Barbara Strozzi: Her Life, Her Works, and Baroque Expressivity in Langrime Mie

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Most of Srozzi’s body of work survives and serves as a model of Baroque music containing characteristics typical of the new style.
We know Strozzi primarily through her music for there is not a vast amount of biographical information available on her. What is available demonstrates how even from childhood she was destined for great musical accomplishment. Strozzi was an illegitimate child, born to a servant of a wealthy Italian dramatist and academic, Giulio Strozzi, who was responsible for much of Barbara’s early successes and ultimate career path. Giulio was determined to shape and foster Barbara’s development into a musician through extensive education and study from a young age. “…Barbara’s presence in Giulio’s household had significant consequences for her career: it guaranteed her an early and full exposure to Venetian musical and literary society.” Guilio Strozzi himself founded the Accademia degli Unisoni (Academy of the Like-Minded) to cultivate Barbara’s growth and ...

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artistry, which they found comparable to their own. “…madrigals, arias, and cantatas—place her directly within the cantata tradition of the mid-seventeenth century, along with such major figures as Luigi Rossi, Giacomo Carissimi, and Antoinio Cesti….” Her own style was reflective of these popular composers, yet included her own signature characteristics and choices.
As a predecessor to her skilled work in composition, Strozzi’s extensive training and study with preeminent Italian composer, Francesco Cavalli developed her singing voice to an ability that was unsurpassed during her career. She was considered to be a virtuosic performer. “The creation of a stream of pure vocal sound, ...

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