español | français William Lawes Antonia Bembo: Baroque Women V Antonio Florio 10 CDs for a desert island : Paul Hillier Dowland´s Lachrimae Van Dyck   54 - 53 - 52 - 51 - 50 - 49 - 48 - 47 - 46 - 45 - 44 - 43 - 42 - 41 - 40 - 39 - 38 - 37 - 36 - 35 - 34 - 33 - 32 - 31 - 30 - 29 - 28 - 27 - 26 - 25 - 24 - 23 - 22 - 21 - 20 - 19 - 18 - 17 - 16 - 15 - 14 - 13 - 12 - 11 - 10 - 09 - 08 - 07 - 06 - 05 - 04 - 03 - 02 - 01 - ANTONIA BEMBO: BAROQUE WOMEN V By Claire Fontijn Thus begins Antonia Bembo’s cantata for soprano and basso continuo, Clizia, amante del sole, one of the vocal compositions found in her manuscript Produzioni armoniche, compiled at the turn of the 18th century and dedicated to King Louis XIV. The book begins with an autobiographical letter revealing that Bembo, a Venetian noblewoman, had left her family and everything behind to come to France. In the Ovidian tale taken up in this cantata, Helios the sun first loved the maiden Clytie and later scorned her affections, after which she metamorphosed into a sunflower so that she may show her devotion to him by following his light throughout the day. The message of Bembo’s cantata may be interpreted as a metaphor that cleverly drew a parallel between her status as the king’s admirer (Clytie) and the “Sun King” Louis XIV (Helios) and served to reinforce the power of the message of her dedicatory letter. There she wrote that she had been aware of the fame of King Louis XIV since childhood, so much so that she left Venice to appear before him. The large claims that she made here can be corroborated by a backward glance at her life in Venice many years before. Truly “far from her home land,” the Veneto, in France she found the musical career--first as a singer and later exclusively as a composer—that she had been unable to pursue in Venice. But “sickened by the stars, scorned by fortune”? Are these the words of Clytie or of Bembo herself? Biography Work catalogue Discography Goldberg Articles Order your copy of issue nº 6 now! ABOUT US | CONTRIBUTE   web map - home page - cover Legal warning Copyright 2003, Goldberg. info@goldberg-magazine.com