The impulse to combine words, music and action has existed from the very beginning of drama. Indeed, musical drama mainly preceded the purely spoken, which immediately begs the question: where does opera begin? One simple but useful answer is at the point where people called their works ‘operas’ (or its equivalent). But to do this gives the impression of opera coming from nowhere, born fully formed, like Athena. Looking further back than the Florentine Camerata suggests the multifarious nature of musical theatre, the range of its potential and priorities.