Alongside the opening of the first public opera houses in Venice in the 1630s, the early seventeenth century also witnessed the appearance of another new if rather fragile and unusual phenomenon—that of the woman singer, well known for her public performances, who at the same time embarked upon a career as a composer. One of the earliest and most prolific was Barbara Strozzi, yet for all her contemporary fame (based upon her musical talents while being spiced with more than a hint of notoriety), we have virtually no reliable information about her life beyond the usual conventionalized tributes to her beauty and to her voice. In the end we return to her music, more than 80 cantatas and arias, nearly all of which were published during her lifetime.
Musica Secreta have made an interesting selection of these virtually unknown songs, and perform them on this disc with a delicate understanding of their bittersweet character. The singers have a good sense of style, they also produce an exquisite and well-balanced sound, which is deployed with all the flexibility necessary to exploit all the musical capital from Strozzi's emotionally wide-ranging language. Pronunciation is some times a little polite and anglicized, and there is occasionally some roughness of intonation. But in the end the performances are notable for the sensitive way in which they catch that overall mood of frustrated or unhappy love that lies at the core of these songs. The accompaniments are delicate and alert.'