A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Bardi, Giovanni

BARDI, Giovanni, Count of Vernio, a Florentine noble, lived in the end of the 16th century, an accomplished scholar and mathematician, member of the academy Della Crusca, and of the Alterati in Florence, maestro di camera to Pope Clement VIII. Doni attributes to him the first idea of the opera, and it is certain that the first performances of the kind were held in his house by his celebrated band of friends, Vicenzo Galilei, Caccini, Strozzi, Corsi, Peri, and Rinuccini, and that he himself composed the words for more than one such piece, e.g. 'L'amico fido,' and 'Il combattimento d'Apollino col serpente.'

[ M. C. C. ]