Maria Xaveria Perucona & Chiara Margarita Cozzolani: Psalmen und Motetten aus italienischen Konventen (Gaude, Plaude!)

Featuring

Gudrun Schröfel
Lena Kutzner
Katharina Sternberg
Mareike Morr
Ania Wegrzyn
Mareike Braun

Hannoversche Hofkapelle
Mädchenchor Hannover
Maria Xaveria Perucona
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani

Did you know?

1/7

Performer Biography

The Hanover Girls' Choir, founded in 1952, is one of Germany's most renowned youth choirs, having won numerous international competitions and performed worldwide.

Cultural Impact

The nuns' singing, especially its extremely high range, symbolized the singing of angels for the congregation, and their religious ecstasy was a major draw for audiences.

Composition History

The Council of Trent's resolutions, enforced by leading clerics in Northern Italy, banned polyphonic music from liturgy, impacting the musical practices in convents.

Historical Context

The singing nuns of St. Radegonda in Milan, and other convents, embodied the power struggles between Northern Italian cities and Rome's religious leadership in the early Baroque period.

Compositional Technique

Cozzolani's works, such as 'Laudate pueri' and 'Beatus vir', show modern techniques like the use of 'cori spezzati' (double choirs) for spatial sound effects, placing them stylistically between the Gabrieli brothers and Vivaldi.

Interpretation

The polyphonic movements for female voices require an enormous vocal range, and the Hanover Girls' Choir focused on giving the low voices a specific polish to reconstruct the sound of Baroque voices.

Composer Biography

Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, a Benedictine nun, rose to become a charismatic composer and also served as prioress and abbess of St. Radegonda between 1620 and 1672.