In the early 1600s, Claudio Monteverdi revolutionized the musical world with a brand new genre – opera.In 1624 “Il combattimento” was performed in the palace of the Venetian nobles Mocenigo, and would later be called an “opera.”
One Carnival afternoon at the Mocenigo Palace some of Monteverdi’s amorous madrigals were being performed. Suddenly, the guests were surprised to see three characters enter the scene, two of whom were covered in armour: Tancredo and Clorinda. The third character was the Narrator, and sang some verses of Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered. Afterwards, the couple sang while acting as fighting in the dramatic story until the tragic end. The audience, the composer tells us, was amazed, because they had never seen anything like it before.