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DIALOGUE BY VINCENZO

GALILEI, FLORENTINE

NOBLEMAN

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Decorative woodcut initial 'L' depicting a male figure standing in a landscape with a building in the background.

MUSIC was numbered by the Ancients among the arts called "liberal"—that is, those worthy of a free man. It was held in high esteem, and rightly so, by the Greeks, who were its masters and inventors (as they were of almost all other sciences). Their finest legislators commanded that it be taught—not only as something delightful for life, but as something useful for virtue—to those born to achieve perfection and human happiness, which is the ultimate goal of the City The Greek Polis or state. However, along with their Empire, the Greeks lost their Music and their other doctrines over time. The Romans gained knowledge of music by taking it from the Greeks, but they primarily practiced that part suited to theaters where tragedies and comedies are performed. They did not greatly value the part concerning theoretical speculation; and being continually occupied with wars, they did not attend to it much and thus easily forgot it.

Later, after Italy had suffered great floods of Barbarian invasions for a long period, every light of science was extinguished. It was as if all men had been overcome by a heavy lethargy of ignorance; they lived without any desire for knowledge. They had as much awareness of Music as they did of the West Indies A 16th-century metaphor for a place entirely unknown or legendary. They persisted in such blindness until first Gafurio Franchinus Gaffurius (1451–1522), a major Italian music theorist, then Glareano Heinrich Glarean (1488–1563), author of the Dodekachordon, and later Zarlino Gioseffo Zarlino (1517–1590), Galilei's own teacher and a leading theorist of the time—truly the princes of this modern practice—began to investigate what music was and sought to pull it from the darkness where it had been buried. Having understood and appreciated this art, they gradually brought it to the state in which it is found today.

However, it does not seem to some learned men that they have restored it to its ancient state—as can be understood from countless passages in ancient histories, poets, and philosophers—nor that they have achieved a true and perfect knowledge of it. This failure was perhaps caused by the roughness of the times, the difficulty of the subject, or the scarcity of good interpreters. Nonetheless, these writers deserve the highest praise, and the world owes them a perpetual obligation; if for nothing else, at least for giving others the opportunity to labor further in it to see if it can be returned to its perfection.

In our own times, it seems that Girolamo Mei A scholar of Greek drama and music whose research deeply influenced the Florentine Camerata has achieved this (at least regarding the Theory). He is a worthy man to whom all musicians and learned men should give thanks and honor. Likewise, in our own city, we owe much to the Most Illustrious Signor GIOVANNI Bardi of the Counts of Vernio. Having studied it for a long time and taking great delight in it—as he does in all the sciences—he has greatly ennobled Music and made it worthy of esteem. By his example, he has excited other nobles to the same study, many of whom are accustomed to gathering in his house. There, in delightful songs and praiseworthy discussions, they pass the time in honorable rest.

Therefore, being much obliged to the courtesy of this most refined gentleman, and desiring to show him by some outward sign the internal affection I have to serve him, I judged that I could not spend my time more profitably than by laboring on this subject. By doing so, I hoped to give him a sign of my gratitude and offer the world no small help in escaping the darkness in which (after the aforementioned loss) it has been wrapped until now. This is said without arrogance, and with all respect for those who have written on this matter from Guido d'Arezzo The 11th-century monk credited with inventing modern musical notation down to our own times. Nevertheless, if I were to attribute some small glory to myself in this deed, perhaps I would not deserve reproach; for the inclination given to me by nature toward these liberal studies, and my continuous diligence...