Italian composer, also said to be a virtuoso player of the harp, He served at the courts of Mastino della Scala in Verona (where he was involved in a contest with Giovanni da Firenze) probably between 1340 and 1345, and at the Visconti court in Milan, possibly from 1345 to 1355. One of the earlier fourteenth century composers who helped to give the Italian trecento style its impetus, he was the teacher of Landini and wrote a treatise on notation as well as composing approximatrely thirty-five surviving pieces, most of which are madrigals (though he also composed motets and a caccia ), One of his best known works is the madrigal Fenice fù which as well as being a lyrical setting of its text also contains much use of imitation. His Non al suo amante is the only surviving Petrarch setting from the fourteenth century. The text of another madrigal implies the view that singing should be smooth and sweet, not loud and raucous,