BIOGRAPHY    MUSIC   SOURCES

Few details of Caterina Benedicta Grazianini’s life are known, but it is likely that she became a canoness while living in Vienna, writing oratorios alongside Grimani, Rossi and Rachenau. Only two of her oratorios, performed during King Joseph I’s reign at the Imperial Court in Vienna, have survived. In 1705, San Gemigniano, vescovo e protettore di Modena was “sung before the Highness of Brunswick and Modena…. and wondrously received.”  Santa Teresa was written in a conventional style of alternating arias and recitatives, with an ensemble finale accompanied by continuo, harpsichord, and strings. Grazianini’s use of rhythm and the juxtaposition of the vocal line and the accompaniment add personality and strength to her characters.

Music

The following selections are recommended for vocal study and programming on recitals and concerts. Please note that this list may not constitute the entirety of the composer's output. 

Sources

Cusick, Suzanne. “Grazianini, Caterina Benedicta.” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. https://doi-org.libproxy.temple.edu/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.2020097

Glickman, Sylvia & Martha Furman Schleifer, editors. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, vol. 2. G.K. Hall and Co. 1996.

Glickman, Sylvia, & Martha Furman Schleifer, editors. From Convent to Concert Hall, A Guide to Women Composers. Greenwood Press, 2003.

Jackson, Barbara Garvey. Arias from oratorios by women composers of the eighteenth century, vol. 1. ClarNan Editions, 1987.

Sadie, Julie Ann, and Rhian Samuel. The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. W.W. Norton and Co. 1995.