Vincenzo Galilei (c. 1520-1591 c.e.)
He was an influential musical theorist of the late 16th century who spent most of his youth in Tuscany, learning to play the lute in Florence. He went on to study in Venice with Giacomo Zarlion, one of the leading theoretician of music, and then to Rome to learn about Greek music from Girolamo Mei. He also studied Turkish and Moorish music in Messina and Marseilles. He returned to Pisa to marry a daughter of a noble family, their eldest son was the famous scientist Galileo.
In his treatise, Dialogo della musica antica et della moderna (Conversation of ancient and modern music)-- (Florence 1581 c.e.) and subsequent writings, he diverges significantly from Zarlion’s theories, advocating a monodic style in which the words would be enunciated clearly, a theory which had great influence on various Florentine amateurs who later took part in the creation of opera.