ABSTRACT
Orfeo was written to be performed by Mantuan court musicians during the Carnival season of 1607 for the entertainment of the members of the Accademia degli Invaghiti. Monteverdi's librettist Alessandro Striggio was a member of the Invaghiti, and the titular head of the academy at the time was Prince Francesco Gonzaga, heir to the Mantuan duchy. The established facts about the first performance of Orfeo are, then, few. But a series of letters between Francesco and Ferdinando Gonzaga most of which have not previously been published, adds a good deal and helps to resolve some of the problems and discrepancies that surround the text of the work and its first performance. The complete series of letters between Francesco and Ferdinando Gonzaga solves some quite specific questions that have been asked about Orfeo and suggests answers to others.
