Florentine Beginnings Although musical drama, such as The Play of Daniel (12th cent.), had previously existed, it was in the year 1600 that opera came into being. It began in Florence, Italy, fostered by the camerata [society], a group of scholars, philosophers, and amateur musicians that included the librettist Ottavio Rinuccini (1562-1621) and the composers Vincenzo Galilei , Emilio del Cavaliere (c.1550-1602), Jacopo Peri , and Giulio Caccini . It was their aim to promote the principle of …showed first 75 words of 1452 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1452 total…race. Goethe compared him with Shakespeare. His major librettist was Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838), who produced texts for three of Mozart's greatest works: Le Nozze di Figaro ( The Marriage of Figaro, 1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and Così fan tutte ( Women Are Like That, 1790). In La clemenza di Tito (1791) Mozart used the work of Pietro Metastasio for his libretto. The libretto for Mozart's last great opera, Die Zauberflöte ( The Magic Flute, 1791) was written by Emmanuel Schickaneder (1751-1812).