Settimia Caccini

Settimia Caccini (6 October 1591 – , Italy) was a well-known Italian soprano and composer during the 1600s, being one of the first women to have a successful career in music. Caccini was highly regarded for her artistic and technical work with music. She came from a family of well-known composers and singers, with her father being Giulio Caccini and her sister Francesca Caccini. Settimia Caccini was less well known as a composer because she never published her own collection of works. Instead, nine works are attributed to her in two manuscripts of secular songs. Settimia was known much more for her talent as a singer, and she performed for nobility with the Caccini family consort and as a soloist. Coming from a musical family, she was able to lead herself to her own fame and success.

Life Settimia Caccini was born on 6 October 1591, in Florence, Italy. Her father was a famous and popular composer and a pioneer in monodic music. At a young age her father taught her about music and composition. Her mother, Lucia Gagnolanti, was a singer as well, but died when Caccini was young. Caccini was the youngest child of three. Her sister Francesca also became quite a renowned composer, and she had an older brother, Pompeo Caccini, who was a singer. Growing up in a household of musicians led her to learn and master music at such a young age that it later led to her fame and her own success (it was common among families to pass an entire career to each member of the family).

Her father Giulio was employed by the Medici family, who ruled over much of Florence. Giulio passed down much of his career in to his family; he involved them in his music and even formed a singing family band. While working there Giulio was introduced to the concerto delle donne, a group of professional female singers hired by the court of Ferrara. Both Caccini and Francesca sang soprano. In 1600, the sisters sang in their father's opera Il rapimento di Cefalo for the wedding of Maria de' Medici and Henry IV of France. During all of her success Caccini was offered many marriage proposals and employment offers, one being from the court of Mantua and from Enzo Bentivoglio in Rome, which she declined and in the same year they both became employed by the Medici.

Eight of Caccini's compositions survived, all of which are accompanied Italian monody. These pieces of music have expressive melodies and are usually performed by single singers with basso continuo accompaniment, perfect for her to sing for herself. These were a very popular style of Italian monody. Some of her arias are now published as piano arias, such as this book 4 Arias. Her most famous piece that was published was a 3-line aria called Gia sperai non spero hor piu. It was published in a 17th-century collection of historic music.