| Summary: | "Aristocratic women exerted unprecedented political and social influence in Florence throughout the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. During this period, convents flourished and female members of the powerful Medici family governed the city for the first and only time in its history. These women also helped shape the city's artistic life, commissioning works of music, art, and theater that were inscribed with their own concerns and aspirations. Echoes of Women's Voices examines the patronage of individuals and institutions that have remained, until now, largely neglected by scholars."
"Joining archival research with telling analysis of significant examples of music, art, and drama, Kelley Harness challenges the prevailing view that Florence saw a political and artistic decline during this period. She argues that the female domination of these years brought forth artistic patronage that was both continuous and well-conceived. And the interdisciplinary breadth of evidence she uses to support her argument makes Echoes of Women's Voices a valuable contribution to women's studies, musicology, and the history of arts patronage."--Jacket.
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