The Baroque Era

The Baroque era · roughly 1600 to 1750 · gave opera its first golden age. From Monteverdi's mythological dramas to the highly ornamented opera seria of Handel and the rich Neapolitan school, this period codified recitative and aria, the da capo form, and the emotional vocabulary that would define operatic singing for centuries. The standard Baroque catalogue runs from the early courtly entertainments of Cavalli and Lully through the Italian, French, and German national schools that grew up around them.