“A Simulacrum of Christ”: Musical Creativity as an Echo of the Divine in Female Monastic Spaces
Location
PANEL: Music Analysis, Culture, & Community
Mudd 113
Moderator: Christina Neilson
Document Type
Presentation - Oberlin Community Only
Start Date
5-1-2026 11:00 AM
End Date
5-1-2026 12:00 PM
Abstract
My research highlights the understudied achievements of nun composers from Italy and Austria during the Renaissance period, and the conditions under which they wrote and performed polyphonic music. For the purposes of this presentation, I will focus on the Austrian composer, Maria Anna von Raschenau (1650-1714), and her oratorio, Le Sacre Stimmate di San Francesco d’Assisi. Since both Italy and Austria were significantly affected by the Protestant Reformation (1517-1648) and subsequent Counter-Reformation (1545- c.1700), this study is contextualized within the parameters of both papal and diocesan edicts surrounding monastic music-making. Approaching with perspectives from feminist musicology, history, and religion, my research as a whole explores how the creative arts flourished in female monastic spaces and worked to enrich the religious life, despite constraints from the church hierarchies. In this presentation, I will examine not only Raschenau’s biographical background and the historical contexts under which this piece was developed, but will also approach her composition style analytically in comparison to her male contemporaries, observe how the text of the oratorio is realized through the music, and explore how the work as a whole would have promoted monastic piety.
Keywords:
Musicology, Feminism, Religion, Composition
Recommended Citation
Mérane Hart, Alexis, "“A Simulacrum of Christ”: Musical Creativity as an Echo of the Divine in Female Monastic Spaces" (2026). Research Symposium. 55.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/researchsymp/2026/presentations/55
Major
Viola Performance; Musicology; Sustainable Architecture (IM)
Award
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship
Project Mentor(s)
Steven Plank, Musicology
2026
“A Simulacrum of Christ”: Musical Creativity as an Echo of the Divine in Female Monastic Spaces
PANEL: Music Analysis, Culture, & Community
Mudd 113
Moderator: Christina Neilson
My research highlights the understudied achievements of nun composers from Italy and Austria during the Renaissance period, and the conditions under which they wrote and performed polyphonic music. For the purposes of this presentation, I will focus on the Austrian composer, Maria Anna von Raschenau (1650-1714), and her oratorio, Le Sacre Stimmate di San Francesco d’Assisi. Since both Italy and Austria were significantly affected by the Protestant Reformation (1517-1648) and subsequent Counter-Reformation (1545- c.1700), this study is contextualized within the parameters of both papal and diocesan edicts surrounding monastic music-making. Approaching with perspectives from feminist musicology, history, and religion, my research as a whole explores how the creative arts flourished in female monastic spaces and worked to enrich the religious life, despite constraints from the church hierarchies. In this presentation, I will examine not only Raschenau’s biographical background and the historical contexts under which this piece was developed, but will also approach her composition style analytically in comparison to her male contemporaries, observe how the text of the oratorio is realized through the music, and explore how the work as a whole would have promoted monastic piety.
Notes
Access to the presentation slides is available to Oberlin College users only.