Emilio de' Cavalieri

Emilio de' Cavalieri, or Emilio dei Cavalieri — the spellings "del" and "Cavaliere" are contemporary typographical errors — (c. 1550 – 11 March 1602) was an Italian composer, producer, organist, diplomat, choreographer and dancer at the end of the Renaissance era. His work, along with that of other composers active in Rome, Florence and Venice, was critical in defining the beginning of the musical Baroque era. A member of the Roman School of composers, he was an influential early composer of monody, and wrote what is usually considered to be the first oratorio.

Cavalieri was born in Rome of an aristocratic and musical family. He was the son of Tommaso de' Cavalieri (ca. 1509–1587), the close friend of Michelangelo. He probably received his early training there, and was working as an organist and music director in the period from 1578 to 1584. He spent much of his time in Rome as an organiser of Lenten oratorios. While in Rome he became associated with Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici.

In 1587, Ferdinando de' Medici succeeded his brother as Grand Duke of Tuscany, and in 1588 he brought Cavalieri to Florence as an overseer of artists, craftsmen and musicians. Cavalieri was master of ceremonies for the extremely opulent intermedi that the Medici family required for events such as weddings. Count Giovanni de' Bardi, the founder and patron of the Florentine Camerata, also collaborated on these productions. In May 1589, the festivities for the marriage of Grand Duke Ferdinando to Christina of Lorraine included a performance of Girolamo Bargagli's La pellegrina, with six especially elaborate intermedi. The 1st number of the final intermedio (6) was initially a piece by Bardi but was replaced in the actual intermedio by Cavalieri's virtuosic number based on the Aria del Gran Duca which became popular all over Europe and occurs in many arrangements and variations such as that made by Peter Philips in Antwerp. Cavalieri may have gotten some of his ideas for monody directly from Bardi, since Cavalieri was not a member of the Camerata during its period of activity a few years earlier. He may have developed his rivalry with Giulio Caccini, another extremely important and influential early monodist during this period.

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