musica Dei donum
CD reviews
Female voices in Italy
[I] Barbara STROZZI (1619 - 1677): "Voices of Longing - Love Songs from 17th-Century Venice"
Ceruleo
rec: Feb 7 - 9, 2024, Loughton, St John's Church
Resonus Classics - RES10352 (© 2024) (72'46")
Liner-notes: E - lyrics - translations: E
Cover, track-list & booklet
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Girolamo FRESCOBALDI (1583-1643):
Canzon V detta la Tromboncina (F 8.06a);
Biagio MARINI (1594-1663):
Gagliarda La caotorta à 2, op. 1,25 [3];
Tarquinio MERULA (1595-1665):
La bianca, op. 12,11 [6];
Toccata del 2º tono;
Alessandro PICCININI (1566-1638):
Partite variate sopra quest'aria Francese detta l'Alemana;
Barbara STROZZI:
Amante ravveduto, op. 6,14 [10];
Begl'occhi, bel seno, op. 2,2 [8];
Begli occhi, op. 3,9 [9];
Che si può fare, op. 8,6 [11];
Desideri vani, op. 3,11 [9];
I baci, op. 2,23 [8];
L'amante segreto, op. 2,16 [8];
La riamata da chi amava, op. 2,18 [8];
La sol, fà, mi, rè, dò, op. 2,25 [8];
Sonetto proemio dell'opera, op. 1,1 [7]
Jenni Harper, Emily Owen, soprano;
Kate Conway, viola da gamba;
Toby Carr, theorbo;
Satoko Doi-Luck, harpsichord
[II] "Vox Feminae"
Les Kapsber'girls
rec: Jan 2023, Evje (NL), Moosestudio
Alpha - 1098 (© 2025) (62'33")
Liner-notes: E/D/F; lyrics - translations: E/F
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Antonia BEMBO (c1640-c1720):
Amor mio, facciam la pace;
Habbi pietà di mè;
In amor ci vuol ardir;
Francesca CACCINI (1587-1640):
Ch'amor sia nudo [4];
Francesca CAMPANA (c1615-1665):
Amor se questa sera [5];
Fanciulla vezzosa [5];
Voi luci altere [5];
Giovanni Girolamo KAPSPERGER (1580-1651):
Ballo II [2];
Ballo III [2];
Corrente I [2];
Corrente IV [2];
Corrente V [2];
Gagliarda IV [2];
Gagliarda VI [2];
Isabella LEONARDA (1620-1704):
Ad arma, o spiritus [12];
Ercole PASQUINI (c1560-c1615):
Toccata I;
Lucia QUINCIANI (c1566-1611 or later):
Udite lagrimosi spiriti d'Averno [1];
Barbara STROZZI (1619-1677):
Canto di bella bocca, op. 1,2 [7];
Che si può fare, op. 8,6 [11];
Sonetto proemio dell'opera, op. 1,1 [7]
Alice Duport-Percier, soprano;
Axelle Vernier, mezzo-soprano;
Garance Boizot, viola da gamba;
Pernelle Marzorati, harp;
Albane Imbs, theorbo, tiorbino, guitar
Sources:
[1] Marcantonio Negri, Affetti Amorosi, 1611;
[2] Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger, Balli, gagliarde e correnti, 1615;
[3] Biagio Marini, Affetti musicali, op. 1, 1617;
[4] Francesca Caccini, Il primo libro delle musiche, 1618;
[5] Francesca Campana, Arie a una, due, e tre voci, 1629;
[6] Tarquinio Merula, Canzoni overo sonate concertate per chiesa e camera, op. 12, 1637;
Barbara Strozzi, [7] Il primo libro de madrigali, op. 1, 1644;
[8] Cantate, ariette, e duetti, op. 2, 1651;
[9] Cantate, ariete a una, due, e tre voci, op. 3, 1654;
[10] Ariette a voce sola, op. 6, 1657;
[11] Arie a voce sola, op. 8, 1664;
[12] Isabella Leonarda, Mottetti a 1, 2 e 3 voci con violini, e senza, op. 13, 1687
Scores Strozzi
In the course of history women have played a limited role in music life. They were active as singers, especially in opera, but only a few had the opportunity to compose. There is one who had no reason to complain about the recognizion of her compositional qualities: Barbara Strozzi. And in our time she undoubtedly is the most frequently-performed female composer. The number of recordings devoted to her oeuvre attest to that, although I am not sure whether her complete output is available on disc. A large part of it certainly is, and from that perspective the two discs under review are no substantial additions to the discography.
