Camilla de Rossiaus barock

Camilla de Rossi (* c. 1670 probably in Rome, Italy; † c. 1710 perhaps in Vienna) was an Italian composer who was demonstrably active, in the years from 1707 to 1710.

Life

De Rossi’s life is largely unknown. It is assumed that she came from Rome, as she always drew her handw scores, which are kept in the Austrian National Library in Vienna, with “Romana”, the Roman, on the title page. Another clue to her origins could be that the Roman Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili wrote the libretto to her first known work, the 1707 oratorio Santa Beatrice d’Este. The composer’s only four oratorios still extant today were all commissioned by Emperor Joseph I and performed in the chapel of the Vienna Hofburg.

Where Camilla de Rossi acquired her knowledge of musical instruments, orchestration and composition is completely obscure. For example, as a woman in Rome, she could not take part in the performances organised by the popes and the cardinals, so she must have acquired her knowledge on other occasions. It is remarkable, for example, that de Rossi used two of these instruments in the oratorio Il sacrifizio di Abramo in 1708, just one year after the first introduction of the chalumeau in Vienna.
Source Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camilla_de_Rossi