BARDI, GIOVANNI, CONTE (COUNT) DI VERNIO

born Feb. 5, 1534, Florence died 1612, Florence musician, writer, and scientist, influential in the evolution of opera. In about 1580 he founded the Florentine Camerata, a group that sought to revive ancient Greek music and drama and whose participants composed the earliest operas. Among the members were the poet Ottavio Rinuccini, the theorist Vincenzo Galilei (father of Galileo), and the composers Giulio Caccini, Jacopo Peri, and Emilio del Cavaliere, with most of whom Bardi collaborated in court entertainments from 1579 to 1608. Bardi's Discorso mandato a Caccini sopra la Musica Antica (1580; Discourse to Caccini on Ancient Music) develops ideas similar to those of Caccini and Galilei: counterpoint obscures the words in musical settings and should be abandoned; music should consist of a single vocal line, lightly accompanied, exactly reflecting the rhythm and intonation of speech. These theories underlie the musical style of the early Florentine operas. Ironically, Bardi's only surviving compositions are two highly contrapuntal madrigals. Bardi also belonged to the Accademia della Crusca, a literary association, and in 1592 he became a chamberlain to Pope Clement VIII.