Honorable Mention, Pauline Alderman Award, International Alliance of Women and Music
2007 Nicholas Slonimsky Award for Outstanding Musical Biography, ASCAP

Description

One of the most fascinating figures of seventeenth-century music, composer and singer Antonia Padoani Bembo (c.1640 - c.1720) was active in both Venice and Paris. Her work provides a unique cross-cultural window into the rich musical cultures of these cities, yet owing to her clandestine existence in France, for almost three centuries Bembo's life was shrouded in mystery. In this first-ever biography, Claire Fontijn unveils the enthralling and surprising story of a remarkable woman who moved in the musical, literary, and artistic circles of these European cultural centers.

Rebuffed in the attempt to divorce her abusive husband, Bembo fled to Paris, leaving her children in Venice. Joining ranks with composers glorifying Louis XIV, her song charmed the Sun King and won over his court's sympathy to the cause of women. She obtained his sponsorship to live in a semi-cloistered community in Paris, where she wrote music for the spiritual and worldly needs of the royal family. Offering fine examples of sacred and secular vocal repertory for chamber settings and large ensembles, Bembo's oeuvre reveals her preoccupation with female agency through dynamic portrayals of such powerful figures as the Virgin Mary and the Duchess of Burgundy. The genres in which she worked--love song, opera, motet, cantata, trio sonata, and air--testify to the magic of her voice and to her place alongside Strozzi, Jacquet de La Guerre, and other major women composers of her time.

Expertly engaging with musicology, history, and gender studies, Claire Fontijn tells the story of a brave and daring woman while providing a valuable key to a long-hidden treasure trove of music. A groundbreaking biography, Desperate Measures details the compelling life and music of a woman with courage, determination, and talent who thrived within the dictates of society and culture.

Reviews

"Desperate Measures is ground-breaking, eye-opening, substantial and painstakingly researched."--Robert Manning, The Consort

"This is a work of exemplary archival research and musicological import for scholars, complemented by a valuable recording. This will be the definitive Antonia Bembo biography for years to come."-Honorable Mention, Pauline Alderman Award, International Alliance of Women and Music.

"In Desperate Measures , Claire Fontijn relates a fascinating account of a young girl's journey from the Venice of famed composer Francesco Cavalli to Paris at the end of the reign of Louis XIV. Through impeccable research and close attention to a wide variety of documentary gems, Antonia Padoani Bembo's life and music are presented here in rich detail. This book provides a complete and satisfying portrait of a courageous woman who abandoned her family to follow her muse in a supportive community in France. Fontijn demonstrates that Antonia Bembo deserves to be much better known, not only as a woman composer, but as a significant figure in the history of Baroque music."--Beth and Jonathan Glixon, University of Kentucky

"Desperate Measures presents the definitive study of one of the most gifted pupils of Cavalli. Claire Fontijn's vivid prose and thorough research bring readers from the 17th-century Venetian lagoon to the banks of the Seine. By giving life to the child prodigy Antonia Bembo, the author casts light on the long unnoticed woman composer who participated in the foundation of music employing the united tastes known as les goûts réunis ."--Jean-Paul C. Montagnier, University of Nancy, France

"Desperate Measures stands midway between scholarly work and novel--with the rigor of the former and the readability of the latter."--Dr. Giovanni Zanovello, Padua, Italy

Product Details

392 pages; 83 halftones, line illus, maps & musical examples; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-513538-1ISBN10: 0-19-513538-5

About the Author(s)