Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court : Music and the Circulation of Power / Suzanne G. Cusick.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cusick, Suzanne G., Author.

Contributor:

Stimpson, Catharine R.

Series:

Women in culture and society.

Women in Culture and Society

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Caccini, Francesca, 1587-approximately 1640.

Caccini, Francesca.

Medici, House of.

Women composers--Italy--Biography.

Women composers.

Feminism and music--Italy.

Feminism and music.

Music--Italy--Florence--16th century--History and criticism.

Music.

Music--Italy--Florence--17th century--History and criticism.

Florence (Italy)--Social life and customs.

Florence (Italy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (482 pages) : illustrations, music.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A contemporary of Shakespeare and Monteverdi, and a colleague of Galileo and Artemisia Gentileschi at the Medici court, Francesca Caccini was a dominant musical figure there for thirty years. Dazzling listeners with the transformative power of her performances and the sparkling wit of the music she composed for more than a dozen court theatricals, Caccini is best remembered today as the first woman to have composed opera. Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court reveals for the first time how this multitalented composer established a fully professional musical career at a time when virtually no other women were able to achieve comparable success. Suzanne G. Cusick argues that Caccini's career depended on the usefulness of her talents to the political agenda of Grand Duchess Christine de Lorraine, Tuscany's de facto regent from 1606 to 1636. Drawing on Classical and feminist theory, Cusick shows how the music Caccini made for the Medici court sustained the culture that enabled Christine's power, thereby also supporting the sexual and political aims of its women. In bringing Caccini's surprising story so vividly to life, Cusick ultimately illuminates how music making functioned in early modern Italy as a significant medium for the circulation of power.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Note to the Reader

Excerpts from Francesca Caccini's Compositions on the Accompanying CD

1. Figliuola del celebratissimo Giulio Romano

2. "To win the girl"; or, Francesca as Object of Desire

3. Power, Desire, and Women among Themselves

4. Musica to the Granducato

5. Who Was This Woman?

6. Voice Lessons: Introducing the Primo libro delle musiche

7. Being, Doing, and Allegories of Voice

8. After Arianna

9. La liberazione di Ruggiero amid the Politics of Regency

10. Performance, Musical Design, and Politics in La liberazione di Ruggiero

11. Cataclysms of Widowhood

12. Afterlives

Appendix A. Francesca Caccini's Known Performances and Compositions

Appendix B. Letters of Francesca Caccini (1610-1641)

Appendix C. Cristoforo Bronzini, Della dignità e nobiltà delle donne, I-Fn, Magl. VIII, 1525/1, 54-77

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Participant:

Performers on CD: Emily van Evera, soprano ; Eric Milnes, harpsichord ; Andrew Parrott, organ ; Maria Cleary, double harp ; Fredrik Bok, theorbo and baroque guitar ; Erin Headley, lirone and viol ; Adrian Butterfield, baroque violin ; Mélisande Corriveau, viol.

Notes:

Final 2 selections on CD are from La liberazione di Ruggiero; all other selections are from Il primo libro; all are by Francesca Caccini.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 411-428) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780226338101

022633810X

OCLC:

946083566