Complete Encyclopaedia of Music/B/Bardi, Giovanni De

Bardi, Giovanni De, of Florence, Count of Vernio, was maestro di camera, towards the close of the sixteenth century, to Pope Clement VIII., by whom he was tenderly beloved. This most accomplished nobleman was particularly attached to the study of antiquity, and to the theory and practice of music, to which he had applied himself for many years so closely, that he became, for the time in which he lived, a correct and good composer. Giovanni Bardi's name is chiefly famous in connection with the origin of the opera, about the year 1600. He was the head of a circle of scholars and dilettanti, who were wedded to the ancient Greek drama, and whose attempts to reproduce its singing speech resulted in the modern Italian recitativo. See OPERA.