Through Music to Power: Musical Offices as a Strategy for Political Advancement in the Monastery of St. Catherine of Siena (Córdoba, 18th Century)

Authors

  • Marisa Restiffo Departamento de Música, Facultad de Artes, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.

Keywords:

Córdoba del Tucumán, Saint Catherine of Siena, Nuns, Cantoras y Subcantoras

Abstract

We have been able to identify, after laborious tracing, the webs of kinship within the higher ranks of the monastery as well as their links to those that held positions of power in the city. As a result, we detected a narrow circle of nuns that held in their hands the guidance of the institution: the prioress and the members of her council. They monopolized government, both in spiritual and in material matters. To join the group that ruled the monastery, one had to begin by the appointment to several offices, the importance of which was set in a hierarchical order.

In this paper we propose that the offices of cantora and subcantora [leader of the choir and assistant leader] constituted rungs which a nun could occupy in order to further her ascent in the ladder towards power in the convent’s government. We thus suggest that musical function constituted an important link in the power relationships that echoed within the convent the same structures that obtained without.

Author Biography

Marisa Restiffo, Departamento de Música, Facultad de Artes, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.

es Profesora en Educación Musical por la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC). Es docente del Departamento de Música de la Facultad de Artes de la UNC y directora del proyecto “Espacios musicales del pasado Iberoamericano”, acreditado y financiado por la Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología de la UNC. Desde 2010 integra el Grupo de Musicología Histórica “Córdoba” radicado en el Centro de Producción e Investigación en Artes (CePIA), FA, UNC), dirigido por Leonardo Waisman. Ha sido miembro de equipos editoriales de publicaciones internaciones de referencia en el campo musicológico y ha publicado libros y artículos sobre temas de esa especialidad en Argentina, en Bolivia y en España. Combina la investigación musicológica y la docencia universitaria con su actividad como cantante en Compagnia Scaramella, ensamble dedicado al estudio y difusión de la música del Renacimiento y del Barroco, especializada en repertorio iberoamericano.

Downloads

Published

2019-03-12

Issue

No. 19 (2018): Dosier: Musicology and Musical Cognition in Latin America

Section

Articles

License

ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL 4.0 INTERNATIONAL

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

You are free to:

  1. Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
  2. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
  3. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

  1. Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  2. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes .
  3. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Notices:

You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation .

No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rightsmay limit how you use the material.

Most read articles by the same author(s)