THE DEVELOPMENT AND TYPES OF

OPERA

1581
VINCENZO GALILEI, "DIALOGUE
OF ANCIENT AND MODERN
MUSIC
He argued that only a single line of
melody, with pitches and rhythms
appropriate to the text, could express a
given line of poetry
CA. 1573-87
MEETINGS OF GIOVANNI DE'
BARDI'S "CAMERATA"
- an acamedy where scholar's discussed
literature, science, arts, and musicians
1589
INTERMEDI FOR THE PLAY LA
PELLEGRINA IN FLORENCE
Intermedi is a musical interlude on a
pastoral, allegorical, or mythological
subject performed between acts of a play

1598
JACOPO PERI'S DAFNE

The first opera performed modeled on

Greek plays: a staged drama, sung
throughout, with music designed to
1600
convey the characters emotions PERI'S EURIDICE

1602 First surviving opera performed in

GIULIO CACCINI, LE NUOVE
MUSICHE
The New Music - numerous songs for
solo voice with continuo. Those with
strophic texts he called arias.
Florence. The subject demonstrates
music's power to move emotions: through
his singing. Recitative style - is sung with
a free rhythm dictated by the accents of
the words. Accompaniment, usually by
continuo.

1607
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI,
L'ORFEO

Monteverdi's first opera. It was modeled

162O on L'Euridice in subject but has wider
range of styles and genres.
CASTRATI

Because women were prohibited from the

stage in Rome, female roles were given to
castrati, males who were castrated
before puberty to reserve their high vocal
range
 1637
FIRST PUBLIC OPERA HOUSE
OPENS IN VENICE
1653
BALLET DE LA NUIT AT FRENCH
1656 COURT

ANTONIO CESTI, ORONTEA Ballet of the Night is a court ballet. A

French genre that is a musical-dramatic
One of the most frequently performed work.
operas in the seventeenth century. It
epitomizes the changes opera had
undergone in half a century

1672
JEAN-BAPTISTE LULLY BEGAN
PRODUCING OPERAS
CA. 1683
Tragedie en musique - drama, music,
and ballet in a new French form of opera
JOHN BLOW, VENUS AND
ADONIS

Called a masque - shared many aspects of

opera and are long collaborative spectacle.
It resembles an unpretentious pastoral
opera whose charming and moving music
combines elements of Italian, French, and
English styles

1686
LULLY'S ARMIDE

Overture - marking the entry of the King

1689 and welcoming him and the audience to
the performance.
HENRY PURCELL'S DIDO
AND AENEAS

England's leading composer and best

remembered for his dramatic music.
It is a masterpiece of opera in miniature:
there are only four principal roles and the
three acts only about an hour to perform.

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