Claudia Francesca Rusca (1593 – 6 October 1676) was an Italian composer, singer, and organist. She was a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

at the Umiliate

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

of St. Caterina in Brera. She learned music at home, before she professed her final vows at the convent. She probably wrote her ''Sacri concerti à 1–5 con salmi e canzoni francesi'' (

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, 1630) for use in the monastery and similar female institutions. The only known copy was thought to be destroyed in a fire at the

Biblioteca Ambrosiana The Biblioteca Ambrosiana is a historic library in Milan, Italy, also housing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Ambrosian art gallery. Named after Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, it was founded in 1609 by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, whose age ...

in 1943.Kendrick However,

International Music Score Library Project The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), also known as the Petrucci Music Library after publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, is a subscription-based digital library of public-domain music scores. The project uses MediaWiki software, and ...

has a facsimile available as well as modern editions of “Sacri concerti”.

References

*Robert L. Kendrick. "Claudia Rusca", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'', ed. L. Macy (accessed November 6, 2006)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). * Free scores by Claudia Rusca at the

Notes

Italian Baroque composers Italian women classical composers Italian women singers Italian classical organists 1593 births 1676 deaths 17th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns 17th-century Italian composers Italian organists Italian women organists 17th-century Italian women composers {{organist-stub