MARGARIDA ORFILA - SPAIN
DIED 29 APRIL
Margarida Orfila Tudurí was a Spanish composer, pianist and music teacher.
As a child, his family moved to Barcelona. He studied in Barcelona the Municipal Music School of Barcelona with Antoni Nicolau, Joan Lamote de Grignon and Lluís Millet (theory) and Eusebi Daniel and Carles Pellicer (piano). She won the prize for the last year's solemn trials in 1904 and in 1909 she became the first woman to finish the studies of counterpoint and flight of the School with the qualification of "Outstanding."
She completed his training with Enric Granados, and worked as a pianist until 1913, when she married a fellow professor, Frederic Alfonso and Ferrer. In 1907 she was admitted to the School as an auxiliary lecturer in theory and theory, and she was a teacher for more than fifty years. Her sister Carme, an excellent violinist, also taught her.
As a composer, she left an important collection of pieces for piano, violin, orchestra and voice, which premiered the Catalan and Gracienc orphans. In 1934 the Patxot foundation granted her, ex aequo with Xavier Montsalvatge, the prestigious "Concepció Rabell" prize.
With her husband, Frederic Alfonso, professor and director of the Municipal Music School of Barcelona, Margarida had five children: Frederic, lawyer and poet; Margarida, pianist, composer and music teacher; Joan, violinist and composer; Francisco, cellist; and Carme, a singer.
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CLAUDIA SESSA - ITALY
Claudia Sessa (c. 1570 – c. 1617/19) was an Italian composer. She was born into the (de) Sessa family, a patrician clan of the Milanese aristocracy. A nun at the convent of S. Maria Annunciata, she composed two sacred works published in 1613. The dates of her birth and death are uncertain.
Claudia Sessa spent her life as a nun in the Santa Maria Annunciata convent in Milan, Italy, but little else is known about her life. Despite restrictions imposed by the Council of Trent barring certain types of music making in convents, Sessa modestly and continuously sang and composed in Santa Maria Annunciata to a full audience. She accompanied others on various instruments with wondrous harmonies. She was “...spirited in her voice, alert and quick in her trills, full of affects." A skilled musician and actress who was quite adept at performing compositions written by others, Sessa remained modest about her talents. She could not even be swayed by an invitation from Queen Margaret to perform at the Spanish court because she preferred the monastery as her only performance venue. Sessa is best known for her two sacred songs, written in the monodic style.
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Occhi io vissi di voi by Claudia Sessa
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