Francesca Caccini

Francesca Caccini was an Italian composer, singer and music teacher active in Florence from the early 17th century, whose work occupies the transition from the late Renaissance into the early Baroque. Her oeuvre includes secular songs, chamber pieces and stage music — notably the earliest known opera by a woman — characterised by monodic textures, madrigalian influences and theatrical experimentation linked to the musical life of the Medici court.