Album

Chiara Margarita Cozzolani was a Milanese nun and the most conspicuous and prolific female composer of sacred music during the seventeenth century. The singing voices of the nuns of Cozzolani's order are spoken of in contemporary documents in the same exalted terms reserved for those who worked under Vivaldi's tutelage at the Ospedale della Pietà about 40 years after Cozzolani's passed into history. As singing leader, primary composer, and sometimes Mother Superior to the order, Cozzolani had a lot to do with their success, and her surviving output, while scant, takes us out of our time and back to the Convent of Santa Radegonda in which she held sway over the best musicians in Milan—and not a man among them. Cozzolani's music represents some of the most complex and rhythmically vibrant to be found from the 1640s, and that's saying a lot, as Monteverdi was still around for part of that time and the Rossis, Lawes, Cavalli, and Schütz were all at their peak of activity. Cozzolani can be heard to great advantage on Musica Omnia's Chiara Margarita Cozzolani: Vespro della Beata Vergine, featuring the San Francisco-based early music ensemble Magnificat under the direction of Warren Stewart.

Only two of Cozzolani's publications have survived, and these vesper settings are derived from both volumes; this disc is the first in a series in which Stewart and Magnificat hope to record Cozzolani's complete output. All of the pieces are presented with appropriate incipits of chant that relate to the compositions, which range from rolling, highly ornamented pieces for two voices up to dense double choruses of eight voices. The mere sound of the women's voices swelling up into large chords formed from diverse lines of polyphony is in itself exhilarating to listen to, and the vocalists pulling for Cozzolani here are from among some of the best in the early music business—Catherine Webster, Jennifer Ellis, Ruth Escher, and Andrea Fullington to name a few.

There are many moments in this collection that are as exciting as anything in the works of Hildegard, and far less conjecture in play as to the interpretation of the music. The set includes a useful third disc in which Stewart hits some of the high points in Cozzolani's oeuvre, presented in the manner of an informal radio program rather than a lecture-demonstration, and there is no extra charge for the presence of this disc. It is hard to see how those who already love Monteverdi, or Baroque vocal music of the seventeenth century, will want to resist Musica Omnia's Cozzolani: Vespro della Beata Vergine; however, it may also hold appeal for those whose enthusiasm runs to Hildegard, or to women composers in general. Cozzolani was unquestionably a breed apart from other composers, male or female, of her time or ours.

© Uncle Dave Lewis , All Music Guide

CD 1 of 3
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Deus in adiutorium (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
1	Deus in adiutorium (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3	2:28			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Missus est Gabriel, antiphon in mode 8 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
2	Missus est Gabriel, antiphon in mode 8	0:21			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Psalm 109: Dixit Dominus (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
3	Psalm 109: Dixit Dominus (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3	11:41			Album Only
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Concinant linguae (Concerti sacri, 1642), Op.2 Work Jennifer Lane Mezzo-Soprano, Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
4	Concinant linguae (Concerti sacri, 1642), Op.2	6:08			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Ave Maria (Antiphona, Modus I) Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
5	Ave Maria (Antiphona, Modus I)	0:21			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Psalm 112: Laudate pueri primo (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
6	Psalm 112: Laudate pueri primo (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3	6:58			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer O quam bonus es (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
7	O quam bonus es (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3	9:30			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Ne timeas, Maria, antiphon Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
8	Ne timeas, Maria, antiphon	0:31			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Psalm 121: Laetatus sum (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
9	Psalm 121: Laetatus sum (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3	6:47			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Venimus in altitudinem maris (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3 Work Andrea Fullington Soprano, Catherine Webster Soprano, Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
10	Venimus in altitudinem maris (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3	6:17			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Dabit ei Dominus, antiphon Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
11	Dabit ei Dominus, antiphon	0:19			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Nisi Dominus (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
12	Nisi Dominus (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3	5:10			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer O gloriosa domina (Concerti sacri, 1642), Op.2 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
13	O gloriosa domina (Concerti sacri, 1642), Op.2	4:53			$0.99
CD 2 of 3
Gregorian Chant Composer Isaiah 7 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
1	Isaiah 7	0:32			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Angelus Domini descendit, responsory in mode 3 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
2	Angelus Domini descendit, responsory in mode 3	1:26			$0.99
Giovanni Battista Fasolo Composer Ave maris stella, for chorus & organ (from Annuale, Venice, 1645) Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
3	Ave maris stella, for chorus & organ (from Annuale, Venice, 1645)	4:29			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Gabriel Angelus, antiphon for Magnificat Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
4	Gabriel Angelus, antiphon for Magnificat	0:35			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Magnificat primo (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
5	Magnificat primo (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3	8:55			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Quid, miseri, quid faciamus? (Concerti sacri, 1642), Op.2 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
6	Quid, miseri, quid faciamus? (Concerti sacri, 1642), Op.2	7:02			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Deus, Qui de Beatae Mariae, oratio Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
7	Deus, Qui de Beatae Mariae, oratio	1:20			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Benedicamus Domino Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
8	Benedicamus Domino	0:20			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Surgamus omnes (Concerti sacri, 1642), Op.2 Work Ruth Escher Soprano, Catherine Webster Soprano, Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
9	Surgamus omnes (Concerti sacri, 1642), Op.2	5:08			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Fidelium animae Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
10	Fidelium animae	0:52			$0.99
CD 3 of 3
Warren Stewart Composer Salmi Bizarrri: Cozzolani and the music of Milanese convents, with Warren Stewart (Lecture) Work 17:21 Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
1	No.1	0:55			$0.99
2	No.2	0:34			$0.99
3	No.3	0:59			$0.99
4	No.4	1:44			$0.99
5	No.5	0:33			$0.99
6	No.6	1:51			$0.99
7	No.7	3:14			$0.99
8	No.8	2:25			$0.99
9	No.9	2:12			$0.99
10	No.10	1:36			$0.99
11	No.11	1:18			$0.99