Italian composer, organist, and writer on music; born in Florence. He took orders at the Benedictine monastery at Vallombrosa in 1598; there he apparently gained instruction in organ and counterpoint. After study at the University of Passignano he served as organist in a number of the order's abbeys in and around Florence (including Santa Trinità in 1605 and 1609). He later served at S. Mercuriale in Forlì (from 1613); at S. Michele in Forcole, Pistoia (from 1615); at S. Martino in Strada (1623-37); and finally as maestro di cappella and organist at Santa Trinità in Florence, from 1640 to his death. A singing pupil of Caccini and one of his earliest imitators, he published monodies and small-scale madrigals and church music in the new style. He wrote a theoretical treatise, Discorsi e regole sovra la musica et il contrappunto, in which he praised the monodic style of Caccini and his contemporaries; it contains much useful information about Caccini and Monteverdi. He composed vocal works in both the stileantico and in the modern style. Publishedworks include Madrigali e canzonette spirituali (1607), Il primo libro delle canzonette affettuose in stile moderno (lost, 1608), Lamento d'Arianna in stile recitativo (1613), and Affetti spirituali ( 1615).