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 Torriti Jacopo Torriti Jacopo Torriti or Turriti was an Italian painter and mosaic maker who lived in the 13th century. He worked in the decoration especially in the apse of San Giovanni in Laterano and Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Those in the Lateran were carried out in conjunction with the Franciscan friar, Jacopo Camerino. They were executed between the years 1287 and 1292, and though in imitation of the style of Cimabue. There are no written documents about his life. In 1291 he signed the apse mosaics in the basilica San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome, which was nearly all