Antonia Bembo

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Antonia Padoani Bembo (* around 1640 in Venice , † around 1720 in Paris ) was an Italian composer and singer.

Life

Antonia Bembo was the daughter of the doctor Giacomo Padoani (1603–1666) and Diana Pareschi (1609–1676) and the most gifted student of Francesco Cavalli . In 1659 she married the noble Lorenzo Bembo. Before 1676 she moved to Paris after separating from her husband. There she sang to Louis XIV , who granted her a pension and an apartment in the “Petite Union Chrétienne des Dames de Saint-Chaumont”, a religious community. While she appeared mainly as a singer during the first period of her stay in France, she later devoted herself exclusively to composition. She was a contemporary of Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre .

Six handwritten volumes of Bembo's music are in the Bibliothèque nationale de France and have been handed down there as Produzioni armoniche . Most of them were dedicated to King Louis XIV. They contain certain autobiographical elements that have also been confirmed by other sources. She learned from Francesco Cavalli and Barbara Strozzi . From 1654 she composed in all important genres of her time. She wrote operas , secular and ecclesiastical cantatas, “petits” and “grands” motets . Her work is a mixture of the French and Italian styles of the second half of the 17th century. She used the virtuoso elements of the Italian style as well as the French dance forms. A large part of her works is written for soprano with continuo accompaniment . She composed her opera L'Ercole Amante (1707) to a libretto by Francesco Buti .

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personal data
SURNAME Bembo, Antonia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bembo, Antonia Padoani (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian composer and singer of the Baroque era
DATE OF BIRTH around 1640
PLACE OF BIRTH Venice
DATE OF DEATH around 1720
Place of death Paris