Francesca Caccini at the Medici court : music and the circulation of power
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Francesca Caccini at the Medici court : music and the circulation of power
（Women in culture and society : a series / edited by Catharine R. Stimpson）
University of Chicago Press, 2009
- :cloth : alk. paper
Available at / 3 libraries
-
No Libraries matched.
- Remove all filters.
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Supplement: 1 CD (12cm)
Contents of Works
- Figliuola del celebratissimo Giulio Romano
- To win the girl, or, Francesca as object of desire
- Power, desire, and women among themselves
- Musica to the Granducato
- Who was this woman?
- Voice lessons : introducing the Primo libro delle musiche
- Being, doing, and allegories of voice
- After Arianna
- La liberazione di Ruggiero amid the politics of regency
- Performance, musical design, and politics in La liberazione di Ruggiero
- Cataclysms of widowhood
- Afterlives
Description and Table of Contents
Description
A contemporary of Shakespeare and Monteverdi, and a colleague of Galileo and Artemisia Gentileschi at the Medici court, Francesca Caccini was a dominant figure of musical life 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.
A compact disc of rare recorded samples of Caccini's oeuvre, specially prepared for this volume, further enhances this long-awaited study.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.
by "Nielsen BookData"