Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court
Music and the Circulation of Power
Suzanne 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. A CD of rare recorded samples of Caccini’s oeuvre, specially prepared, further enhances this long-awaited study.
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.
American Musicological Association: AMS Best Book by a Senior Scholar
Short Listed
“In Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court, Suzanne Cusick not only sheds light on the life and context of this exceptional woman, but unravels much of what we thought we knew about court patronage and aesthetic debates in general at this time. Few scholars reconstructing the history of women in music do so with Cusick’s sophistication or with her sensitivity to the relevance of women’s experiences to the cultural landscape itself. A brilliant contribution.”
“Suzanne Cusick makes an outstanding contribution to the study of music in early seventeenth-century Florence and of women’s musical and other lives. Her sensitive and subtle readings of Francesca Caccini’s music both reinforce her narrative and provide various counterpoints in ways that force us to rethink how we might view songs of this period. This riveting book will radically transform the ways in which all of us approach topics of this kind.” —Tim Carter, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“This is an extraordinarily original, painstakingly researched, and fascinating book. It is obviously the fruit of Suzanne Cusick’s long and passionate interest in her topic and represents a truly monumental achievement. It will inspire readers and performers for a long time to come.”
Foreword by Catharine R. Stimpson
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Note to the Reader
Excerpts from Francesca Caccini’s Compositions on the Accompanying CD
1 Figliuola del celebratissimo Giulio Romano
2 “To win the girl”; or, Francesca as Object of Desire
3 Power, Desire, and Women among Themselves
4 Musica to the Granducato
5 Who Was This Woman?
6 Voice Lessons: Introducing the Primo libro delle musiche
7 Being, Doing, and Allegories of Voice
8 After Arianna
9 La liberazione di Ruggiero amid the Politics of Regency
10 Performance, Musical Design, and Politics in La liberazione di Ruggiero
11 Cataclysms of Widowhood
12 Afterlives
Appendix A. Francesca Caccini’s Known Performances and Compositions
Appendix B. Letters of Francesca Caccini, 1610–1641
Appendix C. Cristoforo Bronzini, Della dignità e nobiltà delle donne, I-Fn, Magl. VIII. 1525/1, 54–77
Notes
Bibliography
IndexYou may purchase this title at these fine bookstores. Outside the USA, see our international sales information.
