Maria Margherita Grimani

Maria Margherita Grimani (1680 – c.1720) was an Italian composer who, at some points in her life, was active in Vienna. Among her compositions was the first opera by a woman to be performed at the Vienna court theater. She may have lived at the noble court for periods between 1713 and 1718; however, she was not employed at the court as a musician. She may also have been one of a number of women composers at the Viennese court who were canonesses, a type of Augustinian nun; others included Caterina Benedicta Grazianini, Maria de Raschenau, and Camilla de Rossi. She was born Maria Margherita Vitalini, and married Giovanni Andrea Grimani (1672 - 1723), Doctor of Law, lawyer and lecturer at the University of Bologna from 1696 until his death. He wrote several legal works as well as some poetry and a wedding song for the marriage of senator Piriteo Malvezzi, Marquis of Castel Guelfo, and the Marquise Artemisia Magnani in 1696. Maria Margherita Grimani’s known works include an opera, specifically a componimento dramatico or opus dramaticum, which may or may not have been staged, Pallade e Marte, dedicated in Bologna on April 5, 1713, and first performed at the imperial theater on the nam