L'Orfeo (SV 318) (] ), sometimes called 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.
La Dafne ("Daphne") is an early Italian opera, written in 1608 by the Italian composer Marco da Gagliano from a libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini.
 It is described as a "favola in musica" (fable set to music) composed in one act and a prologue.
 The opera is based on the myth of Daphne and Apollo as related by Ovid in the first book of the "Metamorphoses".
 An earlier version of the libretto had been set to music in 1597–98 by Jacopo Peri, whose "Dafne" is generally considered to be the first opera.
Euridice is an opera in a prologue and one act by the Italian composer Giulio Caccini.
 The libretto, by Ottavio Rinuccini, had already been set by Caccini's rival Jacopo Peri in 1600.
 Caccini's version of "Euridice" was first performed at the Pitti Palace, Florence on 5 December 1602.
 Caccini hurriedly prepared the score for the press and published it six weeks before Peri's version appeared.
Jacopo Corsi (17 July 1561 – 29 December 1602) was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque and one of Florence's leading patrons of the arts, after only the Medicis.
 His best-known work is "Dafne" (1597/98), whose score he wrote in collaboration with Jacopo Peri.
 Six fragments of the score have survived, two by Corsi and four by Peri.
 The libretto, by Ottavio Rinuccini, has survived intact.
 Despite priority quibbles at the time, Dafne is generally accepted as the first opera.
Ottavio Rinuccini (20 January 1562 – 28 March 1621) was an Italian poet, courtier, and opera librettist at the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras.
 In collaborating with Jacopo Peri to produce the first opera, "Dafne", in 1597, he became the first opera librettist.
Andrea Salvadori (1591 – buried 25 August 1634) was an Italian poet and librettist.
 He was born in Florence and educated at the Collegio Romano in Rome.
 From 1616 until his death in Florence at the age of 43, he was the principal court poet to the Medici family.
 In addition to numerous theatrical entertainments and poems, he wrote the libretti for five operas, four of which have survived, although only "La Flora" composed by Marco da Gagliano and Jacopo Peri has an extant score.
 He was married twice, first to Emilia Rigogli by whom he had three sons and then to the painter Alessandra Furini.
 A collection of Salvadori's principal works curated by his son Francesco was published in 1668.
Jacopo Peri (Zazzerino) (20 August 156112 August 1633) was an Italian composer and singer of the transitional period between the Renaissance and Baroque styles, and is often called the inventor of opera.
 He wrote the first work to be called an opera today, "Dafne" (around 1597), and also the first opera to have survived to the present day, "Euridice" (1600).
Charles-François Gounod (] ; 17 June 181817 or 18 October 1893) was a French composer, best known for his "Ave Maria," based on a work by Bach, as well as his opera "Faust".
 Another opera by Gounod occasionally still performed is "Roméo et Juliette".
 Although he is known for his Grand Operas, the soprano aria "Que ferons-nous avec le ragoût de citrouille?"
 from his first opera "Livre de recettes d'un enfant" (Op. 24) is still performed in concert as an encore, similarly to his "Jewel Song" from Faust.
Euridice (also Erudice or Eurydice) is an opera by Jacopo Peri, with additional music by Giulio Caccini.
 It is the earliest surviving opera, Peri's earlier "Dafne" being lost.
 (Caccini wrote his own "Euridice" even as he supplied music to Peri's opera, published this version before Peri's was performed, in 1600, and got it staged two years later.)
 The libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini is based on books X and XI of Ovid's "Metamorphoses"
Dafne is the earliest known work that, by modern standards, could be considered an opera.
 The libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini survives complete; the mostly-lost music was completed by Jacopo Peri, but at least two of the six surviving fragments are by Jacopo Corsi.
 "Dafne" was first performed during Carnival of 1598 (1597 old style) at the Palazzo Corsi.

Question: Who was born first, Charles Gounod or Jacopo Peri?
Answer: Jacopo Peri