page_title: Intermedio
hierarchical_section_title: Intermedio
caption_attribution_description: English: Stage design for the third Intermedio (Il combattimento pitico d’Apollo) at the Medici Wedding of 1589; engraved by Carracci after a drawing by Bernardo Buontalenti
context_page_description: The intermedio, in the Italian Renaissance, was a theatrical performance or spectacle with music and often dance, which was performed between the acts of a play to celebrate special occasions in Italian courts. It was one of the important predecessors to opera, and an influence on other forms like the English court masque. Weddings in ruling families and similar state occasions were the usual occasion for the most lavish intermedi, in cities such as Florence and Ferrara. Some of the best documentation of intermedi comes from weddings of the House of Medici, in particular the 1589 Medici wedding, which featured what was undoubtedly both the most spectacular set of intermedi, and the best known, thanks to no fewer than 18 contemporary published festival books and sets of prints that were financed by the Grand Duke.
  Intermedi were written and performed from the late 15th century through the 17th century, although the peak of development of the genre was in the late 16th century. After 1600 the form merged with opera, for the most part, though intermedi continued to be used in non-musical plays in certain settings, and also continued to be performed between the acts of operas.
context_section_description: The intermedio [interˈmɛːdjo] (also intromessa, introdutto, tramessa, tramezzo, intermezzo), in the Italian Renaissance, was a theatrical  performance or spectacle with music and often dance, which was performed between the acts of a play to celebrate special occasions in Italian courts.  It was one of the important predecessors to opera, and an influence on other forms like the English court masque.  Weddings in ruling families and similar state occasions were the usual occasion for the most lavish intermedi, in cities such as Florence and Ferrara.  Some of the best documentation of intermedi comes from weddings of the House of Medici, in particular the 1589 Medici wedding (between Christina of Lorraine and Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany), which featured what was undoubtedly both the most spectacular set of intermedi, and the best known, thanks to no fewer than 18 contemporary published festival books and sets of prints that were financed by the Grand Duke.
  Intermedi were written and performed from the late 15th century through the 17th century, although the peak of development of the genre was in the late 16th century.  After 1600 the form merged with opera, for the most part, though intermedi continued to be used in non-musical plays in certain settings (for example in academies), and also continued to be performed between the acts of operas.
caption: Setting designed by Bernardo Buontalenti for the third intermedio from the 1589 Medici wedding: Apollo defeats the monster terrorizing Delos.
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