Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court: Music and the Circulation of Power

ISBN-13: 9780226132136 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 488 str.

Suzanne G. Cusick; Catharine R. Stimpson

Opis

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.
"