Opera After Verdi, the sentimental "realistic" melodrama of verismo appeared in Italy. This was a style introduced by Pietro Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana" and Ruggero Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" that came to dominate the world's opera stages with such popular works as Giacomo Puccini's "La bohème", "Tosca", and "Madama Butterfly". Later Italian composers, such as Berio and Nono, have experimented with modernism. The first German opera was "Dafne", composed by Heinrich Schütz in 1627, but the music score has not survived. Italian opera held a great sway over German-speaking countries until the late 18th century. Nevertheless, native forms would develop in spite of this
Opera management into one of London's premiere opera houses in the 19th century and who shaped the careers of many famous singers, described opera management as a "dreadful business". The earliest operas were privately performed and financed by the noble families who commissioned them, often to mark great court occasions. One such example was Marco da Gagliano's "La Flora", performed in 1628 at the Medici Palace in Florence to celebrate the marriage of Margherita de' Medici and Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma. Grand Duchess Maria Maddalena, the wife of Cosimo II de' Medici and the mother of the bride, took an active