Among the few women composers whose music is still extant from the seventeenth century, the work of Milanese nun Chiara Margarita Cozzolani is a special case; she was the most prolific and gifted female musician of her time, a composer whose sacred music is of equal quality to that of her male contemporaries and capable of exceeding many of them. San Francisco's Magnificat, under the direction of Warren Stewart, has thus far done more work on Cozzolani's behalf than any other ensemble, and the Musica Omnia release Cozzolani ...
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Among the few women composers whose music is still extant from the seventeenth century, the work of Milanese nun Chiara Margarita Cozzolani is a special case; she was the most prolific and gifted female musician of her time, a composer whose sacred music is of equal quality to that of her male contemporaries and capable of exceeding many of them. San Francisco's Magnificat, under the direction of Warren Stewart, has thus far done more work on Cozzolani's behalf than any other ensemble, and the Musica Omnia release Cozzolani: Messa Paschale (Mass for Easter Day) is an ingenious reconstruction of a complete Easter service from Cozzolani. This is achieved through locating the correct chant incipits and winding them through a mass setting found in Cozzolani's Concerti Sacri (1642) with an Easter-themed motet, Maria Magdalene Stabat, with a solo part beautifully sung here by soprano Catherine Webster, added from Cozzolani's Psalmi (1650) to complete the cycle.Cozzolani: Messa Paschale is a highly enjoyable...
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