Girolamo Mei

Girolamo Mei ( born May 27, 1519 Florence, † July 1594 in Rome ) was an Italian historian and humanist.

He was a pupil of Piero Vettori. After Boëthius he was the first European who studied the ancient Greek music theory, and his results in De modis musicis Antiquorum (written 1568-1573, but not published ) resigned. His Discorso sopra la musica antica et moderna was printed in 1602 in Venice by Giovanni Battista Ciotti for the first time in 1933 and 1968 and published in facsimile. He put the - on theory that the great Greek tragedies of antiquity were actually sung and were not designed as a spoken works - probably wrong. He corresponded with his student Vincenzo Galilei. Since the polyphony with the singing was inconsistent, he propagated a unanimous music.

His theses were of 1569 by Antonio degli Albizzi ( 1547-1606 ) donated Accademia degli alterati known, and its subdivision, the Florentine Camerata.

From his theses of the recitative style was developed in Florence at the end of the 16th century (voice singing with instrumental accompaniment ), developed from the turn monody, music drama and opera.