The history of opera has a relatively short duration within the context of the history of music in general. It appeared in 1597, when the first opera, Dafne, by Jacopo Peri, was created. Since then it has developed parallel to the various musical currents that have followed one another over time up to the present day, generally linked to the current concept of classical music.
Opera (from the Latin opera, plural of opus, "work") is a musical genre that combines symphonic music, usually performed by an orchestra, and a written dramatic text—expressed in the form of a libretto—interpreted vocally by singers of different tessitura: tenor, baritone, and bass for the male register, and soprano, mezzo-soprano, and contralto for the female, in addition to the so-called white voices (those of children) or in falsetto (castrato, countertenor). Generally, the musical work contains overtures, interludes and musical accompaniments, while the sung part can be in choir or solo, duet, trio, or various combinations, in different structures such as recitative or aria. There are various genres, such as classical opera, chamber opera, operetta, musical, singspiel, and zarzuela. On the other hand, as in theater, there is dramatic opera (opera seria) and comic opera (opera buffa), as well as a hybrid between the two: the dramma giocoso.
As a multidisciplinary art form, opera combines music, drama, dance, scenography, costume, and makeup, relying on collaborative work between the composer, librettist, performers, conductor, and production team. Designed for live audiences, opera has historically reflected prevailing cultural, philosophical, religious, and political ideas.
Opera originated with the Florentine Camerata, a group of late 16th-century humanists who sought to revive the musical and dramatic traditions of Ancient Greek theater. This led to early works by Jacopo Peri, including Dafne (1597) and Euridice (1600), and Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (1607), which helped define the genre by introducing structured arias and instrumental sinfonias.
The genre evolved through major musical periods. The Baroque era (17th–mid-18th century) established many operatic conventions and was marked by elaborate vocal and scenic elements, accessible mainly to elites. The Classical period emphasized clarity and balance, with major contributions from Mozart and Beethoven. In the 19th century, Romanticism elevated the status of composers and vocalists, reflecting bourgeois tastes and giving rise to national operatic traditions. Later developments included French impressionism and Italian verismo. The 20th century introduced Modernist approaches and new technologies—radio, phonograph, and television—which expanded opera's reach, while earlier works remained central to repertory.
During the course of history, within opera there have been differences of opinion as to which of its components was more important, the music or the text, or even whether the importance lay in the singing and virtuosity of the performers, a phenomenon that gave rise to bel canto and to the appearance of figures such as the diva or prima donna. From its beginnings until the consolidation of classicism, the text enjoyed greater importance, always linked to the visual spectacle, the lavish decorations and the complex baroque scenographies; Claudio Monteverdi said in this respect: "the word must be decisive, it must direct the harmony, not serve it." However, since the reform carried out by Gluck and the appearance of renowned composers such as Mozart, music as the main component of opera became more and more important. Mozart himself once commented: "poetry must be the obedient servant of music". Other authors, such as Richard Wagner, sought to bring together all the arts in a single creation, which he called "total work of art" (Gesamtkunstwerk).
Background
Opera traces its origins to various forms of sung or musical theater found throughout history. Music, dance, and dramatic expression are fundamental aspects of human culture, practiced since prehistoric times. In Ancient Greece, the theater was a central cultural activity. The main dramatic genres—tragedy and comedy—emerged there, along with early developments in scenography and performance. Although little Greek music survives, historical accounts confirm that theatrical performances were sung and accompanied by music. Playwrights such as Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, established dramatic principles that continue to influence theater today.
During the Middle Ages, music and drama remained closely intertwined, particularly in religious contexts. Two primary forms emerged: liturgical dramas, performed in Latin within churches; and "mystery play", presented in vernacular languages outside church settings. These works combined spoken dialogue with choral singing, instrumental accompaniment, and sometimes dance.
Outside Europe, similar traditions developed. In medieval Japan, the nō theater combined chanted narration, stylized gesture, and music, performed by a small ensemble of actors, singers, and instrumentalists. In China, Chinese opera evolved as a ritualistic, sung theater in which music served more to create atmosphere than to accompany the text directly.
During the Renaissance, several musical-vocal genres emerged, such as the madrigal, oratorio, intermedio, and ballet de cour, that laid the groundwork for opera. The intermedio (or intermezzo) was particularly influential. These musical interludes, performed between the acts of spoken plays, integrated song, dance, instrumental music, and elaborate staging, often drawing on mythological or pastoral themes. Florence, under the patronage of the Medici, became the main center of intermedio production and the birthplace of opera.
