Sulpitia Lodovica Cesis was born on 15 May 1577
in Modena, Italy. She was an Italian composer as well as a well-regarded lutenist. Her father was Count Annibale Cesis and he gave 300 pieces of gold for her dowry when she entered the
Augustinian convent in Modena in 1593. She was a nun at the convent of Saint Geminiano in Modena, although some sources report it as Saint Agostino. Her only known work is a volume of ''Motetti Spirituali'', which she wrote in 1619.
Aspects of ''Motetti Spirituali''
It is composed of 23
motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...
s for 2–12 voices. Although most of the motets are written in Latin, four are written in Italian. Some scholars believe that the piece was composed earlier than 1619 because of its style. Unlike her contemporaries, her work contains indications for instruments such as cornetts, trombones, violones, and archviolones. Her 12-voice works are also especially different from the 2-3 voiced works popular in the 17th century
A bass part exists as well, which is interesting considering that this music was written for a group of cloistered nuns. One explanation is that this part was for the organ or viola da gamba. Another is that low parts may have been sung an octave higher than written, as she wrote this direction for some sections.
Cesis dedicated her collection to another nun of the same name, Anna Maria Cesis, who lived at the Convent of Santa Lucia in Rome. Both Sulpitia Cesis's and Anna Maria Cesis's convents were well known for their music.
Sulpitia Cesis is mentioned in
Giovanni Battista Spaccini's chronicle of life in Modena, as the composer of a motet which was performed at the doors of
San Geminiano in 1596 during a religious
procession
A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner.
History
Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...
.
[Bowers, pg 120]
Example of Sulpitia Cesis's work
"Mary Magdalena et altera Maria"
This song was not intended as a congregational hymn and is an excerpt from Matthew 28:1-7
Translation:
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary/
went to the palace of the sepulcher.
It is Jesus whom you seek./
He is not here;/
he is risen as He said, and goes before you to Galilee./
There you will see Him.
For this text, "Cesis inserts melismatic phrases, underlining the name of Mary Magdalene and depicting the word ''surrexit'' (He is risen), in an otherwise dominantly homophonic texture and affectively uses harmonic suspension and dissonance to emphasize the miracle of Jesus' disappearance (''Non est hic'', "He is not there")".
Motet titles
# Hodie gloriosus
# Cantate Domino
# Io so ferito si
# Jubilate Deo
# Il mio piu vago sole
# Pecco Signore
# Salve gemma confessorum
# O Crux splendidior
# Cantemus Domino
# Angelus ad pastores
# Benedictus Dominus
# Dulce nomen Jesu Christe
# Stabat Mater
# Hic est beatissimus
# Quest'è la bella
..# O Domine Jesu Christe
# Sub tuum praesidium
# Maria Magdalena
# Ecce ego Joannes
# Puer qui natus est
# Magi videntes stellam
# Ascendo ad Patrem
# Parvulus filius
Further reading
*''Three motets'' ed. Candace Smith, Bryn Mawr, Pa. :; Hildegard Pub. Co., 1996
*Schleifer, Martha Furman and Glickman, Sylvia. ''Women composers: music through the ages v. 1. Composers born before 1599'' New York : G.K. Hall, c1996-
Cappella Artemisia CD recording of all 23 motets 2003.
References
* "Sulpitia Cesis", ''
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 September 13, 2006)
grovemusic.com(subscription access).
*''Women Making Music: the Western Musical Tradition, 1150–1950'' ed. J. Bowers and J. Tick. "The Emergence of Women Composers in Italy, 1566–1700" by Jane Bowers. Urbana, IL. 1986.
* "Cesis, Sulpitia." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 6 Feb. 2011
.
* https://web.archive.org/web/20110708115034/http://www.cappella-artemisia.com/discography/572801
* http://www.stabatmater.info/cesis.htm
* http://www.hildegard.com/composer_detail.php?id=47
* https://books.google.com/books?id=XoXXjeuncjMC&dq=sulpitia+cesis&pg=RA1-PA48
*Smith, Candace (1996). Schleifer, Martha Furman; Glickman, Sylvia (eds.). ''Women Composers: Music Through the Ages.'' 1. New York: G.K. Hall. pp. 163-167.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cesis, Sulpitia
1577 births
Year of death missing
Italian Baroque composers
Italian lutenists
Italian Renaissance composers
Italian women classical composers