Revolutionizing the Musical Stage of Northern Italy
Although not as popular as Bach, Claudio Monteverdi, Schutz, Charpentier or Pachelbel. Barbara Strozzi was a representative name for Baroque music. Daughter of poet Giulio Strozzi's servant, born in 1617, she lived an intriguing life, later becoming the most respected and appreciated female composer of the 17th century.
She was adopted by her mother's master, a rather famous Venetian intellectual, who saw to her musical education. Her first notable teacher was Francesco Cavalli, already reputable singer and composer. The news of her talent soon spread, and Nicolò Fontei dedicated her no less than two solo songs books, the first one at her merely sixteen years of age.
In 1637, Giulio Strozzi founded Accademia degli Unisoni (Academy of Unisons or Like-Minded), in his own home, devoted mostly to music. Here, Barbara is said to have been the main focus, to have sang at their meetings and to have proposed topics for the discussions between the members. It is believed that his reason was to provide his daughter with a suitable way to polish and exploit her singing skills.
Besides singing, she also began to compose, and, while her first compositions had her father's underwriting, the following ones were bought by high-rank patrons from Italy and from across the Alps. Her male contemporaries slandered her and called her a courtesan (there are reasons to believe she may have been one), as it was very uncommon for women to use their own name when publishing. Courtesans and performers were usually seen the same way, and music was considered the drug that helped them cross the line, that encouraged them to live a loose life.
Barbara Strozzi had four children, three of them believed to have Giovanni Paolo Vidman as a father. Vidman, occasionally referred to as Widmann, is believed to have been a member of the academy, especially since he was a librettist. Since he left no inheritance to Barbara and their children, she was forced to support herself and her children and she did so with the money she obtained publishing her compositions. She was also helped by other members of Paolo Vidman's family, managing to get her two daughters accepted at a convent.
Probably also motivated by the need to support hers children, she composed and published over 100 works, most of them vocal music, for solo voice and for continuo. Eight music volumes were published from 1644 to 1664. She exceeded all the composers of her time in the number of cantatas published.
Her compositions reflect her singing as a soprano, only two of the solo works being dedicated to other voices, and most of the group works (from duets to quintets) included one or several sopranos. She composed accompaniment for continuo, and she is believed to have played it herself on the chitarrone or lute.
She only used popular music forms: cantatas, lamentations and arias. Her compositions' lion's share were secular, this could be either due to her status as a female composer who could not fond her place at traditional venues, or because this is what she was more familiar with.
It is easy to note that she was quite fond of repeating themes, often using melodic and rhythmic patterns that were easy to recognize or moving distinctive long phrases to a different place along the scale. This can remind one of Bach, who did the same, but at a greater scale in the fugue). She used long melismas (melody wiggling around on one syllable instead of changing notes for each), oftentimes chromatic, including syncopations, large leaps or interruptions, all with the purpose of exposing the human voice's natural beauty.
Barbara Strozzi’s style depended heavily on vocal features. She wrote only chamber music, represented by a low sound that was easier to hear clearly in homes rather than in performance halls. The most important characteristic of her style is believed to be word-painting (her notes follow the story of her characters – if the character climbs, do notes do too), but she also seems to have liked repeating or lengthening certain phrases, words or phrases if this made them suit the song. Her compositions were rich in repetitions, up to the point where she could obtain a full cantata from just 4-5 text lines.
The texts of her early compositions were written by her father, while she and, occasionally, other academy members, wrote the rest. Unrequited love was her preferred subject, the pieces being often humorous or ironic. She sustained that romantic persuasion could be achieved through two methods, music and tears, often joking to her attendees that, had the invitation involved for them to watch her crying instead of singing, previous academy meetings might have lost popularity.
In the 17th century, in northern Italy, most of the women composing and publishing music under their own name were nuns, mostly from Milan, Pavia, Bologna, or Novara, and their music was mostly represented by psalms, Masses and Magnificats. Barbara Strozzi’s predominantly secular works saw publication both across Italy and across the Alps. The publishing of the last of her collections took place in 1664, followed by her immediate dropping out of site. Letters attesting that she was in Venice in the spring – early summer of 1677 were found, but, before the beginning of fall she went to live in Padua and found he death there.
Buried at the Erimitani cemetery in Padua, Barbara Strozzi did not leave a will, so Giulio Pietro, her elder son inherited everything while his younger brother and two sisters were still in monasteries.
Even after so many years, her work is still highly appreciated and critics agree that Baroque music would not have been the same without her compositions. Il primo libro di madrigali, Cantate, ariette e duetti, Sacri musicali affetti, Quis dabit mihi and Diporti di Euterpe are just some of the publications part of her legacy to the world.
References
Bowers, Jane M, and Judith Tick. Women Making Music. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986. Print.
Grout, Donald Jay, J. Peter Burkholder, and Claude V Palisca. A History Of Western Music. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. Print.
Landon, H. C. Robbins, and John Julius Norwich. Five Centuries Of Music In Venice. New York: Schirmer Books, 1991. Print.
Neuls-Bates, Carol. Women In Music. New York: Harper & Row, 1982. Print.
Pendle, Karin. Women & Music. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991. Print.
