Francesca Caccini

Francesca Caccini, nicknamed "La Cecchina," was born in Florence, Italy, a daughter of Giulio Caccini, a composer and musician, and his first wife Lucia di Filippo Gagnolanti, a singer. She received a humanist education, studying Latin, Greek, modern languages and literature, and mathematics, as well as musical training from her father. She learned to sing and play keyboard, guitar, and harp. Her first recorded public performance was as a singer in the stage works her father composed in 1600 to celebrate the wedding of King Henri IV of France and Marie de Medici. In 1604, the family visited France, where Francesca was asked to stay at the French court; however, the Grand Duke of Florence appears to have refused and she returned to home to teach, perform and compose. In 1607, she joined the Medici court after the success of her Carnivale entertainment called La stiava. That year she married Giovanni Battista Signorini, a fellow court musician, with whom had a daughter. She served the Medici court as a teacher, singer, rehearsal coach, and composer of both chamber and stage music. She also continued to perform with the family musical ensemble until its breakup in 1611, and then put together one consisting of herself and her students, who included the Medici princesses and their ladies-in-waiting. By 1614 she was the court's most highly paid musician. In 1618, she published a collection of 36 solo songs and soprano/bass duets, Il primo libro delle musiche. In 1625, she composed an opera entitled La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina in honor of a visit from Crown Prince Wladislaw of Poland. At her peak, she was one of the best-known female composers and performers of the Baroque era. After her first husband died in 1626, she remarried to Tommaso Raffaelli, an aristocrat and landowner, and moved with him to his home in Lucca. She was widowed again in 1630, and returned to Florence to serve the Medici court once more. She left the service of the Medici in 1641, and disappeared from the public record after that.