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Artemisia Editions » Catalogue » Lombardy » Cozzolani: Two Christmas motets (NLO-01)

Chiara Margarita Cozzolani (1602 - c.1677) was active in one of the most celebrated ensembles of women musicians in early modern Italy: that of the Benedictine nuns of the convent of Santa Radegonda, located across the street from Milan Cathedral. Born in Milan to a well-off family, Cozzolani professed her vows at the monastery in 1620, and later served several times as prioress and abbess. She published four editions of sacred works between 1640 and 1650, though unfortunately not all of them are extant. The music presented here is taken from her largest collection: Salmi a otto voci concertati [...] motetti, et dialoghi a Due, Tre, Quattro, e Cinque voci, (Venice, 1650).

Christmas Eve, and its celebration of the birth of the Christ-Child, was an important date in the spiritual and liturgical life of the nuns. Quis audivit unquam tale?, for three voices, recounts the mystery of the Incarnation, portraying the marvel of Jesus’ birth and contrasting (through alternating solos and tutti sections) the poverty of the stable and of humanity in general with the majesty of divine glory. Gloria in altissimis Deo, for four voices, employs the popular form of the dialogue, contrasting the angels’ greeting against the shepherds’ joy, and ending with a virtual "stage direction" nine measures before the end (si vadi unitamente a poco a poco scemando la voce, quasi allontandosi; "here together little by little one lowers the voice, [so that it sounds] as if one were going away").

Quis audivit unquam tale? is originally scored for two sopranos and bass; in our edition for female voices the bass part has been transposed up an octave. In the original version of Gloria in altissimis Deo the voices of the angels are represented by two sopranos, while the shepherds are set as an alto and a tenor. In our women’s edition, both the lower voices have been transposed up an octave. Should there be a particularly low alto available (descending to a d), the tenor part could be sung as written.