Origins
At the end of the 16th century, in Florence, a group of scholars sponsored by Count Giovanni de' Bardi created a society called Florentine Camerata, aimed to study and critical discussion of the arts, especially drama and music. Among its members was Vincenzo Galilei—father of the scientist Galileo—a celebrated Hellenist and musicologist, author of a method of tablature for lute and composer of madrigals and recitatives. In the course of their studies of Ancient Greek theater they found that in Greek theatrical performances the text was sung to individual voices. This idea struck them, since nothing like it existed at the time, at a time when almost all sung music was choral (polyphony) and, in cases of individual voices, occurred only in the religious sphere. They then had the idea of setting dramatic texts of a profane nature to music, which germinated in opera (opera in musica was the name given to it by the Camerata).Also dramma per musica . Galilei was the main advocate of a single melodic line—the monody—as opposed to polyphony, which he considered to generate an incoherent musical discourse, a theory he expounded in Dialogo della musica antica et della moderna (1581). Another of the Camerata's scholars, Girolamo Mei, who was the one who mainly investigated Greek theater, pointed out the emotional affect that individual singing generated in the audience in Greek theatrical performances (De modis musicis antiquorum, 1573).
Thus, one of the members of the Camerata, the composer Jacopo Peri, created Dafne (1597), with libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini, based on the myth of Apollo and Dafne, with a prologue and six scenes; of this work only the libretto and small fragments of the music are preserved. Peri, who was also a singer, represented Apollo. This was followed, in 1600, by Euridice—by the same authors—the first surviving complete opera, on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It was composed on the occasion of the wedding between Henry IV of France and Maria de Medici, celebrated in Florence in 1600. Peri played Orpheus.
Another member of the Camerata, Giulio Caccini, composed in 1602 Euridice, with the same libretto by Rinuccini as his namesake of two years earlier, with prologue and three acts. He was the author of the first theoretical treatise on the new genre, Le nuove musiche (1602). His daughter, Francesca Caccini, was a singer and composer, the first woman to compose an opera: La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina (1625).
One of the main novelties of this new form of artistic expression was its secularism, at a time when artistic and musical production was mostly of a religious nature. Another was the appearance of monody, the singing of a single voice, as opposed to medieval and Renaissance polyphony; it was a vocal line accompanied by a basso continuo of harpsichord or lute.The basso continuo was generally formed by a keyboard instrument (spinet, harpsichord, organ) and one or more string or wind instruments (lute, theorbo, chitarrone, viola da gamba, cello, violone, bassoon, trombone) . Thus, the first operas had parts sung by soloists and parts spoken or declaimed in monody, known as stile rappresentativo.
These first experiences were a great success, especially among the nobility: the Medici became patrons of these performances and, from Florence, they spread to the rest of Italy. The House of Gonzaga of Mantua then commissioned the famous madrigal composer Claudio Monteverdi to write an opera: La favola d'Orfeo in 1607, with libretto by Alessandro Striggio, an ambitious work composed for orchestra of forty-three instruments—including two organs. with prologue and five acts. In this work, libretti were printed for the first time so that the audience could follow the performance. Monteverdi added a musical introduction which he called "symphony", and divided the sung parts into "arias", giving structure to modern opera. These arias alternated with the recitative, a musical line that included spoken and sung parts. He also introduced the ritornello, an instrumental stanza repeated between the five acts. As for the voices, although he left some parts in polyphony, he differentiated the main solo voices: Orpheus was tenor, Eurydice soprano, and Charon bass. In 1608, Monteverdi premiered L'Arianna, with libretto by Rinuccini, of which the music has not been preserved, except for one fragment: the Lamento d'Arianna.
During the first decades of the 17th century the opera gradually spread: in 1608 was premiered in Mantua La Dafne, again with Rinuccini's libretto, this time set to music by Marco da Gagliano. In Rome, Rappresentazione di anima e di corpo, by Emilio de' Cavalieri, a melodramma spirituale that is often considered a precedent of opera, was premiered in 1600, and which pointed out some of the variants of Roman opera as opposed to Florentine opera: greater presence of sacred themes, the presence of allegorical characters, and greater use of choirs. Pope Paul V and the Barberini family sponsored the new genre: the Barberini built an auditorium for 3000 people in their palace. They also promoted the creation of a school of operatists, among whom Stefano Landi, author of La morte d'Orfeo (1619), which as a novelty introduced comic elements. Religious themes were also introduced, as in Il Sant'Alessio (1631), by Landi, with libretto by cardinal Giulio Rospigliosi (future pope Clement IX). In this work, Landi introduced the fast-slow-fast structure—called Italian overture—which would be widely used ever since.