• Claudio Monteverdi. Tragedia in one act. 1608.
• Libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini.
• First performance at the ducal palace, Mantua, on 28th May 1608.

Monteverdi’s opera on the subject of Ariadne is lost, although the libretto survives, with contemporary accounts of the spectacular and moving performance. Of the original music only the famous Lamento d’Arianna survives, an immensely influential work, published by Monteverdi also as a madrigal and, towards the end of his life, with a sacred text. The Lament was much imitated.