Barbara Strozzi

Italian composer and musician

• Born: 1619
• Birthplace: Venice (now in Italy)
• Died: November 11, 1677
• Place of death: Padua (now in Italy)

Strozzi was the most prolific composer of printed secular vocal music in Venice. In an era when women composers were uncommon or unwelcome, and when few composers of either gender had their music printed, Strozzi published eight volumes of arias, madrigals, motets, and cantatas between 1644 and 1664.

Early Life

Barbara Strozzi (STRAWT-tsee) was the daughter of Giulio Strozzi, a prominent Italian gentleman who was highly active as a poet, dramatist, and sponsor of literary and musical circles. Strozzi’s mother was Isabella Garzoni, known as la Greghetta, a longtime servant of Giulio Strozzi. Barbara Strozzi, who was sometimes referred to by her father as Barbara Valle, was adopted by Giulio probably because she was his illegitimate daughter. Giulio’s will of 1628 stipulates that in case of la Greghetta’s death, Barbara was to inherit all of his resources. Ultimately, she was her father’s sole heir.

Strozzi’s primary influence was her father, who, as a writer, was recognized for his orations, plays, and poetry, but most of all for his opera librettos (musical plays). Giulio was active in both the literary and musical life of Venice. He knew most of the leading intellectuals and was a member of groups or academies made of these elite writers and nobles. The groups would meet at the homes of distinguished members to debate artistic, cultural, and philosophical issues and to recite poetry, read plays, or perform music. Giulio founded two such academies in Venice after Barbara was born; one academy met at the home of a group member and the other, the Accademia degli Unisoni (academy of the unisons), founded in 1637, gathered at Giulio’s home. This later group, which received some notoriety, had a musical focus.

Barbara had been singing informally at Giulio’s home in front of distinguished guests since about 1634, but with the founding of the Unisoni academy, her performances became institutionalized. Through her father, Barbara entered a world that was not, for the most part, open to women, so her entrée into the academy immersed her into a world of famous musicians, with whom she became acquainted. She would eventually play a major role in the Unisoni academy, and so, in her honor, the group’s published papers, Veglie dei Signori Unisoni (1638), were dedicated to her when she was just nineteen years old.

Life’s Work

Strozzi began her public musical life as a singer. At her father’s academy, early on, she served as a type of host or moderator, suggesting to the group topics for discussion. She also would judge debates and award prizes. More important, though, is that she sang at the meetings, singing the songs of others as well as, sometimes, her own compositions. It was apparent that she had a quality voice: In 1636, in book 2 of Bizzarrie poetiche , the composer Nicol Fontei refers to her as la virtuosissima cantatrice, the “most virtuosic singer.” Strozzi did not perform before a large public on a formal stage, but was, instead, a chamber-music singer who would sing in homes at academy meetings and other similar occasions.

Strozzi would eventually learn about music composition from the distinguished musical guests who frequented her father’s house. However, her primary music education came from formal study with one of the greatest opera composers of Venice, Franceso Cavalli (1602-1676). It was highly unusually for a woman of the time to receive such training, so there were few professional female composers in Europe. For the most part, women were not welcomed into the music world, but with this exclusion came a reluctance on the part of many women to become professional musicians in the first place. Professional female musicians were often stigmatized as seedy or disreputable in some way. Strozzi’s upbringing, by an unconventional and supportive father, influenced her decision to foster a musical career. By the age of twenty-five, she began publishing her music, which was, like composing, a rare accomplishment for women. Eventually, she would publish more cantatas than any of her Italian contemporaries, female or male.

Strozzi’s first publication (opus 1), Il primo libro de madrigali; a due, tre, quattore, e cinque voce (1644), marks the beginning of her career as a professional composer. This volume of madrigals, for two to five voices, has texts (lyrics) by her father, Giulio (she often set his words to music). Her next publication (opus 2), a book of twenty-six cantatas, arias, and duets called Cantate, ariette, e duetti (1651), was dedicated to Ferdinand III of Austria and Leonora II (Eleanora Gonzaga) of Mantua to celebrate their marriage. Only two texts in this volume are by Giulio Strozzi.

