Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, Benedictine nun, then abbess of her Milanese convent, published an opulent collection of Vespers for the Blessed Virgin in 1650, an ensemble of motets for two choirs with instruments, which she and her colleagues periodically performed to enthralled audiences that had sometimes travelled from throughout Europe to hear them. But, despite a fierce show of resistance, a new archbishop soon put a stop to these gatherings, which he deemed to be a detriment to virtue, insisting on a return to austerity…