The Chamberlain's Men, the leading Elizabethan and Jacobean theatrical company of the day, is formed. William Shakespeare is the chief playwright and Richard Burbage its most famous actor. After 1603 the group is known as the King's Men. The Admiral's Men, the group that performs the works of Christopher Marlowe, is also formed and rivals the Chamberlain's Men. Jacopo Peri's musical fable, Dafne , often considered the first opera, is performed at the palace of Jacopo Corsi.
Opera becomes the preferred entertainment of the aristocracy.
Well , Julius Caesar , Hamlet , Othello , King Lear , Macbeth and Anthony and Cleopatra . Claude Monteverdi's Orfeo , regarded as the first masterpiece in opera history, is performed and revolutionizes music by establishing a tonal system and giving the recitative a more flexible accompaniment. Teatro Farnese in Parma, Italy, uses the proscenium arch for the first time. Venice becomes the home of the first public opera house, the San Cassiano Theater. Following the civil war of 1642, the Puritans close or burn down all English theaters and forbid acting.