Music was essential to the functioning of female convents and monasteries, which, from the beginning of the Modern Age, became the primary centres for female musicians in both Spain and Portugal.1

During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Royal Monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria in Porto, the largest female religious institution in the city and one of the most important female coenobiums in Portugal, stood out for its intense and virtuosic musical activity. The musicians residing in this Royal Monastery were responsible for commissioning a significant number of scores in concertato style, which showcased their own personal talents. Although music had always been important throughout the nearly 400 years of the monastery’s existence, no other period saw as many scores commissioned by the benedictine nuns of Porto as between 1774 and 1829.

Even when compared to other female convents and monasteries in Portugal and Spain, the number of concertato style works from the Benedictine monastery in Porto is remarkable.2 Perhaps due to the prohibition against singing concertato works and using certain musical instruments —common in the context of female coenobiums,3 although these prohibitions often seemed more rhetorical than enforced4— or perhaps due to the unfortunate fate of most female religious institutions in Portugal, which may have led to the destruction or loss of musical archives, the fact remains that the repertoire of this monastery is exceptional when compared to other Iberian female religious houses.

More than focusing on the music itself, it is crucial to highlight the significance of the women musicians of this particular monastery as both agents and performers of an exceptional repertoire. In terms of vocal virtuosity, the scores of the Avé-Maria Monastery could be compared to those performed in the most prestigious opera houses of Europe during the same period, making it one of the most important collections of vocal music produced in Portugal at the end of the Ancient Regime.

Before delving into the Benedictine musician nuns of Porto, it is essential to first understand the condition of women and female education in eighteenth-century Portugal, which differed significantly from that in other European kingdoms. What drove a young woman to enter a cloistered monastery for life? Was it an act of confinement, faith, or rather a means to showcase her musical talents while maintaining social respect?

During the Ancient Regime, it was common sense that women were incapable of taking care of their lives without the advice of a man. Intellectuals such as Erasmus de Rotterdam and Juan Luis Vives were convinced that women should be educated just to serve as good daughters, wives, and mothers. Knowledge would detract from a woman’s true calling as a wife and mother and undermine her domestic role.6 They should not have other female friends, and all their actions should be directed at seeking virtue.7 Similarly, Jean-Jacques Rousseau supported the idea that women did not have the intellectual and emotional capacity to learn. That knowledge was not only unnecessary but also dangerous in women’s hands.8

Female education in Portugal in the eighteenth century followed the same path. Even after some improvement by the end of the century, most Portuguese women were still illiterate, even upper-class women. They were kept in complete ignorance and under the will of their jealous lords, according to the British traveller William Morgan Kinsey:

Until the end of the eighteenth century, there were no public or private schools for girls, except for a few French religious orders active in the kingdom, such as the Ursuline and the Order of Visitação. The latter was founded in Portugal in 1782 to educate noble ladies. In addition to Portuguese grammar, they also taught French, Italian, Latin, English, geography, sacred history, harpsichord, and music theory, sewing, and embroidery, fulfilling the two fields of education: intellectual development (languages, geography, and music) and manual labour (embroidery and sewing), considered valuable ways to occupy their time without falling into idleness.10 However, these schools were restricted to a minimal number of Portuguese ladies. Considering that only 10 % of the population lived in cities and that approximately 85 % of the people came from lower classes,11 we can get an idea of the level of instruction/education of women in late eighteenth-century Portugal.

Portuguese philosopher and priest Luís António Verney was among the first men to approach the subject of female education in his Verdadeiro Método de Estudar, published in 1746. He starts by stating that it is not useless to say women should study since «regarding their capacity, it is insane to be convinced that women have less than men. They are not from another species on what regards the soul, and the differences in sex and kinship have nothing to do with differences in understanding».12 He admits that «the education of women in the kingdom is awful, and that men consider them almost like animals from another species, incapable of any kind of study and evolution». He also points out that «few [women] know how to read and write. Even fewer know how to do both correctly». However, he believes that the utility of female education was chiefly for their development into «good mothers» and «good wives». He writes that «they, mainly the family mothers, are our first masters in the first years of life: they teach us the language, they give us the first ideas of things. What can they teach if they do not know what they say?».13 He says that «this is the goal for which Providence made women: to help their husbands and family members, dedicating themselves to the domestic affairs while men apply themselves to the outside world». Verney indorses the common idea of his time that women should be kept in the private sphere while men should occupy the public one. He recommends his ideas to mothers, wives, and nuns, excluding single ladies from any education.14 Regarding the nuns, Verney writes that «it is known that they must know something more since they must read books in Latin».

