Emily Wilbourne’s Voice, Slavery, and Race in Seventeenth-Century Florence uncovers exciting new evidence for the study of race in early modern Europe. The book is interdisciplinary, interpreting primary sources ranging from account books, baptismal records, theater archives, and paintings to musical scores; this range will interest readers from a variety of humanities fields.
The first half (“Act I,” comprising seven “scenes” that culminate in the “Intermezzo Primo: Thinking from Enslaved Lives”) considers how music sung by or for—or, in some cases representing—racially marked “Others” codified racialized stereotypes. The second half (“Act II,” whose six scenes culminate in the “Intermezzo Secondo: Thinking from Giovannino Buonaccorsi’s Life”) explores the biography of a Black male soprano working under Medici patronage. While some readers may be concerned that juxtaposing musical representations that mock or exploit “Othered” identities with biographical narratives of Blackness results in uncomfortable conflations, the harsh reality is that for Buonaccorsi the...