Note 130 — Chapter XI · THE BEGINNINGS OF OPERA AND ORATORIO

B. Florence, ca. 1533, d. there, 1600, was a pupil of Zarlino, an excellent musician and an able lutenist and violinist. He published two books of madrigals and made the first known experiments in the “representative” style of melody. He was a deep student of Greek music, discovered the hymns of Mesomedes (transcribed successfully only 200 years later) and published ‘Dialogue on Antique and Modern Music’ (1581), a diatribe against Zarlino and his methods. His son, Galileo Galilei, the great astronomer, is said to have constructed his first telescope from an organ pipe belonging to his father.