History of the Opera from its Origin in Italy to the present Time / With Anecdotes of the Most Celebrated Composers and Vocalists of Europe

from its Origin in Italy to the present Time.
WITH ANECDOTES OF THE MOST CELEBRATED COMPOSERS AND VOCALISTS OF EUROPE. BY SUTHERLAND EDWARDS, AUTHOR OF RUSSIANS AT HOME, ETC.
QUIS TAM DULCIS SONUS QUI MEAS COMPLET AURES? WHAT IS ALL THIS NOISE ABOUT?
VOL. I. LONDON: WM. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE. —— 1862.
LONDON: LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, SWAN BUILDINGS, (49) MOORGATE STREET.

THE FIRST OPERA
Others see the first specimens of opera in the Greek plays; but the earliest musical dramas of modern Italy, from which the Opera of the present day is descended directly, and in an unbroken line, are mysteries differing only from the dramatic mysteries in so far that the dialogue in them was sung instead of being spoken. The Conversion of St. Paul was played in music, at Rome, in 1440. The first profane subject treated operatically, was the descent of Orpheus into hell; the music of this Orfeo , which was produced also at Rome, in 1480, was by Angelo Poliziano, the libretto by Cardinal Riario, nephew of Sixtus IV. The popes kept up an excellent theatre, and Clement IX. was himself the author of seven libretti .
At this time the great attraction in operatic representations was the scenery—a sign of infancy then, as it is a sign of decadence now. At the very beginning of the sixteenth century, Balthazar Peruzzi, the decorator of the papal theatre, had carried his art to such perfection, that the greatest painters of the day were astonished at his performances. His representations of architecture and the illusions of height and distance which his knowledge of perspective enabled him to produce, were especially admired. Vasari has told us how Titian, at the Palace of la Farnesina, was so struck by the appearance of solidity given by Peruzzi to his designs in profile, that he was not satisfied, until he had ascended a ladder and touched them, that they were not actually in relief. One can scarcely conceive, says the historian of the painters, in speaking of Peruzzi's scenic decorations, with what ability, in so limited a space, he represented such a number of houses, palaces, porticoes, entablatures, profiles, and all with such an aspect of reality that the spectator fancied himself transported into the middle of a public square, to such a point was the illusion carried. Moreover, Balthazar, the better to produce these results, understood, in an admirable manner the disposition of light as well as all the machinery connected with theatrical changes and effects.