GAGLIANO, MARCO DA

born c. 1575, Gagliano, Kingdom of Naples died Feb. 24, 1642, Florence one of the earliest composers of Italian opera. Gagliano worked in Florence (c. 160825) as organist to Cosimo II de' Medici. He staged his first opera, Dafne, at Mantua in 1608. Il Medoro, composed with Jacopo Peri (1619), is lost; La Flora was produced in 1628. Gagliano followed the monodic recitative (melodic, half-spoken, half-sung) style of the Florentine Camerata, whose members sought to revive ancient Greek music and drama and produced the earliest operas. His recitative is musically richer than that of his contemporaries Peri and Giulio Caccini, and he provides a greater variety of set numbers. His works were eclipsed, however, by Monteverdi's Orfeo. He also published sacred music and madrigals between 1594 and 1630.