Isabella Leonarda
(1620-1704)

BARBARA GARVEY JACKSON

Isabella Leonarda was born in Novara, Italy, into a family of minor nobility. Little is known of her early life or her musical studies. Isabella took her vows at age sixteen, and she and some of her sisters were nuns in the convent of Sant’Orsola in Novara. Isabella may have been a student of Gasparo Casati, chapelmaster of the Novara cathedral, since her earliest known compositions appeared in a volume of Casati’s sacri concenti in 1640.

From the prefaces and title pages of the twenty volumes of music she subsequently published, it appears that Isabella served her order as an administrator—madre (Mother Superior) by 1686, madre vicaria in 1693, and consigliera (Counselor) in her last years. Since the Ursulines were a teaching order, it is possible that there was a school attached to the convent, but little is known of either the institution or its musical life. Many records were probably lost when the convent was closed in 1811. Two motets by Isabella Leonarda were dedicated to musical nuns of her own convent and two to nuns of other congregations. These nuns were probably singers, and the works may reflect their singing skills.

Leonarda’s publications include over 200 works, all for Church use, although only about a quarter of them are settings of liturgical texts. Her first published Mass was in Opus 4 (1674), together with several psalm settings. Opus 18 (1696), from which the following Kyrie and Crucifixus are drawn, contains three Masses. Leonarda also set litanies, Magificats, Marian antiphons (she had a special devotion to the Virgin and used a double dedication for each volume of her works—to the Virgin and to a human patron), responsories, a hymn, and a sequence. Most of her works were settings for one to four voices (often with concertato violins) of nonliturgical religious texts, many of which she may have written. They express a passionate religious devotion, usually to the Virgin. Opus 16 (1693) is entirely devoted to sonate da chiesa (“church sonatas”)—eleven trio sonatas and one solo sonata for violin and organ continuo. It is the first known publication of instrumental sonatas composed by a woman.

In accordance with regional practice, Leonarda set only the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo in her Masses, and not the Eucharistic portions of the Ordinary. Her style, which is similar to that of other north Italian contemporaries, is marked by an intense personal identification with the religious text. For example, in the Crucifixus portion of the Credo she marks a change of tempo or character in the middle of the sentence “Crucifixus etiam pro nobis.” The word “Crucifixus” is adagio and mournful in spirit, but the phrase “etiam pro nobis” is abruptly marked spiritoso, joyfully responding to the thought that the sacrifice was for us. The alternation continues, with text repetitions of the joyful phrase. Leonarda sometimes indicates dynamics—“et sepultus est” is marked piano. After the concluding words there is a meditative adagio Sinfonia, the last phrase of which is also marked piano.

Recording

Music for the Mass by Nun Composers. Messa Prima from Opus 18, Isabella Leonarda. Schola Cantorum of the University of Arkansas, Jack Groh, conductor. Leonarda LPI-115, 1982.

Modern Editions

“Ave Regina Caelorum” for SAT soli, mixed chorus (SATB), and continuo, edited by Stewart Carter. In Nine Centuries of Music by Women series. New York: Broude Bros., 1980.

Messa Prima from Opus 18 a 4 voci con violini (1696), edited by Barbara Garvey Jackson. Fayetteville, AR: ClarNan Editions, 1981.

Sonata Duodecima from Opus 16 (1693) for violin and continuo, edited by Barbara Garvey Jackson. Baroque Chamber Music Series, no. 16. Ottawa: Dovehouse Editions, 1983.

Selected Compositions, edited by Stewart Carter. Recent Research in Music of the Baroque. Madison: A-R Editions, forthcoming. Includes two concerted liturgical settings, four motets, and two sonatas.

Further Reading

Carter, Stewart Arlen. “The Music of Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704).” Ph.D. diss., Stanford University, 1981.

Giegling, Franz. “Leonarda, Isabella,” Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart VIII: 634.

Roberts, Rosemary. “Isabella Leonarda,” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians X: 337. Alphabetized under “Isabella.”

Messa Prima

Isabella Leonarda

Kyrie

Reprinted by permission of the publisher, Barbara Garvey Jackson, ClarNan Editions. 1981.

from the Credo