Staging Euridice

The reign of Grand Duke Ferdinando I de' Medici from 1587 until his death in 1609 was marked by three prominent weddings: his own to Christine of Lorraine in May 1589; his niece Maria de' Medici to King Henri IV of France in October 1600; and his son Prince Cosimo de' Medici (later Grand Duke Cosimo II) to Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria in October 1608. The festivities celebrating the 1589 and 1608 weddings culminated in the performance of a comedy (Girolamo Bargagli's La pellegrina and Michelangelo Buonarroti il giovane's Il giudizio di Paride) with spectacular intermedi before, between, and after the five acts of the play: indeed, the six intermedi to La pellegrina (1589) are widely regarded as a pinnacle of the genre, and the epitome of Medici court entertainments as political propaganda--