Some Notes on the First Edition of Monteverdi's 'Orfeo' (1609)

Abstract

Although we know some of the circumstances surrounding the first performance of Monteverdi’s Orfeo on 24 February 1607, many aspects of its production remain obscure. It is also unclear why two separate printed editions of the libretto should have been issued in 1607, and why publication of the musical score was delayed until August 1609. Nor has it hitherto been noticed that the 1609 score survives in at least two different bibliographical states, with clear evidence of stop-press corrections, and that other of its oddities can probably be traced back to the now-lost materials on which that print was based. Some representative examples illustrate the issues, also raising questions about those materials and the performance and other matters that they may have sought to address.

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