Baroque Opera

After the first operas by the likes of Claudio Monteverdi, the form expanded and evolved over the course of the 17th and early 18th centuries. In the late Baroque period, opera found some of its greatest proponents in Jean-Philippe Rameau in France, George Frideric Handel in England, and Antonio Vivaldi in Italy. Though there were stylistic differences between national traditions, these operas tended to be large-scale, heavily dramatic retellings of figures from mythology and history, incorporating the use of recitativo, a technique for delivering plot-essential dialogue through melodic, musically accompanied speech rather than full song.