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6 Brilliant Italian Women Composers You Should Know

By Thea Fiore-Bloom, PhD

Imagine you’re alive in Europe in the 1600s.

And you’ve been born with the brain of a genius composer.

Painting by Ruebens of Maria Medici, who hired female composers — The Coronation of Maria de’ Medici around 1623 by Rubens.

But you happen to be female.

So, despite your brilliance, you wouldn’t be able to poke one tiny satin slippered toe inside a music school to study composition.

Unless you happened to live in Italy.

Seventeenth-century Italy seems to have been a kind of cosmic nursery where supernova female composers were born as well as heard.

For instance, one female Italian composer of the era wrote operas of such brilliance that the Medici contracted her to write for them and them alone.

In the same vein, another Italian genius of the era didn’t get married because she was too busy inventing the cantata.

So why don’t we know of these women?

And why isn’t their music wafting out over the airwaves of classical musical stations today?

Well, it seems like one big reason was that the music of the late 1600s was heard mostly in church.

And apparently, church leaders in the late 1600s silenced the voice of female composers when they insisted women obey Paul’s injunction in 1 Timothy in the bible.

This injunction was interpreted as forbidding women to speak, or even sing or play an instrument in church.

So, in other words, if your work couldn’t be played in the church, it probably wasn’t going to be heard anywhere else.

Since then, much of the music and memory of these Italian female composers has been forgotten.

However, we can certainly still reach out and give these women a hand up and out of historical oblivion by listening to what’s left of their celestial music.

The good news is that there has been a recent upsurge in the publication of their work.

As an illustration, I’ve included several tracks below.

You can listen to a track (or purchase an album) for each of the six mind-blowing Italian composers we’ll now meet, who were born between 1587 and the modern era.

How many of the following six composers have you heard of?

Great Italian Female Composers #1

Francesca Caccini (1587-1640)

Our first genius composer, Francesca Caccini, wrote acclaimed operas for the Italian Queen Maria de’ Medici.

Did you know the first Italian opera ever performed outside of Italy was Caccini’s 1625 masterwork La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina?

A music critic of the time commented that Caccini’s compositions for church and stage gave her listeners “a momentary experience of inhabiting the heavens.”

Few professionally published works of Caccini exist.

This is for reasons I’ll point out in a minute.

But here is one great opportunity to experience the foremost collection of her works available today: O Viva Rosa, 2010.

To appreciate our second composer, let’s examine the importance of nuns in musical history.

Great Italian Female Composers #2

Sister Vittoria Aleotti (c. 1575 – c. 1620)

Who were the most famous musicians of mid-Renaissance Milan?

Nuns.

How about four examples of brilliant composer-nuns?

Firstly, Claudia Sessa.

Secondly, Claudia Rusca.

Thirdly, Chiara Margarita Cozzolani.

Fourthly, Rosa Giacinta Badella.

But the nun to focus on above the rest in this era should be Vittoria Aleotti of Ferrara (aka Raphaella Aleotti.)

Aleotti lands at the top of almost everyone’s list of Italian musical masters who happened to wear a habit.

Give a listen to this seriously sublime disc of Aleotti’s music here: Nuns of San Vito, 2007.

We can’t talk about Baroque era nuns without mentioning the Baroque era “courtesans.”

Hence, our third composer will be the genius courtesan – Barbara Strozzi.

Great Italian Female Composers #3

“Courtesan Composer” Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677)

Several music scholars insist that Barbara Strozzi invented the cantata form in Italy.

Her achievements are remarkable considering she came from a blue-collar Venetian family.

Because if you wanted to create or sing music in the Baroque period and you were not from an upper-class family, polite society usually labeled you a courtesan/prostitute.

Women from the most noteworthy families could compose and play without that label.

But women from “good” families were sternly discouraged from publishing that music.

Why is there so little Caccini music around anymore?

Most likely because her work was never published publicly.

The savvy Strozzi understood the lay of the land.

I believe she consciously chose the courtesan label.

She did this to be able to play, compose, and most importantly, publish her music at will.

Consequently, Strozzi didn’t squander her social sacrifice.

As music authority Anna Beer notes:

“Strozzi had more music in print during her lifetime than any other composer of her era [male or female].”

Beer’s book, Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music, is inspiring and well-researched. It’s jargon-free, and I found it shocking, inspiring, and delightful.

Get it if you’re into baroque music, women’s music, or women’s history.

How to Hear Barbara Strozzi Today:

Barbara Strozzi: Arie & Cantate, 2014.

This Strozzi disk is a listener favorite.

Album cover of the work of composer Barbara Strozzi, featuring plant drawings — Click on the Album Cover to Sample Strozzi.

If you listen to this CD, you may ask yourself:

‘Why has a composer as brilliant as Strozzi been forgotten?’

Great Italian Composers #4

Elsa Respighi (1894 –1996)

Few people know that mezzo-soprano Elsa Respighi, the wife of the renowned composer Ottorino Respighi, was herself a gifted composer.

I see Elsa Respighi as the Italian representative of a group of more modern female composers who’ve gone unrecognized.

Similarly, they remained in the shadows, known only as the wife or sister of a famous male composer.

How to Listen to Elsa Respighi at Home:

Over The Fence: Songs of Elsa Respighi, Lori Laitman, and Modesta Bor, 2014.

2014 saw the release of world premiere recordings of songs by Elsa Respighi.

Great Italian Female Composers #5

Elisabetta Brusa (1954- )

Elisabetta Brusa is a contemporary composer whose music graces the airwaves of Italian classical stations, RAI TV in Italy, and BBC Radio.

The BBC Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra have performed Brusa’s work.

Here’s how to bring home The Brusa:

Symphony No. 1, Merlin– Symphonic Poem, 2015.

This piece conjures up the great wizard of Arthurian legend “through rich orchestral colors and powerful rhythms.”

Great Italian Female Composers #6

Lucia Ronchetti (1963- )

In conclusion, we end with the Fulbright fellow on our list.

Lucia Ronchetti is a multi-award-winning, avant-garde composer for computer and orchestra.

She reminds me a bit of Phillip Glass.

Ronchetti is most famous for her theatrical concert works.

How to Listen to Lucia at Home:

Lezioni di Tenebra and Other Classics, by Lucia Ronchetti, 2012.

Who is your favorite composer? Are you a female musician or music lover?

Let me know in the COMMENTS below.