Chiara Margarita Cozzolani facts for kids

Chiara Margarita Cozzolani (born November 27, 1602 – died around 1676–1678) was a talented Italian composer and singer from the Baroque period (a time in music history from about 1600 to 1750). She was also a Benedictine nun. She lived most of her adult life inside the Santa Radegonda convent in Milan, Italy. She even became the leader, or abbess, of the convent. Chiara Margarita Cozzolani was one of more than a dozen nuns in 17th-century Italy who published their sacred music.

Her Life and Music

Chiara Margarita Cozzolani was born in Milan, Italy, in 1602. She was the youngest daughter in a rich merchant family. She joined the convent and became a nun in 1620. When she took her vows, she added "Chiara" as her religious name.

Chiara Margarita Cozzolani wrote a lot of music. Her style often used repeating musical ideas and changed between different musical modes. Her duets and solos in her 1642 work, Concerti Sacri, followed the popular Lombard style of music. She published four main musical works between 1640 and 1650. Her Vespers, published in 1650, is probably her most famous piece. She also wrote a Paschal Mass. Sadly, her very first published work, Primavera di fiori musicali, is now lost.

Inside the Santa Radegonda convent, the nuns sang during important religious holidays. This music became very famous outside the convent walls. As the abbess of Santa Radegonda, Cozzolani stood up for the nuns' music. The Archbishop Alfonso Litta wanted to stop the nuns from performing music and having contact with the outside world. He wanted to change the convent rules.

However, a writer named Filippo Picinelli praised the nuns' music in his book from 1670. He wrote that the nuns of Santa Radegonda were "the best singers of Italy." He said they sounded like "white and melodious swans." He gave the highest praise to Donna Chiara Margarita Cozzolani. He called her "Chiara in name but even more so in merit."

Donna Chiara Margarita Cozzolani's name stops appearing in the convent's records after 1676. This means she likely died around 1676 or 1678. The first modern collection of her complete motets (short sacred musical pieces) was published in 1998. These pieces were for one to five voices and continuo (a type of musical accompaniment).

Her Musical Works

• Primavera di fiori musicali, for 1–4 voices and continuo, op. 1 (Milan 1640) (This work is lost)
• Concerti sacri, for 2–4 voices and continuo, op. 2 (Venice 1642)
• Scherzi di sacra melodia, for 1 voice and continuo op. 3 (Venice 1648) (The continuo part for this work is lost)
• Salmi à otto... motetti ei dialoghi, for 2–8 voices and continuo, op. 3 [sic] (Venice 1650)
• No, no no che mare, an aria (This song is lost)

See also

In Spanish: Chiara Margarita Cozzolani para niños