Editing Jacopo Peri

{{short description|Italian composer and singer (1561–1633)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{more refs|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Jacopo Peri
| image       = File:Jacopo Peri 1.jpg
| caption     = Jacopo Peri
| birth_date  = 20 August 1561
| birth_place = [[Rome]] or [[Florence]]
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|df=y|1633|08|12|1561|8|20}}
| death_place = Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
| occupation  = {{hlist|Composer|singer|instrumentalist}}
}}

'''Jacopo Peri''' (20 August 1561{{spaced ndash}}12 August 1633) was an Italian composer, singer and instrumentalist of the late [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]] and early [[Baroque music|Baroque]] periods.{{sfn|Porter|Carter|2001}} He wrote what is considered the first [[opera]], the mostly lost ''[[Dafne]]'' ({{circa|1597}}), and also the earliest extant opera, ''[[Euridice (Peri)|Euridice]]'' (1600). 

He is sometimes known by the [[byname]] '''lo Zazzerino''' ({{lit.|the blond one}}).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Jacopo Peri |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacopo-Peri |access-date=12 July 2018 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] }}</ref>

==Life and career==
Jacopo di Antonio di Franceso Peri was born in either Rome or Florence to a middle-class family.{{sfn|Carter|1980|pp=121–122}} Peri himself claimed to be from Rome, but considering the pro-Roman sentiments of the reigning [[Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany|Fernando de'Medici]], it was a disadvantage to be known as a Florentine, which may have motivated Peri to lie about his true birthplace. Nonetheless, he was employed to sing at the Servite monastery of SS. Annunziati in the city of Florence. He likely received an education from the monastery school as well. Due to its size and favour with the Medici court, who attended mass each week, SS. Annunziati was a pipeline for many musical students into musical careers. Because of his talent and education, Peri was able to study in [[Florence]] with [[Cristofano Malvezzi]], and went on to work in a number of [[Christian Church|churches]] there, both as an organist and as a singer. He subsequently began to work in the [[Medici]] court around September 1588,{{sfn|Carter|1980|p=123}} first as a [[tenor]] singer and keyboard player, and later as a composer. His earliest works were [[incidental music]] for plays, ''[[intermedio|intermedi]]'' and [[Madrigal (music)|madrigal]]s.

In the 1590s, Peri became associated with [[Jacopo Corsi]], the leading patron of music in Florence.{{sfn|Porter|Carter|2001}} They believed contemporary art was inferior to classical [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] works, and decided to attempt to recreate [[Greek tragedy]], as they understood it. Their work added to that of the [[Florentine Camerata]] of the previous decade, which produced the first experiments in [[monody]], the solo song style over [[Figured bass|continuo]] bass which eventually developed into [[recitative]] and [[aria]]. Peri and Corsi brought in the poet [[Ottavio Rinuccini]] to write a text, and the result, ''[[Dafne]]'', is seen as the first work in a new form, opera.

Rinuccini and Peri next collaborated on ''[[Euridice (Peri)|Euridice]]''. This was first performed on 6 October 1600 at the [[Palazzo Pitti]] for the wedding of Princess [[Marie de' Medici]] and [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]].{{sfn|Carter|1980|p=126}} Unlike ''Dafne'', it has survived to the present day (though it is hardly ever staged, and then only as a historical curio). The work made use of [[recitative]]s, a new development which went between the [[aria]]s and [[Choir|chorus]]es and served to move the action along.

Peri produced a number of other operas, often in collaboration with other composers (such as ''[[La Flora]]'' with [[Marco da Gagliano]]), and also wrote a number of other pieces for various court entertainments. Few of his pieces are still performed today, and even by the time of his death, his operatic style was looking rather old-fashioned when compared to the work of relatively younger reformist composers such as [[Claudio Monteverdi]]. Peri's influence on those later composers, however, was large.

==Works==
[[File:Tumba Jacopo Peri (Santa Maria Novella, Firenze). Foto - José Antonio Bielsa Arbiol (2015).JPG|thumb|Gravestone in Santa Maria Novella]]
* Jacopo Peri: Ai Lettori. ''Introduzione a 'Le Musiche sopra l'Euridice''', revisione e note di Valter Carignano
* Jacopo Peri: ''Le Musiche sopra l'Euridice''. Revisione e Note di Valter Carignano, L'Opera Rinata, Torino

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite Grove |last1=Porter |first1=William V. |last2=Carter |first2=Tim |author-link2=Tim Carter (musicologist) |year=2001 |title=Peri, Jacob |id=21327}} {{Grove Music subscription}}
* {{cite journal |last=Carter |first=Tim |author-link=Tim Carter (musicologist) |date=1980 |title=Jacopo Peri |journal=[[Music & Letters]] |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=121–135 |doi=10.1093/ml/61.2.121 |jstor=733337 }}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Kirkendale |first=Warren |year=1993 |title=The Court Musicians in Florence During the Principate of the Medici: With a Reconstruction of the Artistic Establishment |publisher=[[L.S. Olschki]] |location=Florence |isbn=978-88-222-4108-5 |pages=189–243 }}

==External links==
* {{IMSLP|id=Peri, Jacopo|cname=Jacopo Peri}}
* {{ChoralWiki}}

{{Jacopo Peri}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Peri, Jacopo}}
[[Category:1561 births]]
[[Category:1633 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century classical composers]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian composers]]
[[Category:17th-century classical composers]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian composers]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian male musicians]]
[[Category:Italian Baroque composers]]
[[Category:Italian opera composers]]
[[Category:Italian operatic tenors]]
[[Category:Italian male opera composers]]
[[Category:Musicians from Rome]]
[[Category:Italian Renaissance composers]]
[[Category:Musicians from the Papal States]]