| The earliest evidence of the construction of an | | | | they leave the stage, Orpheus enters with two |
| opera was in circumstances of no very great | | | | shepherds. Daphne presently returns, and relates |
| importance, and only slightly connected with music. | | | | to them the death of Eurydice from the bite of a |
| In 1579 Bianca Capello was married to Francisco | | | | serpent, and the first act concludes with the |
| de Medici, son of Cosmo, Grand Duke of Tuscany. | | | | lament of Orpheus for his lost Eurydice. |
| The wedding took place in Venice and was grand | | | | In the second act, Venus leads Orpheus to Hades, |
| occasion, and part of the festivities included | | | | in order that he may beg of Pluto the restoration |
| dramatic representations accompanied with music. | | | | of Eurydice to life. At first, Pluto is stubborn, but |
| In the suite of the Grand Duke were several | | | | after much pleading, he yields, and the last act |
| Florentines, who took a considerable interest in | | | | depicts the happy return of Orpheus with |
| music, and these Florentine gentlemen were very | | | | Eurydice. |
| unhappy with the music and entertainments they | | | | The orchestra consisted of but four individuals, |
| witnessed in Venice. | | | | Signer Jacopo Corsi, who played the harpsichord |
| This music was specially written for the occasion | | | | behind the scenes; Don Garzia Montalro, who |
| by two of the most distinguished composers of | | | | played the chitarone, or large guitar; Messer |
| the time, Andrea Gabrielli and Luca Marenzio, one | | | | Giovannibatista dal Violono, the viol da gamba and |
| of the greatest of madrigal writers, so that it is | | | | Messer Giovanni Lapi, a large lute. |
| probable that the Florentines had little to complain | | | | Thus, the orchestra in this early music drama |
| about as regards its technical excellence. | | | | amounted to the seventeenth century equivalent |
| What they objected to, however, was its lack of | | | | of a piano, two guitars and a cello. Throughout the |
| relation to the words and situations amidst which | | | | opera there is not one spoken word, all the |
| it was introduced and on their return to Florence, | | | | dialogue is expressed in recitative, and the airs |
| they formed themselves into a society for the | | | | themselves approximate somewhat to recitative, |
| improvement of music, more especially in | | | | and of this a notable example is the pathetic |
| connection with the drama. | | | | lament at the end of the first act. The chorus is |
| The problem with which these Florentines | | | | also handled in a manner very different from that |
| proposed to solve was not a simple one, and | | | | of older writers, very apparent efforts being |
| almost identically the same as that which | | | | made to render it as spontaneous, seeming, and |
| confronted Wagner more than two hundred and | | | | natural to the course of the narrative as possible. |
| fifty years later, to present a drama in which the | | | | A further development of the music drama is |
| music and words should be on an absolutely equal | | | | displayed in another setting of the story of |
| footing, and equally expressive of the sentiment | | | | Orpheus and Eurydice, by Glaudio Monteverde |
| of the moment. | | | | (1568-1643), under the title of Orfeo and after a |
| Passing over the first of the society's | | | | brief sketch of this work; we must turn to other |
| experiments in dramatic music, for the reason | | | | phases of Renaissance musical art. |
| that there is little or no information still existing, | | | | Monteverde's Orfeo was first produced at Mantua |
| we come to a work of real importance and | | | | in 1607, and like Peri's Euridice, its production |
| interest, the Euridice of Ottavio Rinuccini and | | | | formed part of the festivities of a wedding, in this |
| Jacopo Peri, Rinuccini furnishing the poem and Peri | | | | case that of the young Prince Francisco of |
| the music. | | | | Mantua. |
| True to the spirit of the Renaissance, which in all | | | | This was not Monteverde's first essay as a |
| things studied to apply old principles to new | | | | dramatic composer, for he had, earlier in the |
| requirements, the Florentine reformers looked to | | | | same year, produced a work entitled Ariadne, in |
| antiquity for guidance in their innovations. This was | | | | which he gave strong proof of his originality. His |
| to be the start of a new kind of musical | | | | Orfeo, however, affords us a more distinct idea |
| entertainment and maybe the birth of the opera. | | | | of the advance which the new dramatic music |
| The opera is in three acts. The scene of the first | | | | had made within the comparatively short space |
| is set in the country, where Eurydice and Daphne | | | | of seven years. |
| are discovered amid a group of nymphs. When | | | | |