Barbara Strozzi (jan 1, 1619 – jan 1, 1677)

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an Italian singer and composer of the Baroque Period. During her lifetime, Strozzi published eight volumes of her own music, having more music in print than any other composer of the era. This was made possible without any support from the Church or consistent patronage of the nobility.

Barbara Strozzi: Performer and Composer
1. The genre of cantata spread to northern Italian cities, such as Bologna and Venice.
2. In Venice Barbara Strozzi, a composer who had studied with the opera composer
Cavalli, published eight books of madrigals, cantatas, and arias.
a. That she was able to publish so much as a woman testifies to her reputation as a
noteworthy composer.
b. Her Lagrime mie is an exemplary cantata.
3. Special conditions allowed some women throughout music history to pursue careers as
composers, but these are mostly the exceptions.
a. Careers as singers opened to women in the late sixteenth century (women were
not customarily allowed to sing in sacred establishments).
b. Women who performed on stage were often associated with prostitutes.
4. Several women composed in northern Italy during the sixteenth century, but only
Maddalena Casulana published.
5. Slightly later, women such as Strozzi and Francesca Caccini published works in
Italian.

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