Bardi Giovanni Maria dei conti di Vernio, *5 February 1534 Florence, †September 1612 Florence, Italian humanist, man of letters, and amateur composer. From an early age, he was associated with the Medici court in Florence; in 1553–54, he took part in their battles with Siena, and in 1565, in the defense of Malta against the Turks. He was the main organizer of court celebrations and the author of part of the repertoire of performances during the reign of Francesco I Medici; F. Ghisi published the comedy L’amico fido with Bardi’s intermezzos on the return of the golden age (also including the music for the sixth intermezzo, 1585, now lost). After the death of Francesco I, Bardi’s position was shaken, as Ferdinando I Medici brought E. de’ Cavalieri from Rome in 1588 as the chief director of music and court performances; however, Bardi still played a major role in organizing the wedding celebrations (1589). He arranged the famous intermezzi for G. Bargagli’s comedy La Pellegrina (The Pilgrim Woman), repeated three times during the wedding celebrations and also performed as interludes in other plays. He created the overall concept for these intermezzi, and also wrote the text for two madrigals and the music for the madrigal from the fourth intermezzo, Miseri abitator del ciec’ averno, a five-voice piece with instrumental accompaniment, in the nota contra notam technique (all of the intermezzi were published as Intermedii e concerti…, Venice 1591; Musique des intermèdes de “La Pellegrina,” critical edition by D.P. Walker, Paris 1963). After moving to Rome in 1592 to the court of Pope Clement VIII, Bardi served as maestro di camera and head of the papal guard. In 1594, he took part in the battles against the Turks in Hungary as an advisor to the commander of the papal army. He retained his position under Leo XI, but lost it under Paul V. In 1605, Bardi returned to Florence. In 1608, he helped organize wedding celebrations at the ducal court (at that time, he wrote the text of the third intermezzo for Il giudizio di Paride by M.A. Buonarrotti).
Bardi took an active part in the intellectual movement of Florence at that time. In 1574, he joined the local Accademia degli Alterati (pseudonym Il Puro) and participated in the dispute between the supporters of Ariosto and Tasso’s poetics, siding with Ariosto. In 1585, he joined the Accademia della Crusca (pseudonym Incruscato), which he presided over in 1588/89. He was most active in the discussions of a group of humanists, mainly musicians and writers, who gathered at his home, known at the time as the Camerata dei Bardi (Florentine Camerata). The main subject of discussion was Greek music as a model for contemporary music. Bardi gave a brief summary of these discussions in a writing known today as Discorso mandato da Gio. de’ Bardi a Giulio Caccini detto Romano sopra la musica antica e’l cantar bene (in: Trattati di musica di Gio. Battista Doni, raccolti e pubblicati per opera di A.F. Gori…, vol. 2, Florence 1763). Starting from Plato’s definition of music, Bardi emphasized the close connection between music and poetry, its form (preserving the metrical structure, division into verses) and content (expressing appropriate feelings through the use of appropriate keys and the selection of appropriate accompanying instruments). The intermezzi of 1589 also dealt with music: based on Greek theory, they illustrated its role in the cosmos and the human world.
The meetings of the Camerata took place, as is now assumed, around 1576–82; among its participants, V. Galilei, P. Strozzi, and G. Caccini are known by name. Galilei dedicated his treatise Dialogo… della musica antica et della moderna (Florence, 1581) to Bardi as the patron of his research, in which he divided the parts of the dialogue between Bardi and P. Strozzi. G. Caccini dedicated the score of his L’Euridice to Bardi, describing the work as an implementation of the principles of dramatic music discussed by the Camerata. Caccini also referred to the deliberations at Bardi’s house in his preface to Le nuove musiche (Florence 1601). Bardi’s youngest son, the writer Pietro, mentioned his father’s activities as a patron of the Camerata in a letter known today as Lettera sull’origine del melodramma (1634), addressed to G.B. Doni (in: A.M. Bandini Commentariorum de vita et scriptis I.B. Donii… libri quinque, Florence 1755). This letter also suggests that Bardi composed extensively. Unfortunately, apart from the above-mentioned works, only two madrigals have survived: Lauro, ohimè lauro in the collection Il lauro secco. Libro primo di madrigali a cinque voci di diversi autori (Ferrara 1582, 2nd ed. 1596) and Cantai un tempo in the collection Di Pasquale TristaBocca da l’Aquila il secondo libro di madrigali a cinque voci (Venice 1586). Bardi also published several writings in other fields; some of his manuscripts are kept in libraries in Florence.
Literature: A. Solerti Le origini del melodramma, Turin 1903 (repr. of sources); F. Ghisi, introduction to Musique des intermèdes de „La Pellegrina”, ed. D.P. Walker, Paris 1963; N. Pirrotta Temperaments and Tendencies in the Florentine Camerata, “The Musical Quarterly” XL, 1954; N. Pirrotta and E. Povoledo Li due Orfei, Turin 1969, 2nd ed. 1975; C.V. Palisca The „Camerata Fiorentina”. A Reappraisal, “Studi Musicali” I, 1972; C.V. Palisca The Musical Humanism of Gviovanni Bardi, in: Poesia e musica nell’estetica del XVI e XVII secolo, ed. H. Meyvalian, Artimino 1979; K.G. Fellerer Wesen und Werden der italienischen Monodie um 1600, in celebratory publication for H. Beck, eds. H. Dechant and W. Sieber, Laaber 1982; Z.M. Szweykowski Późny renesans w poszukiwaniu ideału muzycznego, “Muzyka” 1985 no. 1 (the Italian text and the Polish translation in the appendix, Discorso mandato da Giovanni de Bardi); Z.M. Szweykowski Między kunsztem a ekspresją, vol. 1: Florence, Krakow 1992 (Polish translation in the appendix, Discorso…); S. La Via Concentus Iovis adversus Saturni voces, «I tatti Studies» V, Florence 1993.
