Shining A Light on the Hidden Women of Rome:  The Fruit of Queen Christina’s Patronage

This month, we invite you to travel back to the opulent world of 17th-century Rome to experience an intimate, exclusive salon bankrolled by royalty, attended by the elite, and performed by some of the most humble and unexpected.

Below is an abbreviated version of the program notes for the Hidden Women program for March 14 & 15.

In 1654, Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689) abdicated her Protestant throne, converted to Catholicism, and moved to Rome, where she was received as a hero of the Counter-Reformation.  A fierce intellectual who wielded influence in church politics and civic leadership, Queen Christina is one of only seven women buried at the Vatican. Her patronage of the arts—particularly within Rome’s numerous convents—is the starting point for this program. Within years of arriving in Rome, Christina founded a house orchestra employing leading composers (Corelli, Scarlatti, Pasquini, and Carissimi), established the Arcadian Academy dedicated to history, science, and the arts, and opened one of Rome’s first opera houses, the Tor di Nona.

This program also highlights another pillar of Queen Christina’s values: female monastic life. Melani’s Magnificat and Benedictus, scored for four sopranos and two mezzo-sopranos with continuo, actually lists the names of the nuns who performed them, something extremely rare in pre-modern manuscripts. While the manuscript doesn’t specify which convent commissioned these works, my research revealed that the six women lived and sang at the Augustinian convent of Santa Lucia in Selci in Rome. The rediscovery of these six virtuoso singers at the convent and the modern premiere of works composed for them is an important step in reconstructing the forgotten role of female musicians in the history of Baroque music. The music that Melani composed for these nuns is no less technically demanding or sophisticated than anything he wrote for the professional male singers of the day.

The three instrumental works by Pasquini, Corelli, and Scarlatti represent the flowering of instrumental music in late 17th-century Rome, intimately connected to Christina’s patronage of young, innovative artists. Pasquini’s Sinfonia a quarto was the overture to a now-lost dramatic work. His first opera for Christina’s new theatre, L’Alcasta, focused on feminine revenge; he composed over thirty dramatic works between 1672 and 1692. Corelli’s Trio Sonata Opus 1, No. 12 in D Major concludes his groundbreaking first published collection, the Sonate da Chiesa, which appeared in Rome in 1681, dedicated to Queen Christina.

Upcoming Event:

Hidden Women of Rome: Lost Music of Sacred Divas

March 14, 2026 | 7:00 PM
Sanctuary Hall at First Congregational
1126 SW Park Ave. Portland, OR 97205
Tickets still available

March 15, 2026 | 3:00 PM
Kaul Auditorium
3017 SE Woodstock Blvd
Portland, OR 97202
Tickets still available