=The Florentine School=.—One particular characteristic of the Florentine school was a sedulous _avoidance_ of anything like _extended melody_ or definite form. To the composers of this school, music was not an end in itself; it was subordinate to the distinct, _impassioned declamation_ of the poet’s verses. They held that any independent development of musical thought was a weakness; that it tended to distract the attention of the hearer from the drama, and to interfere with its logical continuity. The predominant influence was that of the scholar, not of the musician. This was to be expected from the character of the little coterie interested in the new art-form. The majority were wealthy amateurs, zealous students of the classics and aflame with the desire for the actual revival of the Greek tragedy. Peri and Caccini were the only musicians and they were strongly averse to the contrapuntal music of the day. Its persistently ecclesiastical effect debarred it from expressing the personal feeling which was the object of their research. In the effort to escape its ban, they unwittingly emancipated their art from the control of the Church, and made it accessible to mankind in general. This, therefore, is the great service of the Florentine reformers: the establishment of a purely secular school of music susceptible of indefinite development. Making allowance for the vast difference in means due to the practical creation of independent instrumental music since the 17th century, their practice was precisely the same as that of the modern composer who writes a music drama and uses the same term to define his work. When _Dafne_ and _Euridice_ first saw the light, however, there was neither knowledge nor experience to point the way; it was found only after a slow and laborious process of experimentation, involving the acceptance of much that was rejected after having served its turn. Though Peri and Caccini with their confrères did not succeed in the end they had in view, they accomplished far more by originating the Opera, the point of departure for the whole modern art of music. REFERENCES. Symonds.—The Renaissance in Italy. Apthorp.—Opera Past and Present. Grove.—Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Articles on subjects mentioned in this and following lessons. Streatfeild.—The Opera. These general works serve for other lessons on the opera. QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. What was the Renaissance? What was the effect of this idea on music? What was the origin of Recitative? What was understood by _Nuove Musiche_? Who wrote the first opera? What term was applied to this kind of musical work? Give a description of the early opera. Give an account of the Florentine school and their fundamental ideas.