BARBARA STROZZI - ITALY
BORN 6 AUGUST
BORN 6 AUGUST
Barbara Strozzi (also called Barbara Valle; baptised 6 August 1619 – 11 November 1677) was an Italian singer and composer. Her Baroque compositions were published in her lifetime.
Giulio Strozzi, a poet and librettist, recognised Barbara as his adopted daughter. She was most likely the illegitimate daughter of Strozzi and Isabella Garzoni, his long-time servant and heir. She was baptised in the church of Santa Sofia in the Cannaregio district (sestiere) of Venice.
Giulio encouraged his daughter's musical talent, even creating an academy in which Barbara’s performances could be validated and displayed publicly. He seemed to be interested in exhibiting her considerable vocal talents to a wider audience. However, her singing was not her only talent. She was also compositionally gifted, and her father arranged for her to study with composer Francesco Cavalli.
It is conceivable that Strozzi may have been a courtesan, although she may have merely been the target of jealous slander by her male contemporaries. She appears to have led a quiet, if not slightly unusual life; there is evidence that at least three of her four children were fathered by the same man, Giovanni Paolo Vidman (also spelled Widmann). He was a patron of the arts and supporter of early opera. After Vidman's death it is likely that Strozzi supported herself by means of her investments and by her compositions. He did not, apparently, leave anything to her or her children in his will.
Strozzi died in Padua in 1677 aged 58. She is believed to have been buried at Reemitted. When she died without leaving a will, her son Giulio Pietro claimed her inheritance in full.
Strozzi was said to be "the most prolific composer – man or woman – of printed secular vocal music in Venice in the Middle of the century."Her output is also unique in that it only contains secular vocal music, with the exception of one volume of sacred songs. She was renowned for her poetic ability as well as her compositional talent. Her lyrics were often poetic and well-articulated.
Nearly three-quarters of her printed works were written for soprano, but she also published works for other voices.Her compositions are firmly rooted in the seconda pratica tradition. Strozzi’s music evokes the spirit of Cavalli, heir of Monteverdi. However, her style is more lyrical, and more dependent on sheer vocal sound.Many of the texts for her early pieces were written by her father Giulio. Later texts were written by her father's colleagues, and for many compositions she may have written her own texts.
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Che si può fare by Barbara Strozzi
ELIZABETH ALEXANDER - USA
BORN 6 AUGUST
BORN 6 AUGUST
Elizabeth Alexander (born August 6, 1962) is an American composer. Her works include orchestral, chamber, piano and vocal works. She is best known for her over 80 choral pieces, which have been performed internationally by thousands of choirs. Alexander is also known for her liturgical works, and themes centering on social justice.
Sarah Elizabeth Alexander was born in South Carolina in 1962. After several years in South and North Carolina, her family moved to the Ohio River city of Portsmouth, Ohio in 1972. Trained as a classical pianist, Alexander studied composition with Jack Gallagher and received her Bachelor of Music in Composition from The College of Wooster in 1984. She received her doctorate in Music Composition from Cornell University in 1987, where she studied with noted composers Steven Stucky, Karel Husa, and Yehudi Wyner. She currently resides in St. Paul, Minnesota, and is one of the most performed composers in the Unitarian Universalist Musicians Network.
Choral music makes up the core of Alexander's works and performances, noted for her "accessible style that is well tailored to the requirements of both semi-pro and amateur choruses." Her style combines the regional influences from her childhood with classical form. These melodic sensibilities include spirituals, jazz and blues from the American South, and Celtic-American folk music of Northern Appalachia, styles prevalent in her most performed octavos, "When the Song of the Angels Is Stilled," "Where There Is Light in the Soul," "Faith Is the Bird That Feels the Light," and "If You Can Walk You Can Dance."
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