Modesty and the Singer

• In Event: Female Voices in Early Modern Europe: Power, Passion, Prophecy, and Performance

Abstract

Although hardly fulsome on the subject of female courtly decorum, Baldassare Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier is one of the most frequently invoked sources in discussions on the topic, used both in contemporary discourse and in modern scholarship to posit the ideal self-presentation of the early modern donna di palazzo. The Courtier’s brief description of female singing, though only a few lines long, has created an almost unassailable aesthetic for the female voice that has shaped our understanding of its function and reception in courtly culture, one that is often at odds with archival evidence of courtly practice. This paper puts Castiglione’s comments on the female voice back into context with the other modes of presentation included in his original discussion – dance and clothing. It further considers singing from the point of view of Classical public discourse, and its proscriptions on modesty for the model orator.

Author

• Laurie Stras, University of Southampton