Topics in Music from 1600 to 1800: Women and Music in Seicento Venice: Barbara Strozzi

The seminar focuses on the seventeenth-century composer and Barbara Strozzi, whose eight published volumes of music fully exploit the expressive potential of mid-seventeenth century music. The adopted (and perhaps illegitimate) daughter of Giulio Strozzi, Barbara was renowned as a singer for her performances in Venetian academic circles associated with her father. MUS 520 explores Strozzi's music and life in early modern Venice; her relationship to other composers and "exceptional" female artists; early modern academies and contemporary views about gender and sexuality; performance practice and editing.