Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Deus in adiutorium, versicle & response for 8 voices & continuo
2. Psalm 109: Dixit Dominus, for 8 voices & continuo
3. Concinant linguae, antiphon (motet) for voice & continuo
4. Psalm 112: Laudate pueri primo, for 8 voices & continuo
5. O quam bonus es, motet for 2 voices & continuo
6. Ne timeas, Maria, antiphon
7. Psalm 126: Nisi Dominus, for 8 voices & continuo (SalmI a otto, 1650), Op. 3
8. Venimus in altitudinem maris, for 2 voices & continuo
9. Psalm 126: Nisi Dominus, for 8 voices & continuo (SalmI a otto, 1650), Op. 3
10. O gloriosa domina, motet (antiphon) for 3 voices & continuo

Disc 2:

1. Isaiah 7:14-15, capitulum for voice
2. Angelus Domini, in mode 8 (GR. 202)
3. Ave maris stella, hymn for chorus & organ
4. Gabriel Angelus, antiphon in mode 7 (Liber Usualis 1417)
5. Magnificat primo, for 8 voices & continuo
6. Quid, miseri, quid faciamus?, motet for 4 voices & continuo
7. Collect
8. Surgamus omnes, motet for 2 voices & continuo
9. Fidelium anim�, versicle & response for 8 voices & continuo

Disc 3:

1. Salmi Bizarri: Cozzolani and the Music of Milanese Convents, spoken text: [Part 1]
2. Salmi Bizarri: Cozzolani and the Music of Milanese Convents, spoken text: [Part 2]
3. Salmi Bizarri: Cozzolani and the Music of Milanese Convents, spoken text: [Part 3]
4. Salmi Bizarri: Cozzolani and the Music of Milanese Convents, spoken text: [Part 4]
5. Salmi Bizarri: Cozzolani and the Music of Milanese Convents, spoken text: [Part 5]
6. Salmi Bizarri: Cozzolani and the Music of Milanese Convents, spoken text: [Part 6]
7. Salmi Bizarri: Cozzolani and the Music of Milanese Convents, spoken text: [Part 7]
8. Salmi Bizarri: Cozzolani and the Music of Milanese Convents, spoken text: [Part 8]
9. Salmi Bizarri: Cozzolani and the Music of Milanese Convents, spoken text: [Part 9]
10. Salmi Bizarri: Cozzolani and the Music of Milanese Convents, spoken text: [Part 10]
11. Salmi Bizarri: Cozzolani and the Music of Milanese Convents, spoken text: [Part 11]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #206487 in Music
• Released on: 2001-12-15
• Number of discs: 3
• Format: Box set
• Dimensions: .44 pounds

Review
Toccata: Alte Musik aktuell (Nov-Dec 2002) Cozzolani: Vespro della Beata Vergine Magnificat. Warren Stewart. Musica Omnia mo0103 (2001; 2 CD) Cozzolani: Messa Paschale Magnificat. Warren Stewart. Musica Omnia mo 0209 (2002; 69:38) Cozzolani: Marienvesper Aus Salmi a otto voci concertati (1650) und Concerti Sacri (1642). Orlando di Lasso Ensemble. Detief Bratschke Thorofon CTH 2461/2 (2000; 2 CD) A new star has appeared in the heaven of women composers. Chiara Margarita Cozzolani (1602-ca.1677) has earned a place of honour alongside Barbara Strozzi, Bianca Maria Neda, Isabella Leonarda, Rosa Giacinta Badalla and Elisabeth-Claude Jaquet de la Guerre. Despite her calling as a nun in Northern Italy, Cozzolani composed and, contrary to the usual anonymity of cloistered life, also sang. And her sometimes frankly avant-garde works made her something of a trend-setter in the world of church music. Outstanding features of Cozzolani's writing the virtuosity, the angelic part-writing have the capacity to stir, even shock the soul of the listener. The fame of the singing nuns of Milan was so great that the local church authorities (then, as now) sought to curtail their musical activities. Thank God (now, as then), unsuccessfully! The music of the nuns, which stretched in an unbroken line from the late 16th to the 18th centuries drew and enchanted multitudes of people. In her day, truly Milan's most celebrated women vocalists were located in the convent rather than the opera house. Only, in later years, would the Ospedele della Pieta in Venice match the musical fame of Santa Radegonda. Cozzolani s music as presented in these recordings is sensational. Rarely have I heard such boldness, melodic richness, sheer joy in experimentation and a fundamental spirituality. The psalms and concerti seem to be suspended somewhere between the usual church and secular styles, combining the best elements of each resulting in the highest level of compositional perfection. Fro --Toccata: Alte Musik aktuell (Nov-Dec 2002)

