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 d'Avanzi Jacopo d'Avanzi Jacopo d'Avanzi (after 1350s – 1416) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period. He is also known as "Jacopo Avanzi" or "Jacopo de Avanzi", although apparently often confused with other artists, including "Jacopo de' Bavozi" and the Vicentine "Avanzo". Born in either Bologna, he trained supposedly with Vitale da Bologna. He worked with Galasso Galassi of Ferrara and Cristofano of Bologna in the old church of Santa Apollonia di Mezzaratta; these frescoes are now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale of Bologna. He also completed the series of frescoes in the chapel of San Giacomo in the Basilica di