page_title: La Flora
section_title: Roles
hierarchical_section_title: La Flora / Roles
context_page_description: La Flora, o vero Il natal de' fiori is an opera in a prologue and five acts composed by Marco da Gagliano and Jacopo Peri to a libretto by Andrea Salvadori. It was first performed on 14 October 1628 at the Teatro Mediceo in Florence to celebrate the marriage of Margherita de' Medici and Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma. Based on the story of Chloris and Zephyrus in Book V of Ovid's Fasti, Salvadori's libretto contains many allegorical references to the transfer of political power, the beauty of Tuscany, and the strength of the Medici dynasty. The score of La Flora is one of only two still in existence out of Gagliano's 14 published stage works. Several of its arias are still performed as concert pieces.
context_section_description: La Flora also included five extended dances (balli), one in each act. The names of the dancers, singers and musicians who took part in the opera's first performance are largely unknown, apart from the castrato singer Loreto Vittori (1600–70) and the musician Andrea Falconieri, who like Vittori had been imported from Rome.
caption: Chloris and Zephyrus depicted in Botticelli's 1482 painting Primavera
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