OPERE DI BARBARA STROZZI

A PORTRAIT OF BARBARA STROZZI IN 5 ACTS

Barbara Strozzi (1619 – 1677) was said to be “the most prolific composer – male or female – of printed secular vocal music” in Venice in the mid-17th century. She published eight volumes of her own music, and had more music in print than any other composer of the time. As the daughter of the influential poet and librettist Giulio Strozzi, Barbara spent her life in the creative circles of 17th century Venice, where she fought for her freedom and independence.

Strozzi took great care over the setting of her texts and she explored surprising, sometimes uncommon harmonies. Strozzi’s life and career have been overshadowed by the claim that she was a courtesan, which cannot be fully confirmed because in those days it was often assumed that women making music was a courtesan’s intellectual asset. At an early age, she began to show virtuoso singing talent. Already at the age of fifteen, Barbara is described as “la virtuosissima cantatrice di Giulio Strozzi”, the extremely virtuoso singer of her likely adoptive father.

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