Presenter(s): Natalie North—Percussion Performance and Music Theory
Faculty Mentor(s): Holly Roberts
Session 3: Beyond a Melody
In the second-half of the sixteenth century, the Council of Trent declared nuns as political entities whose musical activities required strict oversight . These papal mandates utterly failed in Milan, as they were met with the fiery opposition of Milanese nuns whose music would remain as heralding feats of their communities . In this project, I explore the music and life of Chiara Margarita Cozzolani (1602–78), a seventeenth-century nun and composer at the Milanese Benedictine convent, Santa Radegonda . In 1996, Robert Kendrick’s groundbreaking monograph (Celestial Sirens, Oxford University Press) immensely detailed the biographical and musical accounts of early modern women religious . For over twenty years, few scholars have continued this important work . Minimal scholarship has investigated how the backgrounds of Milanese nuns affected their long lasting legacies while living in cloistered convents . I contend that Cozzolani’s musical contribution would not have been celebrated during her lifetime had it not been for her entrance into the monastery as a member of Milanese nobility, during a time in which local clergy allowed women religious more artistic freedom . Additionally, I argue that Cozzolani’s position as maestra di cappella (choirmaster) of Santa Radegonda afforded her the unique privilege to perform, print, and preserve her music which ensured her legacy as a formidable composer in a field usually reserved for men . Support for my argument comes from the lack of extant biographies of Cozzolani’s female contemporaries that are without extraordinary upbringings . Had it not been for her fortunate happenstances, would Cozzolani’s music survive today?