The first German opera... lost, but then a stab at modern reconstruction

Some of my farflung correspondents share my love of "classical" music or opera, or even music from before Bach. If you're not one of them, you might wanna click away. 

You may have been exposed at some point to Orfeo and/or Incoronazione di Poppea and Rittorno d'Ulisse. (Monteverdi' extant operas; he actually wrote like 30 of them, but most of his are lost, which is usual for this kind of music). 

You may also know of my outsize admiration for Heinrich Schuetz, who is known almost entirely for his quite serious sacred music, of which there is almost literally a ton. From 1615 to 1672, through peace and the worst war the world had seen to that time, he continued to compose, and publish, really exemplary sacred vocal music. Almost all his instrumental and secular music (apart from the juvenilia Italienische Madrigale) is lost. Most of it burned in library fires. Including the rendition into German and then into music of the same Dafne story. Schuetz is credited for the first German opera, in 1623. But of course it's lost except for the libretto. 

Well, check this out. Schuetz Dafne. It's a "reconstruction," using other music by Schuetz and some other composers reworked to fit the words and with bridging and other modifications. Amazingly enough, the result is really very good. Of the Peri and Monteverdi and this one as a group, I find this the most successful and satisfying musically. Sacrilege! Schuetz above Monteverdi! Yes, actually. No spoken dialog, so not a singspiel in any sense. And no recitative to speak of, either, which makes it much more substantive and musically engaging. True that some of the numbers can barely conceal their origins as kleine geistliche Konzerte, but never mind. 

It's a little volkisch. Even rustic. But it's absolutely charming, I have to contend.