Opera in the 17th century

Claudio Monteverdi's works have enjoyed great popularity right up to today more than 450 years after his birth. Of his 18 known operas only three have survived: “L'Orfeo” and “Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria” have already been published in Bärenreiter editions by Rinaldo Alessandrini, and “L'incoronazione di Poppea” is scheduled to appear in a new scholarly-critical edition by Hendrik Schulze to commemorate this special jubilee year.

Whereas Monteverdi left behind only three extant operas, almost 30 have survived from the pen of his pupil Francesco Cavalli. In recent decades interest in Cavalli's stage works has grown by leaps and bounds. A selection is published in our series “Francesco Cavalli – Opere”, supervised by General Editor Ellen Rosand.