Maria Rosa Coccia

Maria Rosa Coccia (4 January 1759 – November 1833) was an Italian harpsichordist and composer. She achieved fame as a child, after composing sonatas and an oratorio that was performed at the Oratory S. Filippo Neri, in defiance of a tradition that women were not allowed to attend the event. After passing the examination for the Roman Accademia di Santa Cecilia, she was admitted to the academy. Life Maria Rosa Coccia was born in Rome on 4 January 1759 and studied with Sante Pesci. At the age of 13, Coccia composed six sonatas for harpsichord and the oratorio Daniello, which was performed the same year in the Oratory S. Filippo Neri, in defiance of a tradition that women were not allowed to attend the event. In 1716 Pope Clement XI had decreed that anyone practising music in Rome must enter the Accademia di Santa Cecilia and pass the exam to become Maestro di Capella. At 16 Coccia passed the exam and received the title, but because of her gender was never allowed to execute the duties of the position, though her music was performed. Her examination piece was hic vir despiciens mundum, and was ‘widely acclaimed’. In 1780 Maestro di Cappella Francesco Capalti of attacked Coccia’s exami