Camerata (It.). Society. Group of poets and musicians who met in houses of Florentine aristocrats Bardi and Corsi between 1573 and 1590 and from whose discussions opera was developed. Among them were composers Galilei, Peri, Caccini, and Cavalieri. Bardi wrote lib. for Peri and Caccini. The group evolved the monodic stile rappresentativo of which the first example (now lost) was Peri's dramma per musica, Dafne. Various modern chamber-mus. organizations use word Camerata in their title.

Camerata (class Crinoidea) Subclass of echinoderms (Echinodermata), with thecal plates typically united by rigid structures composed of numerous small, polygonal plates, and some lower brachial plates, all the plates firmly sutured together. The tegmen is plated, some of the plates roofing over the mouth and ambulacral grooves. The Camerata are known from the Lower Ordovician to Upper Permian.