List of musical items in Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo

The early baroque opera L'Orfeo, composed by Claudio Monteverdi to a libretto by Alessandro Striggio the Younger, was first performed in 1607.

In Monteverdi's hands, according to music historian Donald Jay Grout, "the new form [of opera] passed out of the experimental stage, acquiring ... a power and depth of expression that makes his music dramas still living works after more than three hundred years".

[1] In his work, Monteverdi incorporates the "speech-song" or recitative first used in Jacopo Peri's opera Dafne and Giulio Caccini's Euridice, both direct precursors of L'Orfeo, and adds solo arias, duets, ensembles, dances and instrumental interludes.

[2] The story of the opera follows the Greek legend of Orpheus, who descends to Hades to persuade the gods of the Underworld to allow him to bring his dead bride, Eurydice, back to the living world.

[3] In an ending which departs from the myth, Orpheus is rescued from his grief by Apollo, who invites him to ascend to the heavens where he will be able to look on Eurydice's semblance in the stars.