The new movement, which gave birth to modern Opera and Oratorio about 1600 a.d., soon branched out into two distinct lines, which have maintained their characteristics till the present day. The first prominent representatives of these were Monteverde and Carissimi. The former stands at the head of the modern composers who study effect more than art; the latter at the head of those who study art more than effect. Monteverde ostentatiously rejected the traditions of his predecessors, to leave himself free to carry out his dramatic ideals. Carissimi endeavoured to make use of the accumulated wisdom of earlier generations to guide him to the fittest artistic expression of his musical ideas.

The traditions of Monteverde were handed on to his pupil Cavalli (1599-1676), who became the foremost operatic composer of his time; and by him they were introduced into France, whither his great reputation had penetrated. But the characteristics of French opera were different from the ideals of the Italians, being founded mainly on ballet and spectacular display. The Italians in those days cared little for ballet; and to make Cavalli's operas palatable to French audiences, ballet airs had to be supplied. The task fell to the lot of Jean Baptiste Lulli, a young man who had been sent from Italy to the French Court and had ingratiated himself with King Louis XIV., by his talent for supplying dance music for the “ Mascarades,” in which the King and his Court took pleasure in dancing. Lulli was by this means brought into direct contact with Cavalli's works, and the experience stood him in good stead when he came to write operas some ten years later.