WEEP & REJOICE: Music for Holy Week from the Convents of 17th Century Italy, [CD de audio] Cappella Artemisia, Candace Smith and

This recording brings together a collection of 17th century vocal works from Italian convent music that takes on another dimension thanks to the fact that its primary function was to assist in worship. Led by the liturgy, the pieces were often based on prayers of celebration or lamentation, both present in the emotional rollercoaster of Holy Week (the last week of Lent and the last week before Easter). The works in this collection were written by a variety of composers, some dedicating their compositions to nuns (incidentally, one of the most fascinating mysteries surrounding the convent repertoire is the fact that these pieces often contain parts for tenor voices and bass, to which the nuns resorted to numerous solutions to make up for the lack of male voices, such as the transposition of lower voices or entire pieces or the use of instruments) and numerous pieces written by the nuns themselves, such as the affectionate Silentio by Rosa Giacinta Badallas. Several of the works combine voices with instrumental forces, such as the viola da gamba, the lirone and the baroque guitar. All of them are performed by the acclaimed female ensemble Cappella Artimisia, founded in 1991 and which has received both critical and popular praise for both the rarity and originality of its repertoire.