March 1 – Francesco Gonzaga writes that the Duke of Mantua is pleased with Monteverdi's L'Orfeo and that the work had "been to the great satisfaction of all who heard it".[1] Its second performance takes place on this date.
Fourteen-year-old Girolamo Frescobaldi is appointed organist at the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome, thanks to his patron Guido Bentivoglio.
Ecclesiastiche sinfonie for four voices, Op. 16 (Venice: Ricciardo Amadino)
Virtuoso ridotto tra signori, e dame, entr'il quale si concerta recitabilmente in suoni et canti una nuova comedia detta prudenza giovenile, fifth book for three voices, Op. 14 (Milan: Simon Tini & Filippo Lomazzo), a madrigal comedy
Bartolomeo Barbarino – Second book of Madrigali di diversi autori for solo voice with theorbo, harpsichord, or other instruments (Venice: Ricciardo Amadino)
Lodovico Bellanda – Musiche ... per cantare sopra il chitarrone et clavicimbalo (Music for singing with the theorbo and harpsichord) (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti), a collection of songs for solo voice
Compieta, falsi bordoni, mottetti, et litanie della Madonna for six voices and continuo (Venice: Alessandro Raverii)
Compieta, falsi bordoni, antifone, et litanie della Madonna for four voices and continuo (Venice: Alessandro Raverii)
Severo Bonini – Madrigali, e canzonette spirituali del M. R. P. D. Crisostomo Talenti, vallombrosano, et del sig. Giovambatista Marino for solo voice with theorbo, harpsichord, or other instrument (Florence: Cristofano Marescotti)
Responsories for Christmas and Holy Week for four voices (Naples: Giovanni Battista Sottile)
Sixth book of madrigals for five voices (Naples: Giovanni Battista Sottile)
Asprilio Pacelli – Motets and psalms for eight voices (Frankfurt)
Salustio Palmiero – First book of madrigals for five voices (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti)
Enrico Antonio Radesca – Armoniosa corona, a collection of motets, psalms, and falsobordoni for two voices and continuo (Milan: Simon Tini & Filippo Lomazzo), also contains one piece by Giovanni Battista Stefanini
^Fenlon, Ian (1986). "Correspondence relating to the early Mantuan performances" in Whenham, John (ed.): Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-24148-0. pp. 167–72
^Whenham, John, and Richard Wistreich, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Monteverdi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, 66.