Early opera

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Genre

Early opera · Around 1600, scholars and musicians in Florence wanted to revive Greek drama, with a single voice above a simple accompaniment instead of four voices intertwined. This is how opera arose: Jacopo Peri's Euridice sounded in 1600 in the Palazzo Pitti at a princely wedding. In 1607 in Mantua, Claudio Monteverdi turned it into full-fledged music theatre with L'Orfeo, with orchestra, choruses and arias. From 1637, public opera houses in Venice drew paying audiences.

Listening

• 
  L'Orfeo: Toccata (Concerto Italiano) · Claudio Monteverdi, 1607
• 
  Euridice: Funeste piagge (Ensemble Albalonga) · Jacopo Peri, 1600
• 
  L'incoronazione di Poppea: Pur ti miro (English Baroque Soloists) · Claudio Monteverdi, 1643

See also

• Barbara Strozzi
• Madrigaal
• Concerto and sonata
• French Baroque
• Purcell, Handel and the oratorio
• Bel canto and Italian opera