Jacopo Peri

Italian composer Jacopo Peri (1561-1633) was accredited in his time -- and so recognized centuries later, after much competition from other historic figures -- as the true creator of opera. A singer and organist born to a noble family, Peri joined a Florentine society of humanists in the 1580s who sought to re-create in then-"modern" times the theatrical heritage of Ancient Greece. As a private entertainment, Peri and playwright Ottavio Rinuccini created Daphne (1597), now regarded as the first opera. While that has not survived, their subsequent collaboration, Euridice (1600), serves as the earliest opera that can still be performed.