Francesca Caccini (1587 – 1641)
Francesca Caccini was born in Florence to a musical family. Her father, Giulio Caccini, was a well-known singer, composer, and writer on musical theory. Her mother was a singer, and after she died, her father’s second wife was also a singer.
Francesca Caccini grew up in the era when the tradition of opera was in its infant stages. The earliest opera that still exists is Jacopo Peri’s Euridice with additional music by Giulio Caccini, first performed in Florence in 1600. During this period, musical dramatic or comic works were often collaborative, and singers would even write their own arias. This is how Francesca Caccini got her start. Her career also benefited from the presence of strong women within the Medici court.
Francesca Caccini wrote or contributed to several operas, most of which are now lost. The only one to survive in its entirety is her 1625 comic work La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina (The Liberation of Roger from the Island of Alcina). Whether this is an opera or not is open to opinion, but if it is, it is the first known opera composed by a woman. Regardless, it is one of the earliest music theatre works by a single composer.
Earlier, in 1618, Francesca Caccini published a book entitled Il primo libro delle musiche (The First Book of Music) containing some 36 songs and arias that demonstrate various techniques specifically intended for women singers. As a one scholar has written, “one of the tricks that Caccini is teaching her female musician reader is how to sing about desire without acknowledging any knowledge of desire.” (Sounds and Sweet Airs, p. 29)
Here is a lively comic song from Francesca Caccini’s book, performed by Ars Lyrica Houston as part of a concert that included two other Caccini songs also available on their YouTube channel. They have graciously provided English subtitles.