Io che d’al te sospir vagae di pianti spar s’or di doglia or di minacie volto Fei negli ampi teatri al popol fol to scolorir di pieta voltie sembian ti. while for an example of early operatic dance-music the final “Ritornello” from the same opera may serve as illustration. [Music: Final Ritornello in Peri’s “Euridice.” Questo Ritornello va riplicato più volte, e ballato da due Soli del Coro.] [Sidenote: =Peri and Caccini=] Peri led the way; others followed. In a short decade the North of Italy produced a whole school of writers who had grafted their ideas on those of the composer of _Euridice_, chief among them being Caccini, who won great fame in the new style. But the chief merit must be accorded to Peri, for it was to him that we owe the invention of the dramatic recitative; that is to say, instead of coupling the dialogue to music that might have been designed for the church, as his predecessors had been content to do, he endeavoured in his operas to allow the singing voice to depict the ideas expressed by inflections such as would be made by the speaking voice under similar circumstances. As he himself tells us in his preface to _Euridice_, he watched the various modifications in sound made by the speaker in ordinary conversational dialogue, and sought to reproduce these in music: “Soft, gentle speech by half-spoken, half-sung notes on an instrumental bass; more emotional feelings by melody of more disjunct character, and at a quicker rate,” etc. [Sidenote: =A Logical Commencement=] Thus was opera, in our modern meaning of the term, begun, and this, too, on a proper, logical, æsthetic basis. It was in 1600 a new form, an untried and questionable innovation; but it contained the elements of strength and endurance, and by rapid steps grew and developed, until within a few short years all other methods of accompanying stage plays by music were obsolete, and the new “Monodic” style held unquestioned sway. [Sidenote: =Its Imperfections=] Crude it certainly was, for modern tonality, as we understand it, was still undeveloped; harsh and ugly much of its music must have been, for melody was unknown, time was practically non-existent, and of form there was none. And yet, in so far as it sought in its music to faithfully reproduce the dramatic situation, such work was more truly of the essence of opera than many another of more recent date and of greater success. Unlike the polyphonic choral music of its date, it will not bear performance in our own day, yet for it must be claimed truth, strength, and clearness of aim; as pioneer work it has been invaluable. CHAPTER V. EARLY ITALIAN, FRENCH, GERMAN, AND ENGLISH OPERA. Monteverde—Scarlatti—Cambert—Lully—Keiser—Purcell—Handel in London—Handel’s rival, Buononcini—Handel’s operas now obsolete by reason of their lack of dramatic truth. [Sidenote: =Monteverde, 1568-1651=]