belonged to a musical family.

At any rate Baccio Ugolino possessed some skill in improvisation, and
was also accomplished in the art of singing and accompanying himself
upon the lute or viol. We shall in another place in this work examine
the methods of the lutenists and singers of the fifteenth century in
adapting polyphonic compositions to delivery by a single voice with
accompaniment of an instrument. It was in this manner of singing that
Baccio Ugolino was an expert. Symonds goes so far in one passage as to
hint that Ugolino composed the music for Poliziano's "Orfeo," but there
seems to be no ground whatever for such a conclusion.

Baccio Ugolino was without doubt one of those performers who appeared in
the dramatic scenes and processional representations of the outdoor
spectacles already reviewed. His pleasing voice, his picturesque
appearance, grace of bearing and elegance of gesture, together with his
ability to play his own accompaniments, marked him as the ideal
impersonator of the Greek poet, and accordingly Poliziano secured his
services for this important part.

For the other roles and for the chorus the numerous singers of the court
were sufficient. That there was an organized orchestra must be doubted,
yet there may have been instrumental accompaniments in certain passages.
This also is a matter into which we shall further inquire when we take
up a detailed examination of the musical means at the command of
Poliziano and his musical associates. The study of this entire matter
calls for care and judgment, for it is involved in a mass of
misinformation, lack of any information and ill grounded conclusions.
For example, we read in a foot-note of Rolland's excellent work [18]
that in March, 1518, the "Suppositi" of Ariosto was performed at the
Vatican before Pope Leo with musical intermezzi. The author quotes from
a letter of Pauluzo, envoy of the Duke of Ferrara, written on March 8.
He wrote: "The comedy was recited and well acted, and at the end of each
act there was an intermezzo with fifes, bag-pipes, two cornets, some
viols, some lutes and a small organ with a variety of tone. There was at
the same time a flute and a voice which pleased much. There was also a
concert of voices which did not come off quite so well, in my opinion,
as other parts of the music."

[Footnote 18: "Histoire de l'Opera en Europe avant Lully et
Scarlatti," par Romain Rolland. Paris, 1895.]

Upon this passage Rolland