Personalities | Giulio Caccini | Early Baroque | Classical

(Jool’-yo Ka-che’-ne) c. 1545–1618
Italian composer

Caccini was a singer and instrumentalist at the Medici court. His most important publication was Le nuove musiche (‘The New Music’, 1602), which contained madrigals and strophic songs with basso continuo. Its preface, in which ornamentation and figured bass are discussed, outlines the stile rappresentativo. In this new monodic style he sought to follow the rhythm and cadences of ordinary speech (sprezzatura) in order to affect the senses and engage the passions. These were among the foremost aspirations of the Florentine Camerata hosted by Giovanni de’ Bardi, of which Caccini was a member. The preface is now recognized as an important source of early Baroque performance practice. Caccini’s daughter, Francesca (1587–c. 1638), also composed and published monody; with La Liberazione di Ruggerio dall’isola d’Alcina (‘Ruggerio’s Escape from the Island of Alcina’), performed in 1625, she became the first woman to compose an opera.

Recommended Recording:
Madrigals, Airs and Canzonas, soloists, Accademia Claudio Monteverdi (dir) Hans Ludwig Hirsch (Arts Music)

Introduction | Early Baroque | Classical
Personalities | Giacomo Carissimi | Early Baroque | Classical

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