L'Orfeo - The First Opera

Claudio Monteverdi's early Baroque opera L'Orfeo is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, the musician, poet and prophet who descended to Hades to bring his dead bride Eurydice back. The opera was written in 1607 for a court performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua and its score was published in 1609 and 1615 by Monteverdi. Forty-one different instruments, with distinct groups of instruments used to depict particular scenes and characters, were listed in Monteverdi's published score.