Cavalieri, Emilio de' (c. 1550-1602)

Italian composer. He was long in the service of Ferdinando de' Medici in Florence. He was in close touch with the group of professional and amateur musicians known as the camerata, and with them worked towards the evolution of opera; in 1600 he produced Euridice, with text by Ottavio Rinuccini and music by Giulio Caccini and Jacopo Peri, the first opera of which the music is extant.

Cavalieri was born in Rome, where he was organist at the Oratorio del Crocifisso 1578-84. In 1589 he oversaw the production of a lavish series of intermedi (‘interludes’), to celebrate the marriage of Ferdinando to Christine of Lorraine. His own works were still dramatic pieces to be performed in concert form. They include the following, all set to words by Lelio Guidiccioni: Il satiro, La disperazione di Fileno, and Il giuoco della cieca (all lost), and La rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo, an allegory produced in 1600 and the first play set throughout to music.