She is best remembered for creating the title role in Marco da Gagliano's La Dafne; one of the earliest surviving operas.
[1] While little is known about her life after she arrived in Mantua, it is presumable that she sang regularly at the court and that Monteverdi wrote many pieces of music for her.
[1] The title role in Claudio Monteverdi's opera L'Arianna was written for Martinelli, but she died prior to its premier.
[6] The Duke had a marble tomb built for her and ordered that Carmelite Priests should celebrate Mass and Offices in her memory every year on the anniversary of her death.
[7] At the request of the Duke, Monteverdi composed a setting of a sestina written in her memory by Scipione Agnelli, a Mantuan bishop.