Description
This recording presents works composed by and for Italian nuns that might have been heard or perfomed at Christmas time. They call for a great variety of forces ranging from solo voices to double choirs of both singers and instruments.
The nun composers represented include the Ursulines Maria Xaveria Perucona and Isabella Leonarda, author of 20 collections of vocal and instrumental music; Chiara Margarita Cozzolani and her conventual sister Rosa Giacinta Badalla from the renowned Milanese convent of Santa Radegonda; and Caterina Assandra, composer and dedicatee of various collections. The CD also features works by eminent male composers (Massenzio, Rota, Reina, Speer et al.) which are dedicated to these remarkable cloistered musicians.