Isabella Leonarda

Isabella Leonarda (6 September 1620 – 25 February 1704) was an Italian composer from Novara. At the age of 16, she entered the Collegio di Sant’Orsola, an Ursuline convent, where she stayed for the remainder of her life. Leonarda is most renowned for the numerous compositions that she wrote during her time at the convent, making her one of the most productive female composers of her time. Biography Isabella Leonarda was born on 6 September 1620, the daughter of Giannantonio Leonardi and his wife, Apollonia. The Leonardi were an old and prominent Novarese family whose members included important church and civic officials and knights palatine. Isabella’s father, who held the title of count, was a doctor of laws. Leonarda was a highly regarded composer in her home city, but her music was apparently little known in other parts of Italy. Lazzaro Agostino Cotta called her “la Musa novarese” (the muse of Novara) when he published a sonnet by A. Saminiati Lucchese which praised her musical talent, comparing it to the military prowess of Emperor Leopold I. Her published compositions span a period of 60 years, beginning with the dialogues of 1640 and concluding with the Motetti a voce sola o