Mantua
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Mantua is a comune (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the province of the same name.
Expulsion of the Bonacolsi in 1328, scene of Piazza Sordello, canvas of Domenico Morone.
Ludovico III Gonzaga receiving the news of his son Francesco being created a cardinal, fresco by Andrea Mantegna in the Stanza degli Sposi of Palazzo Ducale.
L'Orfeo
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L'Orfeo, or La favola d'Orfeo, is a late Renaissance/early Baroque favola in musica, or opera, by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and tells the story of his descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to the living world. It was written in 1607 for a court performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua. While Jacopo Peri's Dafne is generally recognised as the first work in the opera genre, and the earliest surviving opera is Peri's Euridice, L'Orfeo is the earliest that is still regularly performed.
Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga, Monteverdi's employer at Mantua
Title page of the 1607 libretto
Front cover of the score of L'Orfeo, published in Venice in 1609