L'Orfeo is a late Renaissance/early Baroque favola in musica, or opera, by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and tells the story of his descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to the living world. It was written in 1607 for a court performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua. While Jacopo Peri's Dafne is generally recognised as the first work in the opera genre, and the earliest surviving opera is Peri's Euridice, L'Orfeo is the earliest that is still regularly performed.
Cast:
Orfeo - Anthony Rolfe Johnson
Euridice - Julianne Baird
The Monteverdi Choir
The English Baroque Soloists
John Eiliot Gardiner - conductor
ARCHIV Records - 1987