Which composer wrote the opera 'L'Orfeo', considered the first great opera?

Claudio Monteverdi wrote the opera L’Orfeo, one of the earliest fully developed masterpieces of opera. Its libretto, by Alessandro Striggio, retells the Greek myth of Orpheus and his attempt to bring Eurydice back from the Underworld.

Monteverdi composed L’Orfeo for a court performance in Mantua during the 1607 Carnival season. Opera was still a new form, developing from court entertainments, madrigals, and the musical interludes known as intermedi. Jacopo Peri’s Dafne is generally regarded as the first opera, although its music is lost; Peri’s Euridice is the earliest surviving opera.

L’Orfeo is often called the first great opera because Monteverdi gave the emerging genre unusual dramatic and musical depth. The score combines recitative, solo song, choruses, dances, instrumental ritornellos, and vivid orchestral colors. The opening toccata and the famous “Possente spirto” are among its best-known passages.

The score was published in 1609 and again in 1615, but the opera later disappeared from the repertory for centuries. Modern interest revived in the late 19th century, and L’Orfeo is now regularly performed. Jacopo Peri was an important predecessor, but Monteverdi is the correct answer to this question.