| Elogii delle donne virtuose del nostro secolo (“Eulogy to the virtuous women of our century”): such is the title given to one of his writings by Giulio Strozzi, who came from one of the greatest families of Florence. For several years, he had nearby one of the best possible models of a virtuous woman: his adopted daughter, Barbara.
Giulio Strozzi (1583-1652), a lawyer by training, held the position of Apostolic prothonotary at Rome, and made a detour to Padua and Urbino before settling definitively in Venice in 1620. There, as librettist, he played an important part in the development of Venetian opera.
Between 1627, with the libretto of La Finta pazza Licori, and 1652, the date of the composition by Cavalli of the opera Veremonda to Giulio’s last libretto, Giulio Strozzi produced numerous texts which were set to music by Monteverdi, Manelli and also Sacrati.
Monteverdi wrote a cycle of madrigals, I cinque fratelli, the music of which is unfortunately lost. He was also closely interested in the libretto of a comedy, La Finta pazza Licori, finding it full of “a thousand ridiculous ideas which end in a wedding”, written “with a consummate mastery of intrigue”. The music, sent to Mantua to Striggio, has also disappeared. |
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