L'Orfeo discography
These lists show the audio and visual recordings of the opera L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi. The opera was first performed in Mantua in 1607, at the court of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga, and is one of the earliest of all operas. The first recording of L'Orfeo was issued in 1939, a freely adapted version of Monteverdi's music edited by Giacomo Benvenuti, given by the orchestra of La Scala Milan conducted by Ferrucio Calusio. In 1949 the Berlin Radio Orchestra under Helmut Koch recorded the complete opera, on long-playing records. The advent of LP recordings was, as Harold Schonberg later wrote, an important factor in the postwar revival of interest in Renaissance and Baroque music, and from the mid-1950s recordings of L'Orfeo have been issued on many labels. Koch's landmark version was reissued in 1962, when it was compared unfavourably with others that had by then been issued. The 1969 recording by Nicholas Harnoncourt and the Vienna Concentus Musicus, using Harnoncourt's edition based on period instruments, was praised for "making Monteverdi's music sound something like the way he imagined". In 1981 Siegfried Heinrich, with the Early Music Studio of the Hesse Chamber Orchestra, recorded a version which re-created the original Striggio libretto ending, adding music from Monteverdi's 1616 ballet Tirsi e Clori for the Bacchante scenes. Among more recent recordings, that of Emmanuelle Haïm has been praised for its dramatic effect. The 21st century has seen the issue of an increasing number of recordings on DVD and Blu-ray.
Video
| Year of recording | Cast Orfeo; Euridice; La musica; Messenger; Proserpina | Opera house/Orchestra Conductor | Label and year of issue | Notes | Refs |
| 1978 | Philippe Huttenlocher Dietlinde Turban Trudeliese Schmidt Glenys Linos | Monteverdi Ensemble der Zürcher Oper Nikolaus Harnoncourt | DVD : Deutsche Grammophon 073 4163 | Originally performed as a television film. Also issued on DVD as part of a 3-opera set, DG Unitel 073 4278 | |
| 1997 | John Mark Ainsley Juanita Lascarro David Cordier Brigitte Balleys Bernarda Fink | Concerto Palatino, Tragicomedia Stephen Stubbs | DVD : Opus Arte OA 0928 ; Opus Arte OA 0929 | Recording of a performance by De Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, September 1997 | |
| 1998 | Simon Keenlyside Juanita Lascarro Graciela Oddone Martina Dike | Concerto Vocale, Collegium Vocale Gent René Jacobs | DVD Harmonia Mundi France HMD 9909003/04 | Recording of a performance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, 21 May 1998. | |
| 2002 | Furio Zanasi Arianna Savall Montserrat Figueras Sara Mingardo Adriana Fernández | Le Concert des Nations Jordi Savall | DVD : BBC/Opus Arte OA 0842D | Recording of a performance in the Gran Teatre del Liceu, 31 January 2002 | |
| 2004 | Kobie van Rensburg Cyrille Gerstenhaber Estelle Kaïque Delphine Gillot | La Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy Jean-Claude Malgoire | DVD : Dynamic 33477 | Recording of a live performance at Tourcoing in October 2004. The role of La musica was shared between three singers. | |
| 2008 | Dietrich Henschel Maria Grazia Schiavo Sonia Prina | Les Arts Florissants - Les Sacqueboutiers William Christie | DVD : Dynamic 33598 | Live performance, Teatro Real, Madrid, May 2008 | |
| 2009 | Georg Nigl Roberta Invernizzi Sara Mingardo Raffaella Milanesi | Teatro alla Scala, Rinaldo Alessandrini | Blu-ray : Opus Arte | Live performance, Milan, 21, 23 September 2009. Stage director: Robert Wilson | |
| 2017 | Cyril Auvity Hannah Morrison Lea Desandre Miriam Allan | Les Arts Florissants, Paul Agnew | Blu-ray : Harmonia Mundi | Live performance, Théâtre de Caen, 28 February 2017. Stage director: Paul Agnew |