L'Orfeo By Claudio Monteverdi Performed by our Baroque Institute, L'Orfeo is an old song— one of the earliest written operas still performed today. The opera retells the classic Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice. Orpheus is a poet and musician, son of the muse Calliope. After his true love dies the day of their wedding, Orpheus takes a harrowing journey way down through the Underworld to convince Pluto, the Lord of the Dead, to allow Eurydice to return with him.