Psyche, Callirhoë and Operatic Heroines Derived from Ancient Novels

Opera owes its existence largely to Greek studies in the late Renaissance. At its inception, Girólamo Mei and Vincenzo Galilei revived the study of ancient Greek music theory, Giovanni Bardi rejected Renaissance Flemish polyphony and substituted ancient Greek monody, and Jacopo Peri, Giulio Caccini, and Ottavio Rinuccini adapted the appropriate dramatic format from ancient Greek tragedy. In particular Peri and Rinuccini attempted to recreate the “sweet speech” [hêdumenos logos] of Greek tragedy that Aristotle describes in hisPoetics: Their solution was to appeal to the acoustical distinction made by Aristotle’s student, Aristoxenus, between intervallic musical sounds and continuous spoken sounds.