Contemporaries of Monteverdi, as a rule represented each by but one work,
were (besides Gagliano noted above) Girolamo Giacobbi (d. 1630), probably
the first native opera-writer in Bologna (intermezzi, 1608, operas, 1610, '17);
Paolo Quagliati (d. before 1623), whose play was produced at Rome (1611)
from a movable stage; Stefano Landi of Rome (1619); Filippo Vitali, a
Florentine, temporarily in Rome (1620); Francesca Caccini, the talented
daughter of Giulio Caccini of Florence (1625); Domenico Mazzocchi (1626),
Giacinto Cornachioli (1629), Michel Angelo Rossi (1635), and Loreto Vittori
(1639)—the last four all of Rome. In the same period was Schütz, the
pioneer in Germany (Dafne, 1627, and a later ballet, 1638).
78. The Intermezzi.—The dramatic fertility of the age was shown not simply in extended and serious operas, but in many entertaining pieces of small dimensions and often humorous tone, meant to be performed between the acts of literary plays. Such entr'actes were common in the later 16th century in the madrigal or dance style, and were called 'intermedi' or 'intermezzi,' sometimes 'balletti' when dancing predominated. After 1600 these turned steadily from the older contrapuntal style to monophonic solos and dances, usually with a slight plot and some personages. They served to popularize the new monodic style, to afford composers a chance for experiment, and finally to lead the way toward the opera buffa (see sec. 126). The Florentines were prompt to use such forms, followed soon by others in northern Italy, who were not ready for the sustained effort of the real opera.
Among the many famous instances of the early use of intermezzi mention
may be made of a comedy by Bardi at Florence in 1589, for which several
intermezzi were prepared, the texts mostly by Rinuccini, the music by Bardi
himself, Cavaliere, Caccini, Peri, Marenzio and Cristofano Malvezzi (d. 1597).
Adriano Banchieri (d. 1634), the organist and church composer of Bosco, Imola
and Bologna, wrote a number of works of this class (1603-28), one of which
(1607) was a pendent in the new style to his La pazzia senile (1598). Giovanni Boschetto Boschetti brought out at Viterbo in 1616 his Strali d'amore,
which illustrates not only the rapid advance of the new style toward questionably
sensuous representations, but also the tendency to treat intermezzi as
parts of a secondary drama in spite of their detached use in the pauses of another
play. A similar example is a series by Ottavio Vernizzi in 1623—the
first of the kind in Bologna. From this time intermezzi were certainly as numerous
as operas, though usually far less important.
79. Cavalli, Carissimi and Cesti.—Among perhaps twenty-five dramatic composers who entered the field before 1670, three were decidedly the most influential in fixing the characteristic
