女中豪杰（四）

小琼：今天我们来研究一下历史，特别是一位巴洛克时期的杰出女性作曲家！要探讨的人物是弗兰切斯卡·卡契尼，1587年生于佛罗伦萨，是朱利奥·卡契尼（1551～1618）的女儿。

小薇：卡契尼这个姓氏我很熟悉。朱利奥·卡契尼是佛罗伦萨文艺俱乐部的成员。他和贾科波·佩里（既是他的合作伙伴也是对手）一起创作了《优丽狄茜》（1600），这也是迄今为止第一部音乐完整保留下来的歌剧，比蒙特威尔第的《奥菲欧》早了7年。

小琼：我们继续谈谈弗兰切斯卡。你可以想象得到，卡契尼家族侍奉贵族，在当时属于有文化的专业阶层。弗兰切斯卡小小年纪就在美第奇宫廷和父亲一起演奏音乐。最早记载她的演出是在1602年。

小薇：所以她是位专业的音乐家。当时弗兰切斯卡还做过些什么呢？

小琼：她父亲死后，她继续在美第奇宫廷担任教师、歌手和作曲家。据记载，她是1614年美第奇宫廷薪酬最高的音乐家——那时她只有27岁！

小薇：我们有她所创作的歌剧资料吗？

小琼：她创作了约20部作品，不过大都和其他早期巴 作品一样失传了。我们只知道它们的标题以及一些首演时的历史记载，仅此而已。早在1607年（她20岁的时候）她就开始为舞台作品（芭蕾、话剧、歌剧等）创作音乐，但唯一留存下来的完整歌剧，是1625年首演的《鲁杰罗逃离阿尔辛娜的小岛》。

小薇：我在网上找到了一些演出录音。最近的是麦吉尔歌剧院（来自加拿大麦吉尔大学）2019年演出视频。这是一部气氛轻松的喜剧，改编自阿里奥斯托的《疯狂的奥兰多》，剧中角色有女巫和被囚禁的恋人。

小琼：弗兰切斯卡比她的两任丈夫都长寿。她的第二任丈夫是来自卢卡（两个多世纪后的1858年，普契尼在这里出生）的托马索·拉法埃利。拉法埃利1630年在卢卡去世后，卡契尼本想回佛罗伦萨继续侍奉美第奇宫廷，但她的计划停滞了几年。

小薇：那时的情况正如现在一样，当地有一场瘟疫使得任何人都无法远行。

小琼：等到1634年，弗兰切斯卡才得以返回佛罗伦萨。在那里她担任音乐教师，并侍奉美第奇公主，一直到1640或1641年。没有任何记载告诉我们她确切的去世时间。

Joan： Today I want to delve into history， specifically highlighting a prominent woman composer in Baroque opera！ The person in question is Francesca Caccini. Born in 1587 in Florence， she was the daughter of Giulio Caccini （1551–1618）.

Valery： I certainly recognize the name Caccini. Giulio Caccini was a member of the Florentine Camerata. Along with Jacopo Peri （both a collaborator and rival）， Caccini created the first opera， Euridice （1600）， seven years before Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo.

Joan： Let’s get back to Francesca. As you can imagine， the Caccini family served nobility and thus belonged to the cultured， professional class. Francesca， even at a young age， performed music with her father in the Medici court. The earliest record of her performing was 1602.

Valery： So she was a professional musician. What else did she do during those early years？

Joan： Even after her father’s death， she continued to serve in the court as a teacher， singer and composer. Records show that in 1614 she was the highest paid musician in the Medici court—and she was only 27！

Valery： Do we have information on the operas she wrote？

Joan： As with many early Baroque works， most of her 20 or so works are lost. We only know their titles and some historical circumstances of various premieres，nothing else. She began contributing music to stage works （ballet， plays， operas） as early as 1607 （when she was 20）， but the only complete opera that has survived， La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina， dates from 1625.

Valery： I checked online and found a few recordings. Most recently， Opera McGill （from McGill University in Canada） performed this opera in 2019. This is a light-hearted comedy based on an episode of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso involving sorceresses and imprisoned lovers.

Joan： Francesca Caccini outlived two husbands； the second was the nobleman Tommaso Raffaelli from Lucca （the same city where Giacomo Puccini was born more than two centuries later， in 1858）. After Raffaelli died in 1630， Caccini intended to move back to serve the Medici court in Florence， but her plans stalled for a few years.

Valery： Just like what we are experiencing in the world today—there was a plague in the region that made travel impossible！

Joan： She had to wait until 1634 before returning to Florence. There she worked as a music teacher and served the Medici princesses until 1640 or 1641. We have no records of when she died.