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Hewrote the first work to be called an opera today, Dafne (around 1597), and also the first opera to have survived to the present day, Euridice (1600). -
Monteverdi wrote L’Orfeo as an opera. It was based on a Greek legend about a Demi-god named Orpheus falling in love with Eurydice and losing her to a snakebite. Later on in the opera, Orpheus goes to the underworld and retrieves Eurydice, but on their way out, he mistakenly looks back towards her and she suddenly disappears. -
Three ships carried a small group of colonists down the James River in Virginia until an empty piece of land was discovered. Jamestown was the first placed colonized in America by the British. -
Due to a labor shortage in Jamestown, Dutch traders offered slaves to the colonists. This was the introduction to slavery to the British colonies and the root of later American slavery. -
A few professional female singers perform in the production of Chloridia, a court masque produced by Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones. -
The second British colony in America, called Maryland for the British queen, was founded by King Charles I. Originally a haven for Catholics, the formation of a new colony paved the way for other colonies to be formed in America. -
In Virginia, the first law was passed to help define the nature of slavery in the colonies. The law stated that the children of a slave mother inherited her 'condition.' This law was the beginning of the American legal system which defended slavery by legalizing the growing slave population. -
Handel composed a great deal of music during the Baroque era. He is best known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. -
Johanne Sebastian Bach was, and still is, a very important person to music. He is known for his orchestral works and instrumental compositions. -
The Salem Witch Trials was a series of hearings and prosecution of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused.