Baroque Opera, Part 1

We discuss the evolution of opera from the late Renaissance through the early Baroque. Believing that ancient Greek drama was entirely sung, members of the Florentine Camerata sought to create their own music dramas, and, in doing so, they invented opera around the year 1600. These lectures discuss two early operas—Jacopo Peri's Euridice and Claudio Monteverdi's Orfeo—and describe and demonstrate the musical content of these early operas.