The meetings were presided over
by the host, himself a poet and composer, as well as a patron of the
fine arts.
The culture of the times demanded a higher gratification for man's
dramatic cravings than either rude religious or secular plays afforded.
Other music was required to depict the emotions than that of the
contrapuntist, with its puzzling intricacies. So thought these ardent
Hellenists, and a burning zeal possessed them to mate dramatic poetry
with a music that would heighten and intensify its expression and
effect. They who seek are sure to find, even if it be not always the
object of their search. In the earnest quest of these reformers for
dramatic truth an unexpected treasure was disclosed.
Vincenzo Galilei, father of Galileo Galilei, opened the way. He was the
active champion of monody, in which a principal melody was intoned or
sung to the accompaniment of subordinate harmonies, believing that in
music designed to arouse personal feeling individualism should
predominate.
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