(b Rome, 20 Aug 1561; d Florence, 12 Aug 1633). Italian composer and singer. Trained in Florence, he was organist at the Badia in 1579-1605, and by 1586 was a singer at S Giovanni Battista. From 1588 he served the Medici court as composer and singer; he also played keyboard instruments and the chitarrone. In the 1590s he met with musicians, poets and philosophers at the home of Jacopo Corsi and began to compose in the new recitative style, intended to match the expressive power of ancient Greek music. His first two operas, both to texts by Rinuccini, were Dafne (1598, Florence), composed with Corsi, and Euridice (1600, Florence), partly rewritten by Giulio Caccini for the first performance. Euridice, based on the Orpheus legend, is the earliest opera for which complete music survives. Peri's setting emphasizes both the structure of the libretto (a prologue and five scenes) and its varied emotions, and includes choral numbers, strophic songs and continuous expressive recitatives. His later dramatic works, mostly written with other Florentine composers such as Marco da Gagliano, include several operas, three oratorios (1622-4) and some shorter pieces; one work was staged in Mantua (1620), where he held a court position from 1618. He also wrote a book of songs, Le varie musiche (1609), with some recitative settings, and an instrumental ricercare.

The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.