Alma Redemptoris Mater, by Chiara Cozzolani
From Unsung Voices, presented on May 13, 2023 at Trinity Parish in Seattle.
Sarra Sharif Doyle, Artistic Director
Recorded and Produced by Scribe Studios: www.scribestudios.us/
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Recognized during her lifetime as one of the finest composers in Italy, Chiara Margarita Cozzolani (1602-c.1677) spent her entire adult life within the four walls of the musically famous convent of Santa Radegonda in Milan. She helped guide the house through difficult times in the 1660’s, when it came under attack by the strict Archbishop Alfonso Litta, who wanted to limit the nuns’ practice of music and other “irregular” contact with the outside world. Contemporary accounts describe the huge crowds that filled the exterior church of the convent to hear the angelic voices of nuns singing Cozzolani’s passionate and ecstatic music. She disappears from the convent’s membership lists between 1676 and 1678, and thus we may presume she died in her mid-seventies.
“Alma Redemptoris Mater” is a hymn sung in honor of St. Mary from one of Cozzolani’s four volumes of published music. Settings of this ancient text are often sung as part of a prayer service at the end of the day called Compline.
Text Translation:
Loving Mother of the Redeemer,
who remains the accessible Gateway of Heaven,
and Star of the Sea,
Give aid to a falling people
that strives to rise;
O Thou who begot thy holy Creator,
while all nature marveled,
Virgin before and after,
receiving that “Ave” from the mouth of Gabriel,
have mercy on sinners.
Founded in 1982, Seattle Girls Choir is a community that provides young singers with a high quality music education and a place to belong. SGC has progressive levels of instruction for choristers in kindergarten through high school, and emphasizes vocal technique, musical literacy, and ensemble performance. Find us at www.seattlegirlschoir.org