“In the Midst of the Divine Chorus”: A Case Study of Convent Space and Musical Meaning

Abstract

Saint Catherine of Alexandria (d. early fourth century CE) was an intelligent and educated young woman whose talent for rhetoric bested the most distinguished scholars of her time. She was martyred for her outspoken protests against the persecution of Christians and her unwavering virginity (and, we might imagine, for being a young woman unafraid to voice her thoughts and engage publicly in debate). All in all, she was an excellent role model for Sulpitia Cesis (1577–after 1619), a nun who similarly sought to strengthen her public influence and ties to the church via rhetoric, both poetic and musical. Cesis, a composer at the Augustinian convent of San Geminiano in Modena, Italy, published four Italian-language motets alongside nineteen Latin ones in her 1619 publication Motetti Spirituali, at least two of which employ texts she composed. I argue that Cesis was well aware of her rhetorical power and her place of prominence within Modenese religious life, and that in Quest’è la bell’e santa vincitrice (This is the beautiful and saintly conqueror), a motet written for the feast of Saint Catherine, she used her rhetorical