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.  

Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court: Music and the Circulation of Power (Women in Culture and Society)

CUSICK, Suzanne G.

Humor & Entertainment

University of Chicago Press

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.

No. 43 in the Studies in Musicology Series. A revision of the author's thesis, UNC Chapel Hill, 1975, on the life of a 16th century Roman music printer. Table of contents, list of illustrations, acknowledgments, preface, endnotes, four appendices, bibliography, index. Black and white illustrations. Covers lightly soiled. xiv, 315+ 1 pages. cloth. 8vo..

Valerio Dorico: Music Printer in Sixteenth-Century Rome (Studies in Musicology)

Computers & Technology

Graphics & Design

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by CUSICK, Suzanne G.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by CUSICK, Suzanne G.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by CUSICK, Suzanne G.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court: Music and the Circulation of Power (Women in Culture and Society)

Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court: Music and the Circulation of Power (Women in Culture and Society)

Valerio Dorico: Music Printer in Sixteenth-Century Rome (Studies in Musicology)