Vittoria Archilei (La Romanina) (''

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

'' 1582 – 1620) was an Italian singer, dancer, and

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

nist. She was born Vittoria Concarini, but in 1582 married Antonio Archilei, a composer and lutenist. She was in the service of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, along with

Emilio de' Cavalieri Emilio de' Cavalieri (c. 155011 March 1602), or Emilio dei Cavalieri, the spellings "del" and "Cavaliere" are contemporary typographical errors, was an Italian composer, producer, organist, diplomat, choreographer and dancer at the end of th ...

, who was her mentor. In 1588 she went with her husband and Cavalieri to the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Muge ...

court in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, where she became "one of the most famous singers of her time" (Grove). She is recorded as singing at many court entertainments and weddings up until 1620, and was in the service of the Medici her whole career. Many composers wrote for her, including Sebastian Raval and Luca Marenzio, as well as, of course, her husband and Cavalieri. Giulio Caccini and

Jacopo Peri Jacopo Peri (20 August 156112 August 1633), known under the pseudonym Il Zazzerino, was an Italian composer and singer of the transitional period between the Renaissance and Baroque styles, and is often called the inventor of opera. He wrote the ...

claimed that she had sung their music, in order to help their claims to supremacy in composition, as well as to being the best writers in the ''

seconda prattica Seconda pratica, Italian for "second practice", is the counterpart to prima pratica and is sometimes referred to as Stile moderno. The term "Seconda pratica" first appeared in 1603 in Giovanni Artusi's book ''Seconda Parte dell'Artusi, overo Delle i ...

'' style. Sigismondo d'India also wrote of her skill in singing. She apparently sang in the new style, including many ornaments and ''passaggi''. She sang with

Francesca Caccini Francesca Caccini (; 18 September 1587 – after 1641) was an Italian composer, singer, lutenist, poet, and music teacher of the early Baroque era. She was also known by the nickname "La Cecchina" , given to her by the Florentines and probably a ...

and

Settimia Caccini Settimia Caccini (6 October 1591 – , Italy) was a well-known Italian singer 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 mu ...

in an imitation of the '' concerto delle donne'' in Florence for a period.

References

*H. Wiley Hitchcock, Tim Carter. "Vittoria Archilei", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', ed. L. Macy (accessed May 20, 2006)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). Italian women singers 16th-century births 17th-century deaths 17th-century Italian actresses Italian stage actresses 17th-century Italian singers Place of birth missing {{Italy-singer-stub