This talk will walk us through the court of Mantua, and in particular the occasion of the first performance (1607) of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, arguably the first great opera. The audience (all male) thought they were going to a play (with an all-male cast). Where were the famous women singers of Mantua? We will have a side excursion nearby to discuss the Vespers of 1610. Illustrated, with music examples

Thomas Forrest Kelly served as Chair of the Music Department from 1999 to 2004. In 2005 he was named a Harvard College Professor in recognition of his teaching of undergraduates. Before coming to Harvard he taught at Oberlin Conservatory (where he was the founding director of the program in Historical Performance and served as acting Dean of the Conservatory); he taught at the Five Colleges in Massachusetts (Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire Colleges and the University of Massachuetts), where he was the founding director of the Five College Early Music Program. Previously he taught at Wellesley College. He was a Visiting Scholar at King’s College, Cambridge (1976-77) and a Professeur invité at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris (1998). Kelly’s main fields of interest are medieval music and the performance of music of earlier times. He has published many books and articles on related subjects. He is a frequent lecturer and broadcaster.

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