Barbara was born in Venice on 6th August, 1619, of Isabella Garzoni, servant and designated heiress of Giulio Strozzi. Was she Strozzi’s daughter? This was not attested to on the baptismal certificate, but everything leads one to believe that this was the case. In 1628, Giulio designated her (under the name of Barbara Valle) as his heiress in case of the sudden decease of her mother. In his last will, he nominated her his “figliuola elettiva”. Finally, in the collection Le Veglie de’signori Unisoni, recording the meetings at Strozzi’s home, Barbara, the dedicatee, was officially referred to under the name Strozzi.

Whatever the truth of her parentage, Barbara had the status of an adopted and loved daughter. She received a complete musical training from Francesco Cavalli. In 1635, Nicolo Fontei, a poet who was later a member of the Unisoni, dedicated a collection of songs to the “virtuosissima cantatrice.” Through contact with the members of the Strozzi academy, Barbara learned at the same time the art of prosody and that of singing, and became imbued with the immense literary culture of the dilettantes.

In 1644, Barbara published her first book of madrigals, for two to five voices, dedicated to Vittoria delle Rovere, grand duchess of Tuscany, on texts by Giulio Strozzi. In 1651, there followed a second volume of Cantate, arie et duette, dedicated to Ferdinand II of Austria and Eleanor of Mantua for their wedding. The third volume, 11 Cantate, ariete a una, due e tre voce, was published in 1652. Volume 5 is a collection of sacred music, Sacri musicali affetti (1653), containing 14 compositions for solo voice and continuo, dedicated to Anne of Austria. Only one of these concerti is for liturgical use, the Salve Regina. Volumes 6 (1657) and 7 (1659) are collections of cantatas and arias a voce sola. The eighth and final volume is soberly entitled Arie. And volume 4? Mentioned by Fétis, under the title Cantate a voce sola, it is lost, and it has not been proved that it ever existed. Other compositions are included in anthologies published in the second half of the 17th century.

This intense compositional activity makes Barbara Strozzi the first writer of cantatas of the entire 17th century. The influence of her master, Cavalli, is evident in the madrigals, which also reveal a proximity to recitar cantando, and the adventure of bel canto. Astonishingly free and inventive in the formal treatment of her compositions, but always controlled, her style is highly dramatic, drinking from the same source as the texts. Her training as a singer shows through in a melodic intuition of great purity, and in her ornamental flamboyance.

Inexplicably neglected by the majority of performers and publishers, Barbara Strozzi is the ideal and burning emanation of Venetian creative effervescence in the 17th century.