Galilei, Vincenzo, d. 1591, Italian lutenist, singer, writer, and composer; father of Galileo. As a member of the Florentine camerata (see opera), he was one of the first to compose recitatives. Thoroughly trained in the contrapuntal tradition of the Renaissance, he wrote the first literary treatise attacking counterpoint and advocating monody, Dialogo della musica antica e della moderna (1581).