Chapter 12 A FEW TUNESTERS OF FRANCE AND ITALY-PERI, MONTEVERDE, ET AL.

Though it sounds strange to speak of the "invention" of opera, that is the word which may be applied to the work of Jacopo Peri and his friends. They, however, thought of it rather as a revival of the manner of the ancient Greek tragedy, which was, in a sense, a crude form of Wagnerian recitation, with musical accompaniment.

As the English novel