<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The present article reflects on the shortage of studies concerning music-composing women in the 18<sup>th</sup>-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and focuses on one unique figure among those female musicians – Maria Antonia Walpurgis, an aristocrat of Polish descent, who demonstrated versatile talents. Thoroughly educated in her childhood, she was a poet, composer, singer, and director of her own stage works. This paper discusses the aristocratic artist’s most important experiences and achievements in the field of music, as well as analysing her earliest surviving work, the cycle of <italic>6 Arias for Soprano, Strings and Basso Continuo</italic> (1747), which Walpurgis may well have performed herself. The arias have been preserved in a manuscript kept at the Sächsische Landesbibliothek in Dresden, shelf mark Mus.3119-F-11. My analysis assesses their style and aesthetic.</p></abstract>

The present article reflects on the shortage of studies concerning music-composing women in the 18th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and focuses on one unique figure among those female musicians – Maria Antonia Walpurgis, an aristocrat of Polish descent, who demonstrated versatile talents. Thoroughly educated in her childhood, she was a poet, composer, singer, and director of her own stage works. This paper discusses the aristocratic artist’s most important experiences and achievements in the field of music, as well as analysing her earliest surviving work, the cycle of 6 Arias for Soprano, Strings and Basso Continuo (1747), which Walpurgis may well have performed herself. The arias have been preserved in a manuscript kept at the Sächsische Landesbibliothek in Dresden, shelf mark Mus.3119-F-11. My analysis assesses their style and aesthetic.

Music-Making Women-Aristocrats

Musicology Today

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. 6 Arias for Soprano, Strings and Basso Continuo by Maria Antonia Walpurgis

The present article reflects on the shortage of studies concerning music-composing women in the 18th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and focuses on one...

Prendi l’ultimo addio	Accept this last farewell
Bell’idolo adorato	Beautiful deity, whom I adore
Più non chiamarmi ingrato	Do not call me ungrateful any more
Ch’io moro à te fedel.	Since I’m dying faithful to you.
Rammentati ben mio	Remember my love
Che la ria morte istessa	That evil death
Tien l’alma meno oppressa	Oppresses the soul less
Che un dubbio si crudel.	Than doubt so cruel.

Music-Making Women-Aristocrats

Published Online: Dec 31, 2019

Page range: 3 - 30

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/muso-2019-0001

Keywords
Maria Antonia Walpurgis, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, women composers, XVIII century, Arias

© 2019 Aneta Markuszewska, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Musical Example 1

Musical Example 2

Music-Making Women-Aristocrats

Published Online: Dec 31, 2019

Page range: 3 - 30

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/muso-2019-0001

KeywordsMaria Antonia Walpurgis, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, women composers, XVIII century, Arias

© 2019 Aneta Markuszewska, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Musical Example 1

Musical Example 2

Keywords
Maria Antonia Walpurgis, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, women composers, XVIII century, Arias