=The Cantata=.—The first result of their efforts was the Cantata (from _cantare_, to sing), meaning a composition for the voice in contradistinction to the Sonata (from _sonare_, to sound), which was applied to one for instruments. The Cantata had but little in common with what is now understood by the term. It was a recitation on musical intervals for a single voice accompanied by but one instrument. Anything like a formal melody was carefully avoided, and the accompaniment, generally played on the lute, was of the most unpretending character. The first of these cantatas was composed by =Vincenzo Galilei=, the father of the celebrated astronomer, on the tragic fate of Count Ugolino, as related by Dante in the _Inferno_. This, therefore, was the _first art-song_ ever composed. Unfortunately, it has been lost; but contemporary accounts tell of the profound impression it created. Other cantatas were written and sung by =Giulio Caccini= (1550-1618), a skilled and an admirable lutist as well, and all awakened the utmost enthusiasm among the little company. These works were known as _Nuove Musiche_ (new music) and such as have survived are, in general, painfully thin and crude to modern ears. When compared with the rich polyphony of the prevailing Church style they seem at the first blush to indicate retrogression. Progress, however, seldom advances in a direct line; it generally moves by spirals which at times apparently retreat only to mount the higher at the succeeding curve. These dull recitatives bore the _germ of emancipation_ from the scholastic laws which had heretofore prevented music from expressing individual emotion; they typify the spirit of the Renaissance and are the foundation of the art as we now know it. =The First Opera=.—Another of the number, =Jacopo Peri= (1561-1633), also a musician, took the next step by composing music of the same style to a drama, the _Dafne_ (Daphne) of the poet Rinuccini, who was the life and soul of this attempt to revive the lost declamation of the Greeks. This was performed privately in 1595 at the Corsi Palace, and produced so strong an impression that it was repeated a number of times at the Carnival seasons of the succeeding years. In 1600, Peri was invited to compose a similar work for the marriage festivities of Henry IV of France and Maria di Medici. This was _Euridice_, also written by Rinuccini, which bears the distinction of being the _first opera_ to receive public performance, and thus introducing the new art-form to the world at large. The score of _Dafne_ has been lost, but that of _Euridice_ still exists.