Italian classical music is difficult to do if everyone is singing a melody at the same time; thus, polyphony gave way to homophony, and early opera consisted of relatively simple melodies with texts about Greek mythology, sung in Italian and supported by simple harmonies. The important city in Italy in this development of music in the 16th century was Florence. (See also: Florentine Camerata, Vincenzo Galilei, Jacopo Peri, Palestrina, Arcangelo Corelli.) Besides Florence, two other Italian cities are particularly worthy of mention in the period around 1600. There is somewhat of a friendly rivalry between advocates of the two cities as to which
Jacopo Gaddi Jacopo Gaddi Jacopo Gaddi (c. 1600 - after 1658) was an Italian Neolatin and Italian writer from Florence. Born to a wealthy noble family, Gaddi was well known in Florence and was in correspondence with numerous figures outside his birthplace, including cardinals of the Roman "curia", the painter Cristofano Allori, and, during his sojourn in Florence, English writer John Milton. In 1628 he published a volume of Latin "Poemata". Between 1636 and 1637 he published several works in Italian and Latin, including "Elogia", "Adlocutiones", and some short historical essays and poems. In two folios in 1648 and 1649 Gaddi published