Sunday, August 20, 2023

August 20 - Jacopo Peri (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for August 20th are here: Jacopo Peri (2019), (2020), Josef Strauss; Elisabeth Sophie of Mecklenburg (2021), and Jacopo Peri (2022)

 

Jacopo Peri (20 August 1561 – 12 August 1633) wrote the earliest surviving opera. 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A House Divided

For less dramatic parts he created vocal lines close to the style of spoken language set over a sustained accompaniment. For impassioned scenes he explored stronger and more rapid melodies with steadily changing harmonies. Peri's critics have observed that within the score of Euridice, he created no musically remarkable examples of either. – Wikipedia, s.v. “Euridice (Peri)”


When Jacopo Peri

Was needing to vary

  The pace of his musical play,

He was led to conceive

Of some recitative

  Interspersed with some sung cabaret.

The songs were a breather,

But experts say neither

  Added much to the drama’s cachet.

 

 

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