Part 1: Music of the Late Baroque (1700-1750) Italian opera was composed all over Europe. Metastasio was a famous librettist who supplied Italian opera stories to composers of the late baroque and classic periods.Two of Handel's best-known Italian operas are Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda.The Italian city to the south of Rome that became the trend-setting center of opera was Naples. Two famous composers that worked there were Leonardo Vinci and Leonardo Leo.When Handel …showed first 75 words of 1119 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1119 total…by writing a completely programmatic symphony, the 6th. The story is covered throughout five movements: mvt I - Awakening of pleasant feelings, II - scene by the brook, III- Happy gathering of country folk, IV- the thunderstorm , V -Shepherds song the thankful feelings after the storm. He was frequently encouraged to write opera, but he wrote only one. He ultimately called it Fidelio, even though when he first worked on it, he called it Leonore.