La Favola d'Orfeo

While reading my history book a couple weeks ago, I came across a mention of Monteverdi's opera, La favola d'Orfeo (The Fable of Orpheus) as being the first "real" opera. I mentioned it to someone at work who's into opera, and he replied that he happened to have a CD of it right there with him. He offered to let me listen to it, and since then I've been listening and re-listening to it several times a day. I never knew that I could like opera -- I haven't really liked any other opera that I've heard so far. I think I like it because the instrumental parts are of an earlier style than most operas.

I want to share a snippet of it, so that you know what it sounds like. This part doesn't have any actual singing (it's just instrumentals) but it's one of my favorite parts. You have to listen to the whole thing -- it repeats, and has a fuller, richer tone the second time around. I assume that quoting just 80 seconds of a recording falls under fair use, and so I can share it with you without violating copyright. If you enjoy it, I encourage you to buy the CD.

Listen and enjoy. (Note: if you hear a background hissing in the recording, try saving it to disk first).