BARBARA STROZZI

&
A N TO N I A B E M B O
MUS3000 Baroque Music
Week 5
Oliver Doyle
T O D AY
• The Life, music and afterlife of two female musicians – Barbara
Strozzi and Antonia Bembo
• The process of preparing a concert of music by female composers
• Practicalities of finding, transcribing, and making editions of their
music publicly available.
BARBARA
STROZZI 芭芭拉 ·
史 特 罗 齐
“la Virtuosissima Cantatrice” (The most virtuous singer)
- Nicolò Fontei

• A celebrated singer
• Published more secular music than any
other composer of her day
• Defined in popular imagination by her
supposed role as a courtesan – a prostitute
– due to her parentage, this portrait, and
complex relationship with a married man,
Giovanni Paolo Vidman, whom she
cohabited and had four children with.
Vidman’s wife even helped pay for
“She was adopted by the intellectual Giulio Strozzi who encouraged her musical talent.
Despite her success, music may not have been her only source of income, as this
seductive portrait implies. She is shown surrounded by scores and instruments, but also
bare-breasted. The sexuality of the image suggests she may have been a Venetian
courtesan.”

-Victoria & Albert Museum, Facebook post advertising “Opera Passion” exhibition, 6 th
August 2017.
• 6th August 1619: Baptised in Santa Sofia,
Cannaregio. Born to Isabella Griega, named
as a servant of Giulio Strozzi, a nobleman
and librettist, and his heir in his will of 1628.
The father was marked as ‘incerto’, but she
was adopted by Strozzi, who made her his
sole heir in 1650.
• 1635 & 1636: Nicolò Fontei dedicates two
books of music, set to Giulio Strozzi’s poetry,
to Barbara.
• Taught by most prolific composer of Opera
in Venice at the time, Francesco Cavalli, who
also encouraged her to compose and publish
her work.
• Barbara performed for several of
the Accademie (intellectual
meetings) which her father was a
part of during the 1630’s and 40’s,
which represented her introduction
to the world as a ‘professional’
musician.
P U B L I C AT I O N S
• 1644: Il Primo Libro de Madrigali a due, tre, quattro, e cinque voce
• 1651: Cantate, ariette, e duetti
• 1654: Cantate, ariete a una, due, e tre voci
• [Opus 4 missing]
• 1655: Sacri Musicali Affetti, Libro I
• 1657: Ariette a Voce Sola, Opera Sesta
• 1659: Diporte di Euterpe, overo Cantate & Ariette a Voce Sola
• 1664: Arie
• A varied musical output of madrigals and canzonas for a variety of
voice combinations, but increasingly dominated by lengthy arias for a
solo voice and continuo – these are now her most famous works.
• Strozzi never wrote an opera, but her arias reflect the contemporary
style, exemplified by the music of her teacher, Cavalli: the music
flows in-and-out of recitative and arioso sections, and dramatic
expression is the key concern of the composer.
 GROUP ACTIVITY
Listen to the two excerpts, looking at the music and translations provided.
What structural device can you hear Strozzi using in both excerpts? Look
at the melody, also noting how rhythmic and melodic features (the note
values words are set to, size of intervals, dissonances) change. Think about
how Strozzi uses these features to express the emotions of the text.
BARBARA AS A MUSICIAN
(Were she born in another age, she would have surely usurped or enhanced the place of the
muses)*

Undated letter penned by Giovanni Francesco Loredano

*The muses are the inspirational goddesses of the sciences and arts
• Singers sought patronage and patrons sought singers; Giulio Strozzi brought Barbara to
Accademie as a means of garnering the fame needed to attract a patron
• Attempted to find employment at the court of Carlo II Gonzaga in Mantua by sending
him a book of her compositions (perhaps the lost ‘opus 4’)
• Carlo II employed an informant in Venice, Antonio Bosso, who acted as a sort of
‘talent scout’, who was aware of Barbara.
• Never secured a court position, and died in relative obscurity and financial difficulty in
Padua in 1677, aged 58.
 “I will tell your most Serene Highness some curiosities that are not too
serious. Barbara Strozzi dedicated to the Archduchess of Innsbruck some of
her music; her Highness sent to her the other day a small gold box adorned
with rubies and with her portrait, and a necklace, also of gold with rubies,
which the said Signora prizes and shows off, placing it between her two
darling, beautiful breasts (Oh, what tits).”

(Letter from Antonio Bosso to Carlo II, Duke of Mantua)

 A N T O N I A B E M B O ( PA D O A N I )

• Born around 1640 in Venice; her father, Giacomo Padoani was a respected Doctor
• Her father and mother went to great lengths to cultivate her ‘virtu’, the better part
of which they considered a talent for singing. Was also taught by Francesco
Cavalli
• Antonio Bosso(!) was involved in Carlos II’s plans to get her father to serve the
Mantuan court as physician, but Antonia’s position as a promising singer (she was
14 at the time) seems to have been just as important.
INTRIGUE…

