was Isaak. The Window of Orpheus was originally the story of Isaak. To add the story of the Russian Revolution, she introduced Klaus. And then, to connect Isaak and Klaus, she formed character Julius.
In Vienna, Isaak meets various people. In the blessed environment, Isaak's talent begins to bloom. He befriends a mysterious student named Reinhard, and one day hears the strange music Reinhard plays. The piece turns out to have been composed by Reinhard, who is a musical prodigy.[Ikeda 1981] Reinhard disguised as a girl child, since he is a son of the high rank house. He could not debut in his real identity. But his father valued his talent, so made him debuted under the different gender and girl name. However, it seems to be impossible to play this music on piano, with Reinhard even damaging his fingers in the attempt, but Isaak is determined to try.
Isaak debuts as an outstanding new pianist, and Reinhard gives him advice and a warning: "You should know what is true art". Learning from Reinhard and Wilhelm Backhaus, Isaak opens up a new frontier of musical art. He later performs with a Russian violinist named Anastasia, who turns out to be a member of a Russian revolutionary group. She gives Isaak a message from Alexei (Klaus) before they go their separate ways.
Isaak later marries Roberta, an acquaintance of his from Regensburg, and is later called off to war.
He returns from World War I, but his fingers have been damaged, and he cannot play piano anymore. He later returns to Regensburg with his son Jubel, and when walking along an old, familiar street, Isaak meets a beautiful woman.
Part 3 - The Russian Revolution, Fate of Alexei Source:
Part 3 is mainly set in Sankt Peterburg and Moskva in Russia, 1893 to 1917.
The story begins about 10 years before the three main characters, Isaak, Julius and Klaus (Alexei) meet in Regensburg, Germany in 1903. In the Spring of 1893, Alexei is accepted into the Marquis house Mikhailov after his mother's death. He meets his elder brother Dmitri, who is secretly a revolutionary, but also famous as a genius violinist. Alexei learns the spirit of brave men and a passion for music from Dmitri. But Marquis Dmitri Mikhailov is shot to death in an act of betrayal.
Alexei and Alraune, the fiancée of Dmitri, flee from Russia, but after the several years of joyous school life, his homeland and comrades call Alexei back to Russia in 1905. At the Sankt Peterburg station, he sees Julius has followed him, but he runs from her. Julius is searching for Alexei when she gets caught up in the riots and is shot. When she wakes up, she is in the gorgeous mansion of Marquis Yusupov, where she is declared his prisoner.
Alexei and his revolutionary comrades are working for the new Russia. They establish the Soviet (the Committee), but the revolutionaries are divided into Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. Yusupov realises that Rasputin is the enemy of Russia and the Royal House, and does not trust him at all. Yusupov encounters Alexei, but he does not kill or arrest him since Alexei saved his younger brother's life. Alexei is captured by other authorities, however, and sent to a jail in Siberia, where he is to be sentenced to death. Marquis Yusupov sends a petition to the authorities, sparing Alexei's life.