Publisher Desc.  An eminent Italian composer of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi originated the balletto with the publication of his Balletti a cinque voci in 1591. These pieces in homophonic, dance-rhythm style were published in a multitude of editions in several countries. They became very popular especially in England where such composers as Thomas Morley imitated (and even pirated) the words and music for their own madrigals and balletti. Jim Leininger