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Dafne
The very first opera, composed by Jacopo Peri. It's now lost except for a few parts. -
La nuove musiche
Caccini's first publication of short vocal pieces with a specific style. -
La favola d'Orfeo
The first opera that is still performed in modern times, belonging to Claudio Monteverdi. -
Opera takes Rome
Opera finally hits Rome in the 1920's, and the style changes. The singing is seperated into two types, recitative and aria. -
Teatro de San Cassiano
The first public opera house opened in Venice. -
Opera finally reaches Germany
Throughout the evolution and spread of opera, Germany was slow to establish a love for it. An opera company starts in Hamburg in 1678 with Reinhard Keiser as the leading composer. -
International influence
By the 1700s, cities all over Europe celebrated the art of opera. -
La Serva padrona
A specific style of opera became popular at the beginning of the 18th century, gaining its popularity through composers like Pergolesi. La serva padrona gained mass fame and affected the history of opera. -
Xerxes
A creation of George Frideric Handel, which changed the stiff opera style in response to the success of a particular style used years before. -
Orfeo ed Euridice
Composed by Christoph Gluck. In Orfeo ed Euridice, Gluck made a break from the original form and style of opera. Alceste, performed in 1767, portrayed the same break. These were his first Viennese operas. -
French Revolution
At the turn of the century, and the beginning of the French Revolution, people wanted something different. They wanted rescue and heroic operas. The rescue opera became popular after the violent events and fall of Napoleon. -
Lodoiska
A popular rescue opera, and the first to be performed in Vienna. -
Fidelio
A classic rescue opera composed by Beethoven; it's his first and only opera. -
The Grand Opera
This style was initiated by Spontini with the opera La vestale in 1807. Spontini was the most successful composer of this type. -
Verismo
Realistic opera movement, which is a reenactment with real characters and events. -
Pelleas et Melisande
First modern opera by Claude Debussy.