Concerning singing or playing an instrument, Verney believes it is not necessary for civil women. He declares that sometimes a daughter may sing or play to entertain her parents or to occupy their idle time, but to «employ money and time on such things» is not recommended. However, he continues that it is fair for nuns to learn to play and sing, especially to play the organ.15

Verney reiterates that music should be taught only to nuns to play inside cloistered convents or, exceptionally, to ladies to perform for their family members, never in public. Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote, «she who sets herself for sale in a performance would not soon do the same in person and never let herself be tempted to satisfy desires that she takes so much effort to excite». This perspective would include all types of performers: actresses, singers, and instrumentalists who worked in public theatres, majorly/mostly coming from middle- and lower-class families and from families who were themselves usually involved in the performing arts. As a result, the model repeatedly proposed in Portugal for female education and their participation in society was confinement.16

Even female audiences had several restrictions to attend a public performance. For example, in the decade of 1720, the rules to watch public performances in Lisbon guaranteed that men’s boxes would be different from women’s boxes, even if they were husband and wife; actresses could not dress in a male character, and there should be no improper objects among the props, the plays would be examined beforehand to avoid sentences or actions considered indecent.17 These rules were submitted to two religious men for their approval. One of them agreed on the public performances if the rules were observed. The other was against it, saying that the way actresses performed excited men and that the Spanish actresses who came to Portugal were usually of ill reputation and would undoubtedly try to earn money in their «usual way».

From the beginning of the activity of public theatres, the simple fact that a woman would express herself in public would be enough for her to be confused with a prostitute. Associating theatre women with prostitution was a common habit, and it is mentioned in some seventeenth-century treatises such as the Scolasticae et Morales Disputationes (1631), written by the Spanish Pedro Hurtado de Mendoza and Della Cristiana Moderazione del Teatro (1655), written by the Italian Domenico Ottonelli.18

In the last decades, feminist historiography19 noticed that no other concept was so widely employed as that of the public vs. the private.20 While women performing in the public sphere were considered «accessible to all» women performing inside cloistered convents were «not in public» therefore they could be considered decent and worthy of respect.

Female cloisters were the most important centres for women to develop a professional career as musicians. Their music chapels were led by qualified individuals, and the musicians were financially compensated for their contributions. New repertoire was commissioned with attention to the specific musical abilities of each performer. Starting from the sixteenth century, payments for musicians to perform and teach novices can be observed in Spain.21 The same can be observed in Portugal. During the period covered in this study, it is known the principal singer of the Monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria received 14,400 réis, the other musicians were paid 15,360 réis, and the Chapel Master earned 57,600 réis. The payments are related to the period between 1805 and 180722.

Even though music was allowed and encouraged in female convents, several rules were imposed by the ecclesiastical authorities to forbid and punish nuns for certain artistic activities, such as the performance of theatrical comedies, operas, or autos sacramentais, even if they had a religious argument.23 Music was accepted despite several restrictions concerning the style, the instrumentation employed to accompany the voices, and the profane influences. The chapter of Braga’s Cathedral forbade performances of theatrical works inside churches, churchyards, sacristies, and interior dependences of the female religious institutions, besides prohibiting the use of non-tempered instruments such as the violin and the flute, since «they disturb the peace of the community». In the same city, restrictions threatened nuns to be «deprived of veil and railings» for one year if they sang and danced for the outside community, especially if they wore male costumes.24 In 1685, archbishop Luís de Sousa forbade Clarisse nuns from Guimarães to perform comedies under the sentence of excommunication.25 In 1725, the Cistercians in Évora decreed that «figured music has notably diminished the seriousness and devotion with which religious ladies should approach anything related to the Order». They recommended that «light music, which serves merely to please the senses and entertain the soul, should not be permitted».26 Despite the restrictions imposed by ecclesiastical authorities, nuns from many Portuguese convents seem to have kept their musical and theatrical tradition over decades since letters mentioning their misbehaviours, including the artistic ones, are frequent.

Women in female convents were responsible for the commission and performance of a considerable part of the late eighteenth-century repertoire, especially in cities outside the court of Lisbon, which, apart from Porto, did not have a public theatre. Even in the second most important city of the kingdom, while there was only a small theatre (the Teatro do Corpo da Guarda) functioning until 1798, there were four female convents active at the end of the century, three of them responsible for significant music production.

Several foreign travellers mention the high artistic level reached by the nun’s musical chapels across the country. Luíz Mendes de Vasconcellos writes about the Odivelas convent that: «the excellence of their music shall be celebrated». He mentions that the quality of voices and the numerous works they performed with ability and tenderness «cannot be equalled to any musical chapel of any prince» since it had sixty women singing, playing the double bass, the keyboard, harp, violins and violas.27

Regarding the background of the nuns living in the Royal Monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria, they were primarily elite ladies from the most reputable families in the rich city of Porto. To have an idea of how life was inside this monastery, each candidate for the cloister could bring at least one servant, which confirms that these ladies came from a very comfortable background. The sanctuary also housed other residents who were not professed nuns. For example, in 1825, there were 55 professed nuns and their private maids. Additionally, 32 maids worked for the Benedictine order, along with 18 secular servants, two medical doctors, one surgeon, two overseers, one buyer, one attorney, two sacristy servants, and two gardeners, all of whom lived on the premises.28

Portuguese convents in the eighteenth century offered more liberty to women, even when compared to that provided for noblewomen.29 In the great majority of Catholic countries, many cloistered women found in the arts a way to embrace their destiny, especially those who were enrolled in convents against their will. Inside the monastery, these women had access to education, could develop their art, and even be recognized for their talent. Despite the reality outside the convent walls, where cultivated women could sometimes be ridiculed,30 a woman with literacy and music skills could be highly appreciated in religious institutions.

