<P> With the increased number of characters, the Roman operas became very dramatic, and had several twists . With these came along a new method of fixing the lines of the recitative, better suited to the various situations that arose from the rich storyline and that was closer to speech, full of parenthetical at the expense of the paratactic style that had so characterized the first Florentine works . </P> <P> The principal characteristics of Venetian opera were (1) more emphasis on formal arias; (2) the beginning of bel canto ("beautiful singing") style, and more attention to vocal elegance than to dramatic expression; (3) less use of choral and orchestral music; (4) complex and improbable plots; (5) elaborate stage machinery; and (6) short fanfarelike instrumental introductions, the prototypes of the later overture . </P> <P> Opera took an important new direction when it reached the republic of Venice . It was here that the first public opera house, the Teatro di San Cassiano, was opened in 1637 by Benedetto Ferrari and Francesco Manelli . Its success moved opera away from aristocratic patronage and into the commercial world . In Venice, musical drama was no longer aimed at an elite of aristocrats and intellectuals and acquired the character of entertainment . Soon many other opera houses had sprung up in the city, performing works for a paying public during the Carnival season . The opera houses employed a very small orchestra to save money . A large part of their budget was spent on attracting the star singers of the day; this was the beginning of the reign of the castrato and the prima donna (leading lady). </P> <P> The chief composer of early Venetian opera was Monteverdi, who had moved to the republic from Mantua in 1613, with later important composers including Pier Francesco Cavalli, Antonio Sartorio, and Giovanni Legrenzi . Monteverdi wrote three works for the public theatres: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1640), Le nozze d'Enea con Lavinia (1641, now lost) and, most famously, L'incoronazione di Poppea (1642). The subjects of the new operas by Monteverdi and others were generally drawn from Roman history or legends about Troy, in order to celebrate the heroic ideals and noble genealogy of the Venetian state . However they did not lack for love interest or comedy . Most of the operas consisted of three acts, unlike the earlier operas which normally had five . The bulk of the versification was still recitative, however at moments of great dramatic tension there were often arioso passages known as arie cavate . Under Monteverdi's followers, the distinction between the recitative and the aria became more marked and conventionalised . This is evident in the style of the two most successful composers of the next generation: Francesco Cavalli and Antonio Cesti . </P>

Italian term to describe an opera's female lead