L'Orfeo

Claudio Monteverdi's 'L'Orfeo,' premiered in 1607 in Mantua for the Gonzaga family, is widely recognized as one of the earliest operas still regularly performed today. It represents the perfect transition from the late Renaissance polyphonic style to the new Baroque emphasis on monody, which is solo singing over a bass line.

The opera opens with a famous instrumental piece called the 'Toccata,' which Monteverdi explicitly instructs to be played by a brass instrument, typically a cornetto. This triumphant fanfare serves as a deliberate call for silence to grab the audience's attention before the vocal drama begins.

The libretto by Alessandro Striggio is based on the classical Greek myth of Orpheus, a legendary musician who descends into the underworld to rescue his dead wife, Euridice. Unlike some earlier operas, Monteverdi's version of the myth famously ends with Apollo rescuing Orpheus and turning him into a constellation.

Monteverdi specified a remarkably large orchestra of over 40 instruments for the 1607 premiere, making it a massive undertaking for the era. Instead of playing together constantly as modern orchestras do, specific instrument families were assigned to represent different characters and emotions, creating highly varied textures.