Pietro Bembo

Pietro Bembo, O.S.I.H. was an Italian scholar, poet, and literary theorist who also was a member of the Knights Hospitaller, and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. As an intellectual of the Italian Renaissance, Pietro Bembo greatly influenced the development of the Tuscan dialect as a literary language for poetry and prose, which, by later codification into a standard language, became the modern Italian language. In the 16th century, Bembo's poetry, essays and books proved basic to reviving interest in the literary works of Petrarch. In the field of music, Bembo's literary writing techniques helped composers develop the techniques of musical composition that made the madrigal the most important secular music of 16th-century Italy.

20 May 1470

Born on the same birth day (20 May): Andrew Scheer • Bill Hewlett • Brendon Goddard • Clive Allen • Douglas Preston • Malcolm Nokes • May 20 • Mike Crapo • Pedro María de Anaya • Roger Milla • Ron Reagan • Vesa Toskala