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 del Casentino Jacopo del Casentino Jacopo del Casentino (c. 1297 – 1358) was an Italian painter, active mainly in Tuscany in the first half of the 14th century. Very little is known about this artist other than that he likely came from Casentino. Giorgio Vasari incorrectly identified him as a member of the Landini family and that is the reason why in the past he was referred to as Jacopo Landino. Vasari also incorrectly placed his origins in Arezzo. It is likely he received his training in Florence in the milieu of the Master of St Cecilia. His career appears to have