Early Opera of the Florentine Camerata

Timeline

1. 1591Florence · FlorenceThe Camerata presided over by Giovanni Bardi gathered Vincenzo Galilei, Giulio Caccini, and others, criticizing polyphony for obscuring the text and advocating single-voice recitative to express dramatic emotion, laying theoretical and technical foundations for the birth of opera.
2. 1598House of Jacopo Corsi · FlorenceDafne, composed by Jacopo Peri with a libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini, was performed at Corsi's house, with single-voice singing over continuo throughout; later regarded as the first Western opera, only part of its music survives but it established a new paradigm for dramatic music.
3. 1600Palazzo Pitti · FlorencePeri and Caccini each composed music to the same libretto, Euridice, publicly performed at the wedding celebrations of Marie de' Medici and Henry IV; the complete score survives, marking the Camerata's experiments moving from private salons to the public court stage and opera gaining social recognition as an independent genre.