Camilla de Rossi

Biography

Camilla de Rossi (fl. 1670–1710) was an Italian composer known for her oratorios composed in Vienna during the early 1700s. She is recognized for having the most surviving works of any female composer from Northern Italy and Austria during the Baroque period. Her compositions reflect the style of the time, characterized by intricate vocal lines and emotional depth.
Several of De Rossi's oratorios were composed for performance at the Vienna court. Her legacy is notable for the rarity of women composing during the Baroque era, a time when most women composers were marginalized

Biography

Born in the late 17th century, De Rossi likely had Roman citizenship, as she signed the title pages of her manuscripts as Romana, meaning 'a woman of Roman descent'. Rossi composed four oratorios for solo voices and orchestra, all of which were commissioned by Emperor Joseph I of Austria and were performed in the Imperial Chapel in Vienna.

Work

Rossi's oratorios are all for solo voices with orchestral accompaniment; none of her works used choruses.
Rossi's works typically call for various instruments (chalumeaux, archlute, trumpets, oboe), along with string orchestra (including continuo). For example, her oratorio, Il Sacrifizio di Abramo demands two chalumeaux, an instrument first heard in Vienna in 1707, one year before her oratorio was performed for the first time in 1708. Her cantata Frá Dori e Fileno is for strings and two soloists. Barbara Garvey Jackson (University of Arkansas), mentioned Rossi's work as [showing an] "intimate knowledge" of stringed instruments.

List of works

Oratorios, for solo voices, orchestra (MSS incl. some libs and orch pts in A-Wm; arias ed. B.G. Jackson in Arias from Oratorios by Women Composers of the Eighteenth Century, Fayetteville, AR, 1987–99):
Santa Beatrice d'Este (Benedetto Pamphili), 1707
Il sacrifizio di Abramo (F. Dario), 1708
Il figliuol prodigo (C. de Rossi),1709
Sant'Alessio, 1710
Frà Dori, e Fileno (cant.), S, A, str orch, D-Dl, ed. B.G. Jackson (Fayetteville, 1983)