| GREEN MAN PRESS - EARLY MUSIC EDITIONS | |||
| Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677) | LINKS: |
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| Str 1 | Sino alla morte Cantata
for soprano (c'-b''b) and continuo
Edited by Barbara Sachs |
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Barbara Strozzi daughter of an unknown father and a servant in Giulio Strozzi's household in Venice, was the sole heir of her “adoptive” (and probably natural) father. The preferred librettist for the early opera composers of Venice, Giulio (1583-1652) procured excellent training in singing and composition for Barbara, who studied with Francesco Cavalli. As the inheritance did not cover the cost of her father’s burial, this was his real legacy, enabling her to survive as a composer. She has been described as an erudite courtesan, which is unlikely (the slurs on her character come from malicious satire and traditional prejudice against female musicians). She was, however, the unmarried mother of four children, and she may have been the “Viol Player” portrayed by Bernardo Strozzi (a painting now in the Dresden Staatliche Kunstsammlungen) in an ambiguous (lascivious?) pose which a forced iconographic interpretation links to St. Cecilia or "Charity". Her performances were key events at the meetings of the Accademia
degli Unisoni (founded in 1637) held at the Strozzi palace before
Giulio’s move to Rome (after 1645), frequented by Cavalli, and perhaps
by Monteverdi. Giulio and other members also belonged to the more important
liberal, libertine, anti-clerical, intellectual Accademia degli Incogniti.
One of Barbara’s functions as hostess of the Unisoni, was
to lead philosophical debates on the subject of love. |
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| Sino alla morte the first Cantata of
Op. 7, is an exhilarating, through-composed piece, lasting approximately
14 minutes, and asserting that the fires of love cannot be extinguished.
It begins in 3 with a typical Passacaglia formula in the continuo which
introduces a series of sequences on the first words, vowing eternal love
“until death”. This first Refrain, ingeniously extended, continues
for 49 bars. The Grave contains a series of contrasting arioso passages
over predominantly falling bass lines, in which the lover describes the
features of his beloved which he knows time will alter.
Three 2-part Arias, all in triple time, follow, each concluding with the Refrain and the Passacaglia bass. The continuo lines of these arias imitate and complement the varied figures of the vocal line. The lover opens his heart to joy, undeterred even by jealousy and/or absence, adding vows to vows...”until death”. Strozzi then reuses the music of the first part of the first Aria to set Può la fortuna. The lover feels so invulnerable that he breaks off his challenge to Fortune at the end of the first part, to begin in the style of an instrumental canzona in C, with a dactylic rhythm in the voice, continuing with octave leaps and energetic passages imitated in the continuo. A final 2-bar ostinato, also based on the descending scale, is then introduced by the bass, occurring 12 times, over which the voice has tumultuous figures, leaps, and virtuoso scales, asserting that not even such a series of ‘tsunamis’ could put out the sparks of love! |
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| Str 2 | Lagrime mie Lament for soprano (c'-g'') and continuo Edited by Barbara Sachs |
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