On a crisp October evening in 1600, the private halls of the Pitti Palace in Florence glowed with candlelight. Guests whispered in anticipation. They weren’t about to hear another madrigal or sacred mass; they were about to witness the birth of something entirely new.

That night, Jacopo Peri’s Euridice premiered as part of the wedding celebrations for King Henry IV of France and Maria de’ Medici. Though modest by modern operatic standards, it was revolutionary. The music flowed with the rhythm of spoken Italian, the story unfolded like a play, and for the first time, the drama was carried almost entirely by song.

Behind the scenes, the Florentine Camerata – a circle of poets, musicians, and scholars – had been experimenting for years. They believed that the grandeur of ancient Greek drama could be revived by blending music and poetry into a single expressive art form. Peri, along with librettist Ottavio Rinuccini, turned this vision into reality.

What made Euridice special wasn’t just its novelty, it was the way it placed emotion at the heart of the performance. Orpheus’s grief, Euridice’s innocence, the bittersweet ending, all were carried directly to the audience through melody.

Within decades, Opera houses began opening across Italy, from Venice to Naples. The format evolved, expanded, and dazzled, but it all began with that intimate evening in Florence, where a handful of visionaries dared to sing a story from start to finish.

Today, Florence still wears proudly the legacy of creating Italian Opera.
Walk its streets and you’re never far from the echoes of that first operatic experiment, a reminder that sometimes, the most enduring art is born not in grand public halls, but in candlelit rooms where new ideas find their first voice.

If you are interested in knowing more about music history, take a look at this page!