Orfeo

Orfeo is one of the earliest works recognized as an opera, composed by Claudio Monteverdi with text by Alessandro Striggio for the annual carnival of Mantua. It was first performed at the Accademia degl'Invaghiti in Mantua in February of 1607 and on February 24 at the Court Theatre in Mantua that same year. The opera saw its modern in 1904 in a concert version in Paris.

Orfeo is marked by its dramatic power and lively orchestration. It is arguably the first example of a composer assigning specific instruments to parts. The plot is painted out in musical pictures and the melodies are linear and clear. With this opera Monteverdi had created an entirely new style of music, the dramma per musica, or musical drama. This idea of theatrical works set to music was taken from the mistaken notion that the Ancient Greeks had sung their plays.

Monteverdi's operas are usually labelled "pre-baroque or "early-baroque".