Opus 2 was issued seven years after Strozzi’s first volume, when Strozzi was thirty-two years old. The lapse in time between the two publications could be attributed to Strozzi having been responsible for caring for many young children during these interim years. Her son Giulio was born around 1641, daughter Isabella around 1642, and Laura (Lodovica) around 1644; the date of her son Massimo is unknown. There is no record of Strozzi ever being married, but three of her four children, at minimum, were fathered by a colleague of Giulio, Giovanni Paolo Vidman, with whom she had a long-term relationship.

Strozzi’s only sacred publication, Sacri musicali affetti (opus 5), printed in 1655, is made up of fourteen works with Latin texts. All pieces, except one (“Salve regina”) are nonliturgical, that is to say, the texts are devotional and not part of a prescribed service such as a Mass.

Strozzi is not known as a composer of operas or large orchestral works; indeed, she wrote no purely instrumental music. She composed primarily intimate, chamber music, meaning songs for solo soprano voice and a continuo instrument—a chord-producing instrument, such as a lute or harpsichord. The texts of her songs include frequent use of puns on her name; therefore, it is believed that she sang most of her music herself and thus composed it to fit her own vocal qualities. Her songs call for a lyric-style voice, not one that is too virtuosic, performing big leaps and trills, nor one with a wide range of low to high notes. Her music is set to carry the poetry of the lyrics in a flowing manner and calls for a clear vocal sound.

Along with a repeated refrain (same words and music that return between sections of new material), her pieces tend to have contrasting sections. Thus, in her cantatas and arias, her style may shift with ease from a duple- to a triple-metered section, or from a passage with a clear beat and pulse to one that is free and unmeasured. She differs from her teacher Cavalli by tending to feature longer melismatic sections (a section where each syllable of a word is set with more than one or several notes), which take some vocal skill to perform. Moreover, she repeats texts more frequently than Cavalli. Her focus on words and repetition is perhaps a consequence of her being raised by a poet and of her own activities as a gifted writer: She may have had a desire to emphasize literary aspects.

Significance

Strozzi was one of the most significant composers of solo vocal music of mid-seventeenth century Venice. Although women of her time were not afforded the same music education or opportunities as were men, she was able to study with a leading composer, perform her works in public (albeit intimate), and even publish them. Without the support of the Church or noble families, support that was bestowed on male musicians, she was still able to flourish, and indeed, during her lifetime, she had more music in print than the most-famous male musicians in Venice. Such is a testament to the quality of her compositions, which parallel, if not exceed, those of her distinguished male colleagues.

Bibliography

Glixon, Beth L. “More on the Life and Death of Barbara Strozzi.” Musical Quarterly 83, no. 1 (1999): 134-141. A continuation of the earlier article cited below. The lives of Strozzi’s children are further illuminated, and thus her culture and circumstances.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “New Light on the Musical Career of Barbara Strozzi.” Musical Quarterly 81, no. 2 (1997): 311-335. Discusses Strozzi’s financial situation, her children, her father, and her inner circle.

Jezic, Diane, and Elizabeth Wood. Women Composers: The Lost Tradition Found. New York: Feminist Press, 1994. Discusses Strozzi’s work as part of a canon of music by female composers lost to history but newly recovered.

Magner, Candace A. “Barbara Strozzi: A Documentary Perspective.” Journal of Singing 58, no. 5 (2002). Includes a numbered catalog of Strozzi’s works, a complete discography, and a classified bibliography of original sources, secondary sources, and analyses.

Rosand, Ellen. “Barbara Strozzi, virtuosissima cantatrice: The Composer’s Voice.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 31, no. 2 (1978): 241-248. An extensive article on the life of Strozzi. Includes discussion of the Venetian academies and reviews Strozzi’s musical style and characteristics with examples.

Schulenberg, David. Music of the Baroque. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Contains a brief section on Strozzi, provides analysis of one of her works and discusses song text.

Wong, Randall. “Barbara Strozzi.” Women Composers: Music Through the Ages. Vol. 2. New York: G. K. Hall, 1996. Includes some biographical information, notes on Strozzi’s music, and the poetry she used. Includes the following two editions of Strozzi’s pieces:“L’Astratto” and “Hor che Apollo,” with performance-practice comments. Bibliography.