L’orfeo - Father of Opera

L’Orfeo was given its premiere performance at one of the meetings of the Accademia delgi Invaghiti which were held in the Royal Palace. It was quite a private experimental performance to which only intimate friends of the sovereigns were invited and its success was decisive. The Prince, who on the day before the first performance had corresponded, in excited anticipation, with his brother, wrote again after the performance and announced “The piece was performed to the satisfaction of all who heard it. And indeed, my Lord the Duke, not satisfied with having been present at the performance, and with having heard numerous rehearsals, has ordered another performance….”

L’Orfeo was an immediate success and has enjoyed many performances ever since. Set to a libretto by the poet Allessandrio Striggio, it is incontestably a masterpiece of the Riforma Melodrammatica. Monteverdi was a master of the Florentine