“...It is no marvel that I decide to print music (...) but it is a miracle that I have found so worthy a Prince (...) who knows so much about the matter that musicians themselves are beaten in Practice if not Theory,...”
Oratio Caccini   -  Madrigali et Canzonette a cinque voci

The extensive evidence of musical culture in the Sixteenth century confirms that it expanded considerably due to the flourishing of printing, the relative stability gained by ecclesiastical and noble chapels as well as increasing diversity of theory and forms of music. [...] This, the polyphonic music of his time, is the context of Orazio Caccini. A few years after his Madrigals were published, new solo singing and the recitar cantando styles became popular, although polyphonic forms survived. The younger Caccini, Giovanni, was one of the best representatives of the new styles.