The pieces of music by Caccini demonstrate the Baroque characteristics well. For example, her first published work, "I1 primo libro delle musiche,"" was a collection of short vocal works written with basso continuo. A harpsichord, an instrument used in numerous Baroque pieces, often accompanied these works. Her pieces were written in a combination of keys. Most of her music is inspired by poetry, which she mainly wrote herself (I1, 1). "La Liberazione Di Rugiero,"" one of Caccini's more known pieces shows the complexity music could contain at this time. She increased the amount of ornamentation as the plot of this piece thickened. She not only used ornaments in this piece, but also notated every one of them (Gagnon, 1). As like many operas from later time periods, Caccini's opera contained many famous arias, a solo voice with an orchestral accompaniment in an opera (Forney and Machlis, A-6). She used melodies, rhythms, chord progressions, and the placement of trills carefully. By doing this she presented each character in the opera in his or her own unique way. .
Caccini's talented work proved that in the seventeenth century, women were composing music as well as men. Some even believe their music was better for the simple fact that not only were they talented composers, but they had to overcome many obstacles that men of this time never encountered. .
Lili Boulanger was another great female legend. In spite of her poor health and short life she managed to accomplish another first in history for women. She was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, for her musical compositions (Krull and Hewitt, 79). Boulanger was born into a French family in 1893. She, like Caccini, was born into a musically talented family. Her sister was Nadia Boulanger, another very talented woman composer. Lili Boulanger had the teaching guidance of her sister. Throughout her life, she suffered through many illnesses due to a weak immune system; she ended up dying of intestinal tuberculosis only twenty-five years later (Lili, 2).
