Sulpitia Cesisaus renaissance

Sulpitia Lodovica Cesis (* 15 May 1577 in Modena, Italy; † after 1619) was an Italian lutenist and composer.

Life

Her father was Count Annibale Cesis and he gave 300 pieces of gold for her dowry when she entered the Augustinian convent in Modena in 1593. She was a nun at the convent of Saint Geminiano in Modena, although some sources report it as Saint Agostino. Her only known work is a volume of Motetti Spirituali, which she wrote in 1619.
It is composed of 23 motets for 2–12 voices. Although most of the motets are written in Latin, four are written in Italian. Some scholars believe that the piece was composed earlier than 1619 because of its style. Unlike her contemporaries, her work contains indications for instruments such as cornetts, trombones, violones, and archviolones.[2] Her 12-voice works are also especially different from the 2-3 voiced works popular in the 17th century[1] : 164  A bass part exists as well, which is interesting considering that this music was written for a group of cloistered nuns. One explanation is that this part was for the organ or viola da gamba. Another is that low parts may have been sung an octave higher than written, as she wrote this direction for some sections.[1] : 165 

Cesis dedicated her collection to another nun of the same name, Anna Maria Cesis, who lived at the Convent of Santa Lucia in Rome. Both Sulpitia Cesis’s and Anna Maria Cesis’s convents were well known for their music.

Sulpitia Cesis is mentioned in Giovanni Battista Spaccini’s chronicle of life in Modena, as the composer of a motet which was performed at the doors of San Geminiano in 1596 during a religious procession.
Source Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulpitia_Cesis