Florentine Camerata
Galilei was a skilled player of the lute who early in life attracted the attention of powerful patrons. In 1563 he met Gioseffo Zarlino, the most important music theorist of the sixteenth century, in Venice, and began studying with him. Somewhat later he became interested in the attempts to revive ancient Greek music and drama, by way of his association with the Florentine Camerata, a group of poets, musicians and intellectuals led by Count Giovanni de' Bardi, as well as his contacts with Girolamo Mei, the foremost scholar of the time of ancient Greek music.