It was first performed in Rome in February 1600 in the Oratorio dei Filippini adjacent to the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella.
[1] It was imagined during the Renaissance, almost certainly incorrectly, that Greek drama was sung, not declaimed, and that therefore opera was a revival of ancient practice.
On 10 November 1600 Emilio de Cavalieri wrote a letter arguing that he, not Jacopo Peri, was the true reviver of Greek style acting with singing, i.e. opera.
The music historian Joachim Steinheuer comments that Cavalieri was a pioneer of "recitation in singing or 'recitar cantando'"; this type of declamation was a major innovation in enabling the introduction of extended dramatic monologues and dialogues, as required in opera.
[2] Since the Rappresentatione is fully staged, in three acts with a spoken prologue, it can be considered to be the earliest surviving opera.