• Bosso seems to have tried to thwart the Padoani family’s

move to Mantua
• He reported that they were a ‘cage of crazies’ (una gabia
di pazzi); that she was driven to epilepsy as a response to
her father’s mood swings, and that she was having an
affair with the guitarist Francesco Corbetta and was
promised to him in marriage.
• Nothing came of the move, and Antonia later married a
Venetian nobleman, Lorenzo Bembo, at the Redentore on
Giudeca, Venice in 1659. They had three children.
• They had a stormy relationship with Antonia’s parents,
who disinherited them, and, after Lorenzo went to fight in
the defence of Candia against the Ottomans, with each
other. In 1672, Antonia initiated divorce proceedings.
• Antonia’s old friend, Francesco Corbetta,
seems to have helped secure her passage
to Paris and accompanied her there in
1676. By this point he was a hugely
respected guitarist, responsible for its
vogue amongst the elite.
• She was introduced to court and sang for
Louis XIV, who gave her a pension and
lodging in the Petite Union Chrétienne
des Dames de Saint Chaumont, a female
religious community which also had
lodgings for secular women.
• A portion of Antonia’s compositions may
have been written in Venice, but most of
her work and all of her manuscripts date
from her time in Paris.
• Like Strozzi, a significant portion of her work is
for solo voice and continuo (preserved in the
Produzioni Armoniche, dedicated to Louis XIV)
but she also wrote larger works of sacred music;
she might have written these for the religious
community she cohabited with.
• She also wrote an opera, Ercole Amante
(Hercules in Love), using the same libretto that
Cavalli had set for a Parisian performance in
1662. It seems this was never performed.
• No music written by Bembo survives after 1714;
the women living at the convent were given
harpsichord lessons as part of their education, so
much of her time might have been spent
teaching.
• She died sometime before 1724, when her death
is mentioned by her daughter, Diana.
• There are two very distinct styles in her music:
the Venetian, and the French.
 GROUP ACTIVITY
Listen to the two excerpts (scores and translations provided). One is
stereotypically Italian, the other very French. What stylistic and
structural differences can you spot between them? Look particularly at
the shape of the vocal line in each, if any material is repeated, and the
structure of the text.
 CLOSING DISCUSSION

• Have you noticed any similarities in Strozzi and Bembo’s careers?

• How might their lives and personal performance have influenced the
music they wrote?
 • How can we ensure the work of female composers is
CELEBRATING reflected in concert programmes today?

SUONATRICI • What issues does the musician or concert programmer

face in curating performances of their, or any other music
rarely-heard today?
Strozzi: Star of Venice (January 2019, OAE,
King’s Place, London)
“Barbara Strozzi was famed throughout 17th century Venice for her glorious
voice and artistry, ‘la virtuosissima cantatrice’ of the city state. Yet this pupil
of Cavalli and contemporary of Monteverdi was quietly creating a unique
musical legacy. An illegitimate daughter, a single parent, who was rumoured
to be a courtesan and unable to secure a position in any court, she published
eight volumes of increasingly ambitious music between 1644-1664.
Christian Curnyn conducts the Orchestra of the Age of the
Enlightenment and its Rising Stars in this special event launching Venus
Unwrapped that places her mellifluous madrigals and sensuous, dramatic solo
songs in their Venetian context, alongside Monteverdi’s spectacular Eighth
Book of Madrigals with its delightful Il ballo delle ingrate, dramatising Venus
and Cupid’s visit to the Underworld.”
I Ritratti, or Portraits (July & October 2023,
Musica Antica Rotherhithe)
Francesco Cavalli: Mia speranza from Elena
Antonia Bembo: Sonetto al Rè: Gran Re che tutto a tutti
Isabella Leonarda: Sonata Quinta
Barbara Strozzi: L'Eraclito Amoroso
Isabella Leonarda: Sonata Terza
Francesco Cavalli: Ecco idolo mio from Elena
Antonia Bembo: Volgete altrove il guardo
Barbara Strozzi: Lagrime mie
Isabella Leonarda: Sonata Duodecima
Barbara Strozzi: Il Lamento: Sul Rodano severo
Antonia Bembo: Ah, quel'absence
Francesco Cavalli: D'amor non si Quereli from Ormindo
• Programme of music (mostly) by people who knew each other
• Music placed in context
• Involvement of Leonarda to balance singing with instrumental works
(for variety and to give singers a break!)
• A future programme will include the music of Francesco Corbetta
Assignment 1 – Editorial Project (50%)
Prepare an edition with commentary of a piece of music from a period
manuscript or print source. Due 1pm Mon 22 Apr.
- Take a period music source (printed or manuscript)
- Investigate its production and its contents (this generates the
“commentary”)
- Transcribe a discrete section (agreed with Tim) into modern notation
(this is the “edition”)
Be sure to read the assignment brief!
The edition should follow the style guide of A-R Editions.
I have provided info on how I assess the edition.
How do I find/choose a period source?
The assignment as a whole should be roughly equivalent to a 2000 word
essay. (Tim will help to judge that in each case.)
There should not already be an easily available modern edition of the
source. (Otherwise you could just copy it!)
• RISM is a database of all surviving historical music sources.
• The composer entries in Grove Music Online say where the historical
sources for the composer’s music survive.
• IMSLP and CPDL contain many, many historical music sources.
• Lots of major libraries and archives put their holdings online, such as
the Bibiotheque Nationale de France.
 EDITING SCORES
• Making modern editions readily available for performers the first step
in popularising the performance of this music
• Sources range from neat and clear to damaged, full of errors or
working autograph scores
• All of these can be daunting at first glance, but the process is hugely
rewarding if you persevere!
THINGS YOU’LL PROBABLY ENCOUNTER
• C, G and F clefs: show you were
C, G or F are on the staff
• Note heads and stems are often
similar to modern ones but might
take some getting used to
• The same is true for time
signatures, but you might find
more beats in a bar than you
would expect!
• Symbols and placement for sharps
is different to modern use
• Rests can be tricky to transcribe at
first glance
• Figured bass markings
 FINAL ACTIVITY
• Take a look at the final handout for today, Francesca Caccini’s ‘Senti
l’ira del ciel’, and have a go at transcribing it into modern notation.
Tim and Oliver will be on hand to help!