Antonia Bembo

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Antonia Bembo (1640 –1720) was an Italian composer and singer. She was born in Venice and died in Paris. She was the daughter of Giacomo Padoani, a doctor, and married Lorenzo Bembo in 1659. She moved to Paris before 1676, to leave a bad marriage. There she sang for Louis XIV. Louis granted her a pension and housing at Petite Union Chrétienne des Dames de Saint Chaumont, a religious community. 

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Six volumes of Bembo's music survive in manuscript in six volumes at the Bibliothèque nationale de France as the Produzioni armoniche, most of them dedicated to Louis XIV. She was taught by Francesco Cavalli and by 1654 wrote in all the major genres of the time, including opera, secular and sacred cantatas, and motets. Her work is a combination of French and Italian styles. She uses the virtuosic elements of Italian style of the period, as well as French dance forms. Much of her work is for soprano voice with continuo accompaniment. Her opera was L'Ercole amante (1707), to a libretto by Francesco Buti.