Introduction : Living with Monteverdi's operas
Monteverdi and the path to L'Orfeo : polyphony, madrigal, and Monteverdi's early years
"Lend me a castrato" : opera comes to Mantua
"So that memory of his glory may live" : L'Orfeo
The first lost opera and other works for Mantua
"Contraries to move the mind" : Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda and the journey toward the Venetian operas
"Tempests are kind, and salt waves fresh in love" : Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
"Nothing human is alien to me" : L'incoronazione di Poppea.
