One of the nine Muses, Calliope was the Muse of epic poetry, the daughter of Zeus and also the mother of the doomed Orpheus. When Aphrodite and Persephone had their dispute over Myrrha's incestuous-borne son Adonis, Zeus commanded Calliope to mediate the dispute. Presiding over the two powerful goddesses, Calliope ruled that each would share custody of Adonis, each having him for half of the year. Enraged, Aphrodite vowed revenge and cast a spell over the Maenads, who in turn killed Calliope's son Orpheus in a most brutal fashion. Striken with a lustful madness incited by Aphrodite, the Maenads tore Orpheus body limb-from-limb and cast his head into a Ciconian river where his head floated to the island of Lesbos, where it inspired the great poet Sappho and was worshipped as a shrine.

In this piece, Calliope sits at the edge of nightfall, conjuring the final images of her beloved son Orpheus while the Maenads look on from the darkness behind her.