What is Giulio Caccini?
[[File:Caccini - le nuove musiche.jpg|thumb|Title page of the first (1602) ''Le Nuove musiche''.]] '''Giulio Caccini''' (born [[Rome]], 8 October 1551; died [[Florence]], 10 December 1618), also known as '''Giulio Romano''', was an [[Italy|Italian]] [[composer]] and [[singer]]. He lived at the very end of [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]] period and the beginning of the [[Baroque music|Baroque]] period. It was the time when [[opera]] was starting, and he was one of the first composers to write an opera. His daughter, Francesca Caccini, also became a composer. == Life == We do not know much about his life. He was born in Rome. His father was a [[carpenter]]. He learned to play the [[lute]], the [[viol]] and the [[harp]], and soon became known as a singer. In the 1560s, [[Francesco de' Medici]], Grand Duke of Florence, was impressed with his talent, so he took him to [[Florence]] to study. By 1579, Caccini was singing at the [[Medici]] court. He was a [[tenor]], and he was able to accompany himself on the viol or the [[archlute]]; he sang at [[weddings]] and other important occasions. He worked closely with the [[Florentine Camerata]], a famous group of people who met at the home of Count [[Giovanni de' Bardi]], and tried to bring the tradition of Greek dramatic music back to life. They liked monody, which means a tune with a simple accompaniment. This was different from [[polyphony]] in which several things are being sung at once. Monody made it easy to tell a story because the words could be heard clearly. This was necessary for opera, where it became heard in a simple form called [[recitative]]. Caccini went to [[Rome]], but in Rome the musicians were not so interested in change. Caccini often got involved in arguments because he was envious and jealous. He often got people into trouble, and he rushed his own opera ''Euridice'' into print before Peri's opera on the same subject could be published, while telling his own singers not to have anything to do with Peri's opera. He died in [[Florence]] and is bur