Caccini, Giulio


Caccini, Giulio

(jo͞o`lyō kät-chē`nē), c.1546–1618, Italian composer and singer. Both he and Peri composed settings of Ottavio Rinuccini's Euridice (1600), the earliest operas of which the music is extant. Nuove musiche (1601), a collection of his madrigals and arias, is the most important collection among the early examples of monodic style.

Caccini, Giulio

 

Born circa 1550 in Rome; died Dec. 10, 1618, in Florence. Italian composer, singer, theorbo virtuoso, and theoretician of vocal art. Composer of one of the first operas (Eurydice, 1602).

Caccini was a member of the Florentine camerata, a group of poets, musicians, and philosophers who played a decisive role in the formation of Caccini’s artistic views. He was one of the creators of the Italian bel canto, and his works are melodious and full of virtuoso passages. Caccini also composed a collection of madrigals and arias for voice with accompaniment (New Music, 1602), which contains complete directions on the methods of vocal execution.

REFERENCES

Livanova, T. Istoriia zapadnoevropeiskoi muzyki do 1789 goda. Moscow-Leningrad, 1940.
Kretzschmar, H. Istoriia opery. Leningrad, 1925. (Translation.)
Ehrichs, A. Giulio Caccini. Leipzig, 1908.