Dafne

opera by Schütz

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June 25, 2026

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Heinrich Schütz composed Dafne, which is considered the first opera with a German text. It was performed in 1627, but sadly, the music is now lost. While Dafne is historically significant as an early German opera, the broader development of opera as an art form began in 16th-century Italy. The Florentine academies, particularly the Camerata, were instrumental in developing opera, emphasizing the dramatic power of music and the primacy of the text. This led to the invention of recitative, a style of singing that is more than speech but less than song.123

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opera
Early opera in Germany and Austria
…Schütz composed a setting of Dafne (now lost), the first known opera with a German text, and heard it played at Torgau in 1627, the active history of opera in Germany began with the Italian composers residing there. A remarkable Venetian composer-diplomatist-ecclesiastic, the Abbé Agostino Steffani, carried much of his…
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…Schütz composed a setting of Dafne (now lost), the first known opera with a German text, and heard it played at Torgau in 1627, the active history of opera in Germany began with the Italian composers residing there. A remarkable Venetian composer-diplomatist-ecclesiastic, the Abbé Agostino Steffani, carried much of his…
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Martin Opitz
Rinuccini the libretto of Dafne, the first opera in German; he introduced the political novel (John Barclay’s Argenis) into Germany; and he edited (1638) the German version of Sir Philip Sidney’s prose romance Arcadia and the 11th-century poem Annolied. Opitz’s Opera Poetica appeared in 1646.
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Rinuccini the libretto of Dafne, the first opera in German; he introduced the political novel (John Barclay’s Argenis) into Germany; and he edited (1638) the German version of Sir Philip Sidney’s prose romance Arcadia and the 11th-century poem Annolied. Opitz’s Opera Poetica appeared in 1646.
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