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Zarlino was born in Chioggia , near Venice. His early education was with the Franciscans, and he later joined the order himself. In 1536 he was a singer at Chioggia Cathedral, and by 1539Events May 30 In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal to find gold. Hernando de Soto introduced Pigs into North America 6 Articles Statute of English Parliament, important in the English Reformation Births Deaths Ma he not only became a deacon, but became principal organist. In 1540Events January 6 King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort. July 9 King Henry VIII of England divorces Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort. July 28 One of the most important political figures of the reign of Henry VI he was ordained, and in 1541Events The first official translation of the entire Bible in Swedish February 12 Pedro de Valdivia founds Santiago de Chile. May 8 Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River naming it Rio de Espiritu Santo. May 23 Jacques Cartier departs Saint-Malo Fr went to Venice to study with the famous contrapuntist and maestro di cappella of Saint Mark's, Adrian WillaertAdrian Willaert (c. 1490 December 7, 1562) was a Flemish composer and founder of the Venetian School. He was born at Bruges, or, according to other sources, at Roulers. Willaert, taught in Paris by Jean Mouton, disciple of Josquin Des Prez, first went to.
In 1565, on the resignation of Cipriano de Rore, Zarlino took over the post of maestro di cappella of St. Mark's, one of the most prestigious musical positions in Italy, and held it until his death. While maestro di cappella he taught some of the principal figures of the Venetian School of composers, including Claudio MeruloClaudio Merulo (Merlotti) ( April 8, 1533 May 5, 1604) was an Italian composer, publisher and organist of the late Renaissance, famous for his innovative keyboard music and his ensemble music in the Venetian polychoral style. He was born in Correggio and, Girolamo DirutaGirolamo Diruta (c. 1554 after 1610) was an Italian organist, music theorist, and composer. He was famous as a teacher, for his treatise on counterpoint, and for his part in the development of keyboard technique, particularly on the organ. He was born in, and Giovanni Croce , as well as Vincenzo Galilei, the father of the astronomer, and the famous reactionary polemicist Giovanni Artusi.
While he was a moderately prolific composer, and his motets are polished and display a mastery of canonic counterpoint, his principal claim to fame was his work as a theorist. He advocated division of the octave into twelve parts, and while Pietro Aaron may have been the first theorist to describe a version of meantone, Zarlino seems to have been the first to do so with exactitude, describing 2/7-comma meantone in his Le istitutioni harmoniche in 1558. In his Dimonstrationi harmoniche of 1571, he revised the numbering of modes to emphasize C and the Ionian mode, thereby drawing closer to the harmonic and melodic system basing itself on tonality and the major and minor scales.
Zarlino was the first to recognize the primacy of the triad over the interval as a means of harmonic thinking. His development of just intonation came from a realization of the imperfection of the intervals in the Pythagorean system, and a desire to retain as much purity as possible in a system of twelve tones. He was also the first to attempt an explanation of the old prohibition of parallel fifths and octaves as a rule of counterpoint, and the first to study the effect and harmonic implications of the false relation.
Zarlino's writings spread throughout Europe at the end of the 16th century. Translations and annotated versions were common in France, Germany, as well as in the Netherlands among the students of Sweelinck, thus influencing the next generation of musicians who represented the early Baroque style.