Which statement best describes Barbara Strozzi?

Which statement best describes Barbara Strozzi?

• A. She published secular vocal music in Venice and had a public career as a performer; she wrote mainly arias and cantatas.
• B. She was a Medici court musician who wrote madrigals and large-scale operas.
• C. She invented French ornamentation called agréments.
• D. She composed the English opera Dido and Aeneas.

Answer: (B)

Barbara Strozzi was a mid-17th-century Italian Baroque singer and composer based in Venice. She published secular vocal music for solo voice with continuo, and she built a public performing career through cantatas and other vocal works. That combination—publishing accessible vocal music in Venice and performing publicly as a solo vocalist—best describes her role and output. She wasn’t a Medici court musician, and she’s not known for writing madrigals or large-scale operas. She also didn’t invent French ornamentation called agréments, a device more associated with French Baroque practice. And the English opera Dido and Aeneas was composed by Purcell, not Strozzi.

Barbara Strozzi was a mid-17th-century Italian Baroque singer and composer based in Venice. She published secular vocal music for solo voice with continuo, and she built a public performing career through cantatas and other vocal works. That combination—publishing accessible vocal music in Venice and performing publicly as a solo vocalist—best describes her role and output. She wasn’t a Medici court musician, and she’s not known for writing madrigals or large-scale operas. She also didn’t invent French ornamentation called agréments, a device more associated with French Baroque practice. And the English opera Dido and Aeneas was composed by Purcell, not Strozzi.