The Operas of Monteverdi - English National Opera Guide 45

Monteverdi's 1607 version of the legend of Orpheus is arguably the first masterpiece of opera

Composed for the court of Mantua, where Monteverdi was employed, it is very different from his two other surviving operas, which he wrote more than thirty years later to entertain Venetian audiences in the first public opera houses

Orfeo was long considered untranslatable, because the text is so closely tied to the music, and the Venetian librettos owe some of their brilliance to Spanish Golden Age theatre

This opera guide is an opportunity to read all three of Monteverdi's stage works together, in Anne Ridler's graceful translations.

REVIEWS

'Brilliantly produced and superb value' ~ Sunday Times

'All these will provide the new opera-goer with food for thought' ~ Daily Telegraph

'Wholehearted recommendation of this valuable new series' ~ TLS