U of A Women's Chorus to Premiere Music Lost for More than 300 Years

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A manuscript of Isabella Leonarda's O anima mea

Next Thursday, Oct. 9, the U of A Women's Chorus will perform O anima mea, a recently discovered work by Italian composer Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704). The piece has never been performed in America, and most likely has not been heard since its composition nearly 350 years ago.

The manuscript was discovered by a team of researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden among a large collection of other manuscripts aquired by the University. They made the entire collection available to researchers abroad through digital facsimiles. Stephen Caldwell, director of choral activities at the U of A, then came in contact with the manuscipt while searching for historical music for women's chorus by female composers. Caldwell's first task was to modernize the score into something musicians today would recognize. He remarked that "music of that era was written in a much different format than today's music. The vocal parts were on separate pages, and the accompaniment was composed in a type of shorthand known as figured bass. There were no measures, and often the words didn't line up with the notes. It is like putting together a puzzle without a picture of what it looks like."

It was then discovered that a different copy of the same work existed in Dresden, Germany. This further complicated matters, as there were large discrepancies in the two manuscipts that were undoubtly made at different times in history, one in the 17th century, the other in the 19th century.

After months of painstaking reconstruction, Caldwell was able to reconcile the two manuscripts into a working modern score. ClarNan editions, a noted publisher of other works by Isabella Leonarda, published Caldwell's edition and the UA Women's Chorus began rehearsing in August. They will give the premiere performance, under Caldwell's direction, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9, in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall. 

"It is always exciting to hear a new work by an old composer. It is like a time capsule in that it can only be opened once."