In 1541 Gioseffo Zarlino traveled to Venice specifically to study with Adrian Willaert, the renowned contrapuntist and maestro di cappella of St. Mark's. Under Willaert’s guidance in Venice, Zarlino continued his musical education and developed the foundations that later made him one of the most influential music theorists of the 16th century.
Willaert, already established as the leading figure of the Venetian School, accepted Zarlino as one of his students, placing him among a distinguished circle of disciples who benefited from his teaching. Zarlino himself later recorded that Willaert had originally gone to Paris to study law but chose music instead, and he acknowledged Willaert as his own teacher and an essential influence on his theoretical work.
