This opera was premiered in Paris during Rossi's stay there and was given a lavish production with all the special effects available at the time and which librettist Francesco Buti could include, including a scene set in the underworld, palaces, extravagant parks, and various gods flying in and out, even several comic and bawdy moments. It is an extended flattery session for the French monarchy, with the prologue and epilogue filled with their praises, including, in the epilogue, Mercury's promise that the royal family will reign eternally. (A prophecy that turned out to be especially ironic, since the court was accused of excessive extravagance in producing the opera, the kind of accusation that eventually helped to bring down the monarchy in the next century.)

In the monologues, Rossi almost invariably emphasized the meaning of the text by using recitatives over an unobtrusive basso continuo, reserving more ambitious harmonic writing for the multi-voice sections or inserted songs, and the orchestral forces for the many ballets and occasionally to reiterate the theme between the verses of arias, such as Euridice's "Fugace e labile." In this, he keeps firmly to the tenets of the new music that he championed, the focus on expressive monody, returning to the envisioned ideal of Greek drama in which communication of emotions is valued above musical virtuousity. The contrasts between these different styles are striking, and remind the listener of the variety of writing in his cantatas, from the melodic ariette corte to the extended dramas of the arie di piu parte.

While he was composing this opera, he received news that his wife Costanza had died; it seems safe to assume that some of the poignancy of the music in Euridice dies with her longing to see her husband one last time unfilfilled, and in which Orfeo laments her death, is due to the emotions he felt over this.

© Anne Feeney, Rovi