Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-kwt9d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T05:43:09.008Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 4 - Antonia Padoani Bembo

from Part I - The “Exceptional” Woman

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2026

Wendy Heller
Affiliation:
Princeton University, New Jersey
Get access

Summary

Antonia Padoani Bembo and Barbara Strozzi both studied music with Francesco Cavalli. Bembo’s career apparently began when she was a young singer in Cavalli’s La Calisto and it lasted into her 70s, when she completed, among other compositions, a five-act opera and motets based on the complete penitential psalms. This chapter lists the pieces from her first book, Produzioni armoniche, that may have been composed during the years that she lived in Venice (c. 1640–77), when perhaps she came under the influence of Barbara Strozzi. All of Bembo’s manuscripts are preserved at the Paris Bibliothèque nationale and date from the years that she lived in France (1677–c.1720). In addition to the aforementioned works, these include sacred and secular music for three- and five-voice choir with accompaniment. In Paris, Bembo received support from King Louis XIV to live in a women’s community known as the “Petite Union Chrétienne.”

Information

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×