Donna Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana
Born: 3 July 1590
Died: 7 May 1662
BIOGRAPHY MUSIC RECORDINGS SOURCES
Italian composer, singer, and organist, Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana, was born in Bologna to Ludovico Vizzana and Isabetta Bombacci and entered the Camaldolese convent of Santa Christina, Bologna, after her mother died in 1598. She adopted the religious name Donna Lucrezia Orsina (or Ursula) in the convent, where she likely learned music from her aunt, Camilla Bombacci, an organist, and Ottavio Vernizzi, a music director.
At Santa Christina della Fondazza, nuns strove to maintain a level of music performance equalling the quality found outside the convent. While at Santa Christina, Vizzana was likely influenced by the music of Monteverdi, and wrote 20 motets, mostly for 1 or 2 sopranos with basso continuo. She published Componimenti musicali de motetti concertati a 1 e più voci, the only published musical collection by a nun from Bologna. Her pieces were usually written for one or two voices and were a compositional contrast to the other stile moderno works performed at the convent. Her unique music contained vocal ornamentation, declamatory phrasing, both unprepared and unresolved dissonance, and register leaps. The subject matter of her motets included feast days at the convents, Christ as the redeemer and savior or spouse, and even the bureaucratic conflicts taking place within Santa Christina convent.
It is believed that ill health and clashing between the convent and the diocese, which in part was caused by music being performed by nuns, ended Vizzana’s musical career. Some even claim that she became mentally incapacitated due to the stress caused by these political issues.