Composer, Theorist, Author. A versatile figure of the early Baroque era, along with Orazio Vecchi he was the leading creator of "Madrigal Comedies", a popular Italian theatre genre of the 1600s. Once considered a forerunner of opera, these entertainments presented groups of related songs to tell a story without plot or staging, and were closer in spirit to musical comedy or cabaret revue. Banchieri wrote the music and texts for 12 such comedies, and their earthy humor is still ingratiating today. They include "La pazzia senile" (1599), "Barca di Venetia per Padova" (1605), "Festino" (1608), and "Tratiniamenti da villa" (1630). Tomaso Banchieri was born in Bologna, and apart from visits to Venice and Milan spent his whole life in that region. He changed his first name to Adriano upon becoming a Benedictine monk in 1589. In 1609 he settled as organist at the Monastery of San Michele in Bosco, becoming a professor there in 1613 and Abbot five years later. During this time he founded one of the earliest societies devoted to instrumental music, Bologna's Academia del Floridi, with composer Claudio Monteverdi its most prominent member. He retired to his birthplace shortly before his death. Banchieri's comedies tend to overshadow other facets of his talent, particularly his pioneering contributions to Baroque style. He was among the first to employ the basso continuo technique and anticipated modern musical notation with his use of dynamic markings. His theoretical writings, published in the multi-volume "Cartella" series (1601 to 1614), are illuminating about the musical practice of his time. Among Banchieri's other compositions are 12 Masses, several Psalms and motets, and a large body of secular songs with instrumental accompaniment. He also wrote a comic novella under a pseudonym, "The Nobility of the Ass" (1595).