Before the 1990s, Italian composer Giulio Caccini was known only to experts in the field of early seventeenth century music; he was a shadowy figure from the earliest days of opera whose work was scattered and little known even to scholars. Caccini was one of the first composers to promote the idea that a melody line, sung by a single voice with a well-played accompaniment, was sufficient to convey a deep musical experience, and his work in this vein ultimately influenced the whole idea of opera. In 1994 Latvian soprano ...
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Before the 1990s, Italian composer Giulio Caccini was known only to experts in the field of early seventeenth century music; he was a shadowy figure from the earliest days of opera whose work was scattered and little known even to scholars. Caccini was one of the first composers to promote the idea that a melody line, sung by a single voice with a well-played accompaniment, was sufficient to convey a deep musical experience, and his work in this vein ultimately influenced the whole idea of opera. In 1994 Latvian soprano Inessa Galante recorded a contemporary arrangement of Caccini's Ave Maria that became a sleeper hit on the classical charts, and her version was followed by those of Lesley Garrett and others, particularly that of Charlotte Church, which moved Caccini onto the pop charts for the first time. While Caccini's lovely, ear-catching melodies, even in arranged form, can be intoxicating, what would be the fate of his music once presented in something resembling its original context? Would it be...
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