Caterina Assandraaus barock

Caterina Assandra (* around 1590 in Pavia; † after 1618) was an Italian Benedictine nun and composer.

Life

Caterina Assandra received her training from Don Benedetto Re, who may have come from a German-speaking area and was organist at Pavia Cathedral from 1606 to 1626. She probably undertook the training in view of her entry into a religious order. In a preface to works by Giovanni Paolo Cima, Catarina Assandra is praised highly as a composer by the publisher of her two collections, Filippo Lomazzo. Assandra wrote an organ tablature and composed two collections of motets. She spent her life in the convent of Sant’Agata in Lomello, which she probably entered in 1609.

Caterina Assandra’s name should not be confused with that of the 18th century Italian composer Caterina Alessandra, as is the case in the Gran Enciclopedia de la Música Clásica, for example.

Her first collection of works op. 1 from around 1608 is considered lost, only her organ tablature has survived.
The Motetti à due, & tre voci, op. 2 (Milan, 1609) were dedicated to the Bishop of Pavia, Count Giovanni Battista Biglio. A copy can be found in the Thurn und Taxis court library in Regensburg.

Source Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterina_Assandra