This kind of solo was considerably older than Sileno and the performance of Baccio Ugolino in Poliziano's "Orfeo" was unquestionably of the same type.

And this manner of delivering a solo, which Castiglione called "recitar alla lira," was a descendant of the art of singing with lute accompaniment which was well known in the fourteenth century.
Doubtless Casella, who was born in 1300 and set to music Dante's sonnet "Amor che nella mente," was one of the _cantori a liuto_.

Minuccio d'Arezzo, mentioned by Boccaccio, was another.

Here again we must recur to the observations of Burney and the examinations of Ambros.

The former records that in the Vatican there is a poem by Lemmo of Pistoja, with the note "Casella diede il suono." It is likely that this musician was well known in Italy and that he would not have had to rely for his immortality upon the passing mention of a poet if the art of notation had been more advanced in his day.
The story of Minuccio, as told by Boccaccio, is this.