However, there are some features which make them stand out. The first disc is especially interesting in that, although it includes pieces for solo voice, it rather focuses on duets, a genre that takes a minor place in Strozzi's oeuvre. The second disc puts Strozzi into a special context: it confronts Strozzi with the oeuvre of other female composers, most of whom were not as lucky as she in that they did not find support for their musical activities and are far less fashionable today, witness the relatively small number of recordings of their music.
Strozzi's oeuvre is highly dramatic in character. That is certainly due to the fact that she was educated in composition by Francesco Cavalli who would become the most famous Venetian opera composer after the death of Monteverdi. Her father, Giulio, had also strong ties with opera: he was a poet who wrote a large number of opera librettos which were set by the main composers of his time. He was also largely responsible for Barbara's career. He founded the Accademia degli Unisoni, a kind of literary academy which gave her the chance to perform, certainly mostly her own compositions, and to listen to the deliberations of its members, especially about artistic matters.
Strozzi published her first collection of music in 1644: madrigals for two to five voices and basso continuo. It was followed by seven books of pieces, mostly for solo voice and basso continuo. The first was the Op. 2 which appeared in 1651 and the last the Op. 8 which dates from 1664. Only one of these books comprised sacred works: the Op. 5 of 1655. Most of the texts were written specifically for her; about half of them are anonymous.
Strozzi's treatment of the text is according to the ideals laid down by Giulio Caccini as the main promoter of the stile nuovo, in which the music was subservient to the text, which it was to illustrate. The main aim of music was to communicate human emotions (affetti) to the audience. In many ways Strozzi's music is the perfect illustration of these ideals, as she does never miss an opportunity to musically illustrate phrases or single words. The piece, which opens both recordings, is a case in point. In Sonetto proemio dell'opera, the setting of a text from her father's pen, she uses chromaticism on "faticosa" (laborious), illustrates the word "armonia" with a perfect consonant, and the words "al rider ride" (laugh with their laughter) with coloratura, imitating laughter. In Che si può fare, the other piece included in both recordings, a descending chromatic figure is used to depict "penar deggio" - I must suffer.
In Begl'occhi, bel seno (I) Strozzi creates a strong contrast between "cielo" and "inferno": "from the doors of heaven to hell". A particularly fine example of text illustration is also La sol, fà, mi, rè, dò (I), with extended coloratura on words like "ornato" (adorned) and "passeggiando" (singing passages). This piece is special because the text plays with the names of notes, such as "don fà mi" - give me a gift. Obviously a composer of the time could not resist to use here the corresponding notes. There are several other examples, such as "[I thought her singing was for] mi alone" (mi sol). I baci literally dies out on the closing words "e taci" (be silent).
As I mentioned, both recordings pay special attention to duets. These are not dialogues: the protagonist is always one person. However, Begl'occhi, bel seno is a kind of 'inner dialogue': most of the text is divided among the two singers, and two passages open with the word "mà" - but.
Les Kapsper'girls pay attention to female composers who did by far not attract as much attention as Strozzi, who was a real celebrity, even though she had her fair share of gossip and envy. The most successful of the composers included in the programme was Francesca Caccini, one of the two composing daughters of Giulio. She was in a more or less comparable position as Strozzi, as her career was also supported by her father. She was a virtuosic singer, played the keyboard, the guitar and the harp, and wrote poetry in Italian and Latin. As a singer she is assumed to have participated in the first performance of Jacopo Peri's opera L'Euridice, and also in her father's opera Il rapimento di Cefalo, both in 1600. For most of her life she was at the service of the Medici family, and moved in the highest circles, marrying a nobleman after her first husband had died. Compared to Barbara Strozzi modern performers have little to choose from in Francesca Caccini's oeuvre. She wrote a considerable number of dramatic works, all of which are lost, with the exception of the comedy La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina. Otherwise there is just one book with pieces for one and two voices and basso continuo. It was printed in 1618 and is entitled Il primo libro delle musiche.
