Cornelia Calegari: the Divine Euterpe

Life

Her very brief career, both in its formative phase and in that of her premature passing, took place entirely within the heart of the Baroque period.

Cornelia Calegari was born in Bergamo in 1644 to Bartolomeo Calegari and Claudia Furietti. She showed an extraordinary talent from an early age, both as a singer and as a composer, qualities that earned her great admiration from her fellow citizens.

At only fifteen, she saw the publication of her first collection of music, Mottetti a voce sola (1659), an extraordinary milestone for a young woman of her time. Shortly thereafter, on April 19, 1661, she took her solemn vows as a Benedictine nun at the convent of Santa Margherita in Milan, assuming the religious name Maria Cattarina.

Contemporary chronicles remember her as one of the most appreciated figures in convent music, so much so that she received the epithet "Divine Euterpe." Her compositions included masses for six voices with instruments, madrigals, canzonettas, and vespers—works that astonished for their complexity and ability to evoke deep emotions.

Unfortunately, her career was very short: she died around 1662, at just eighteen years old. This loss contributed to the dispersal of her music, of which today only written accounts remain.

Works

Cornelia Calegari's works are known primarily through historical accounts. Among them are madrigals for two voices, madrigals and canzonettas for solo voice, masses for six voices with instrumental accompaniment, motets, and vespers. The collection Mottetti a voce sola, published in 1659, constitutes her most concrete contribution that has reached us.