Review
San Francisco Chronicle reviews Cozzolani Vespers, January 13, 2002 Chiara Margarita Cozzolani: Vespro della Beata Vergine Magnificat Musica Omnia mo0103 Convent sounds that stir the soul Magnificat explores the music of one of the 17th century's greatest musical nuns Joshua Kosman San Francisco Chronicle, January 13, 2002 For the 17th century music lover visiting or living in Italy, courts and cathedrals were all very well. But the most famously resplendent music-making of the era took place within the convent. Behind the walls of dozens of convents in every major Italian city were learned, highly trained nuns who wrote and performed music of the utmost virtuosity and sophistication. We're not talking "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" here. Getting that music out of history and into the ears of contemporary listeners, though, has been a slow process, requiring the combined efforts of musicologists and pioneering performers like conductor Warren Stewart and his early music ensemble Magnificat. Next weekend, Magnificat will continue its exploration of the music of one of the 17th century's greatest musical nuns, Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, with three performances of her "Mass of the Blessed Virgin." And to judge by last year's renditions of Cozzolani's music for the Vespers service -- now captured on a gorgeous new CD on the Musica Omnia label -- this promises to be music of unparalleled beauty and depth. "It's music that doesn't simply sing itself -- you have to pull it off the page," Stewart says of Cozzolani's writing for eight female voices. "It alternates between flashy solo stuff and passages for the full octet. For the singers, it's like playing a concerto one minute and a string quartet the next, and it's not an easy combination." Clearly, though, Cozzolani had singers at her disposal in the Milanese convent of Santa Radegonda who could pull it off. In fact, performances at the convent -- which seem, oddly enough, to have been open to outsiders -- were among the chief a --San Francisco Chronicle

Customer Reviews

I listen to this every day...
Jennifer Ellis's voice is sublime. All the voices are delightful. This is my favorite CD and I listen to it every day. It's refreshing and inspiring to me. Especially fabulous are Track 7 on the 1st CD and Track 6 on the 2nd CD. Thank you, Warren Stewart, for making this CD.

A Glimpse of Heaven
I will resist my inveterate wordiness, and cut to the chase: On the evidence of these splendid performances, Maria Chiara Cozzolani must rank as one of the greatest composers of the early Baroque. I would not hesitate to second the opinion (see review above) that this selection of vesper psalms and sacred concerti is fully the equal--in creativity and euphoric splendor--of Monteverdi's celebrated "Vespers of 1610." Cozzolani is a real find. If you enjoy the Venetian polychoral idiom, do not hesitate to obtain this set, which features singing of amazing virtuosity from an all-female vocal ensemble plus (engagingly realized) continuo. First-rate recording, excellent notes, and generous bonus track on second CD containing a fine scholarly presentation on Cozzolani and her context by the ensemble's director.

This is one of the most extraordinary recordings of early baroque music that I have heard. It is sheer joy from beginning to end. Though ordinarily a reserved Anglican, I enjoy something of a Pentecostal experience whenever I listen to this music! You will, too, when you hear Cozzolani--whatever your religious background. Urgently recommended. Give copies away to your friends and neighbors; go out into the highways and byways. . . .

Voices Behind the Choir Screen
Have you ever wished that Claudio Monteverdi had written TWO Vespers of the Blessed Virgin in the year 1620? Well, of course he didn't; he had other projects. Chiara Margarita Cozzolani's Vespers, as reconstructed here from two publications of her motets, seem nonetheless to be the the next best thing. Cozzolani can be imagined as Monteverdi's musical daughter. She may well have been the most outstanding woman composer of the Baroque.

Cozzolani spent all of her long adult life in the convent of Santa Radegonda, across the way from the Cathedral of Milan. The musical skills of her sister nuns were acclaimed throughour Europe; crowds gathered in the open portion of their church, the chiesa esteriore, to listen to the musical services through the choir grate without ever beholding the singers. As abbess, Cozzolani guided her 'house' successfully through an attack by the fanatic Archbishop Alfonso Lita, who wanted to suspend the nuns' artistic musical activities.

This performance of the Vespers, on two CDs, includes both the plainchant and Cozzolani's polyphonic motets, as would have been the case in the 1640s and as is the artistic standard of such performances today. The third CD is a seventeen minute 'lecture' by director Warren Stewart concerning Cozzolani and her musical world. Stewart has a splendid speaking voice; if he ever abandons music, he might wisely consider a career as a radio commentator. This short lecture will be of great interest to listeners who have begun to enjoy early Baroque music without "knowing" much about it.

The ensemble Magnificat is cellist Warren Stewart's creation entirely, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, employing the finest singers and instrumentalists of that community, drawing from the faculty and students of Stanford and UC Berkeley. Magnificant has thrilled Bay Area music lovers with three or four concert programs each year since 1989. I've been lucky enough to catch some of their performances live. This Vespers is surely the best CD Magnificat has issued, well sung by two choirs of women's voices and superbly conducted. I wouldn't hesitate to compare it to better-known full-time European ensembles in its musical impact.