A contemporary was Francesca Campana, who has received some attention as she was the sister-in-law of one of the great masters of her time, Luigi Rossi. Like he, she lived and worked in Rome. She was educated at the keyboard, and earned some fame as a player of the spinet. She was also a singer, and a contemporary stated about her that "she is a master in art, because she composes by herself, sings like an angel (although the most delicate ones oppose the hoarseness of her voice (...)), she plays divinely the spinet (...)". The first two of her compositions were songs which were included in an anthology of fifteen vocal pieces by fourteen composers; she was the only one who was represented with two pieces. The rest of her oeuvre is included in Arie a una, due, e tre voci, published in 1629.
Almost each female composer came from or moved among an aristocratic environment. That was also the case with Antonia Bembo, who was the daughter of a doctor in Venice and married a nobleman. The marriage was not happy, and in order to escape from her husband, she moved to Paris, where she came under the patronage of Louis XIV. She was a prolific composer, and contributed to various genres, including the typical French grand motet. In the course of her compositional career she moved in the direction of the French style. In Amor mio she uses the form of the dacapo. Habbi pietà di mè opens with descending figures, illustrating the text: "Have mercy on me; don't let me die!"
In Italy many families could pay the dowry for only one of their daughters. The others were sent to a convent. Whether they liked it or not, fact is that the convent offered opportunities women may not have enjoyed outside the convent, such as a thorough musical education, and musical practice on an almost daily basis. The performance of music was bound by strict rules, but the nuns often found a way to by-pass them or openly broke them. There is documentary evidence of a lively musical practice in various convents. Nuns not only sung but also played instruments - practically every instrument in vogue at the time. Isabella Leonarda was from Novara in northern Italy, where she lived all her life. In 1636 she entered the Collegio di S Orsola, where she acted as music instructor and became later mother superior and madre vicaria. She was a productive composer: the last printed collection with pieces from her pen dates from 1700 and had the opus number 20. Some parts of her oeuvre have been lost. Most of her output is vocal and sacred, but she also published a collection of sonatas, which are likely the first ever published by a woman. Ad arma, o spiritus is a typical piece of the time, whose text at first seems to be secular. However, the text is in Latin, which suggests otherwise, and indeed, in the course of the piece it turns out to be about the Virgin Mary.
The earliest composer in the programme is also the one, about whom nothing is known. Udite lagrimosi spiriti d'Averno is the only known piece by Lucia Quinciani, and was included in a book of pieces by her teacher Marcantonio Negri.
The ensemble Ceruleo offers instrumental pieces by contemporaries of Strozzi, which are nice breathing spaces. The choice of pieces is not very adventurous, but they receive fine performances and offer opportunities to the participating instrumentalists to play solo. Breathing spaces may sound a little critical, but I think it is fair to say that listening to Strozzi can be a laborious affair, because of the highly emotional and dramatic nature of her music. Although I am generally positive about the performances of the two singers, and their dramatic features come off to full extent, I felt that there is just a little too much loud singing; I had liked a somewhat more differentiated interpretation. Moreover, both singers are not free of a slight vibrato which is not really disturbing, but regrettable nevertheless. That said, this disc is certainly one lovers of Strozzi's music should investigate, also because the focus on duets, which are lesser-known than the solo pieces.
Les Kapsber'girls offer a wider variety of pieces, thanks to the inclusion of works by other female composers. It also shows the differences between the composers, even though they basically share the same stylistic principles. I have reviewed the two previous discs of this ensemble, which I was very happy about. I had high expectations, and I was in no way disappointed. This is another outstanding production. The performances are not fundamentally different from that of Ceruleo, but I like the voices better (which is a matter of taste), and I noticed a more varied use of dynamics and especially a more declamatory way of singing. Another substantial element is the contribution of the basso continuo group. In both recordings that part is very good, but in the recording of Les Kapsber'girls the singers receive more impulses from the instrumentalists. The use of a harp, with its dynamic possibilities, is one of this recordings assets.
Two pieces figure on both discs, but as otherwise they are very different as far as the repertoire is concerned, they are no direct competitors, but rather complement each other. Lovers of this kind of repertoire should add both to their collection.
Johan van Veen (© 2025)
Relevant links:
Ceruleo
Les Kapsber'girls