description About

At the height of the Renaissance in Italy Monteverdi wrote the first opera, a form of entertainment instantly popular throughout Europe. Corelli created the sonata form and new instruments were developed. The development of musical instruments began to challenge the dominance of the human voice, and violin-making readied its finest form in Italy with Stradivari and Guarneri. Lully was the musical giant at the Court of Versailles. In England, Purcell was perhaps the first great modern composer and Handel brought works for voice of lasting inspiration.