Another interesting fact about late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Portugal is that, although not permitted, women could engage in relationships with secular men more often than they would while in their family homes, including intimate relationships, a practice known as freiratice.31 There are plenty of cases of nuns, known for their musical gifts, involved in sexual relationships with secular men, such as the two nuns resident at the Convento da Rosa in Lisbon, one singer and one double-bass player^, as well as a singer nun from the Convent of Santa Clara do Desterro32 in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, who all had intimate relationships with Brazilian-born poet Gregório de Matos in the 17^th century.

In the case of the Monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria, two particular musicians were reportedly involved in episodes of freiratice. However, their musical talent seems to have spared them from receiving severe punishment. It was during the years 1804-1805 that the Sousa Caldas sisters (Ana Antónia and Gertrudes Guilhermina), along with 19 other women, were involved in a riot that ultimately reached the Apostolic Nuncio.33 After electing a new abbess in 1805, as the old one seemed to be indulgent with the misbehaviour of the others, the Nuncio wrote to the abbess asking her to end some abuses, namely the «intrusion of secular men inside the monastery».34 The prelate determines that the two Sousa Caldas sisters, both secular, remain living in São Bento with their respective maids since they were ancient musicians at the service of the monastery.35

In this context, it is essential to mention that not only profoundly religious young ladies enrolled in eighteenth and nineteenth-century conventual life, but also daughters who had committed misdemeanours, girls born outside a legal relationship (and their mothers in case they were not married by the time of birth), women undergoing divorce sentences or suspected of having committed crimes against their husbands, and women with sexual orientation outside the common rule, amongst others. An interesting example regarding the monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria is that of Bernardina Amélia Castelo Branco, who entered the convent at seven and left ten years later to get married. Bernardina was the daughter of notorious Portuguese writer Camilo Castelo Branco, born of an illegitimate relationship with Patrícia Emília do Carmo de Barros. At the same time, the poet was married to another woman. After the end of their relationship and Camilo’s abandonment of the family, the child was delivered to Isabel Cândida Vaz Mourão, a nun at the Monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria, who was another of Camilo Castelo Branco’s mistresses and oversaw the education of Bernardina.36 Camilo Castelo Branco is a fantastic source for understanding the situation of many of the women who entered cloistered convents in early nineteenth century Portugal, not only for his private life but also because his novels contain several accounts of women who did not join the religious life as a vocation, but as a punishment for their transgressions.

Regarding profane social interactions, in the case of the Monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria, there was a prevalent celebration called the abadessado, which took place on the election of the new abbess. These festivals happened in the courtyard of the convent (they always started after the bells rang at seven pm and went on until late at night) and had poetic competitions and music performances produced for successive evenings,37 always accompanied by the famous conventual sweets and Port wine offered by the residents of the monastery to some of the most prominent poets and musicians of the time. Even though the abadessado was an established practice at the Monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria, the few surviving reports date back to the late 19^th century. Nevertheless, these accounts provide a valuable insight into how these festivities were celebrated. The celebrations of 1871 were described as follows:

On the same occasion, there were several concerts of profane music which programs included operatic numbers such as one aria from Lucrezia Borgia, a romanza from Maria de Rohan, and a duet from Belisario, all by Gaetano Donizetti, and the tercet from Atila by Giuseppe Verdi, besides several instrumental works, played in the piano, violin, and violoncello.39

As far as musicians are concerned, it is well known that musical knowledge and proficiency in singing or playing a musical instrument —mainly accompaniment instruments such as the organ, harpsichord, harp, or double bass— could be significant assets when enrolling a girl in a prestigious convent. For those who did not have previous knowledge but showed some talent in the art, music masters were regularly hired to teach the religious ladies.

Conferring privileges to a musician freshly enrolled in a convent was extremely frequent. In Italy and Spain, countless cases are known where parents could save from 25 to 100 percent of the dowry if their daughter showed good skills in music.40 Since nearly every religious order emphasises the importance of musical knowledge for future novices,41 any woman who could contribute to the music in a chapel or participate in it was granted the privilege of not having to pay the dowry, in addition to receiving a salary for her work.42

Investing in a daughter’s music education as a means to secure her future was such a common practice that it is mentioned in Mariana de Carvajal y Saavedra’s novel Industria vence desdenes: «Since Don Fernando believed he had no dowry that would match the quality needed to marry his daughter, he taught her the art of music so she could join a convent as a musician and enjoy the associated privileges».43

In Portugal, the situation was not different. Swedish traveller Carl Israel Ruders, who visited Portugal between 1798 and 1802, writes about a girl from a humble family who lived in the Convent of São João Batista in Lisbon and was accepted «only because she knew how to play the organ». She didn’t come from a noble family, nor could she afford the expensive dowry necessary to join the convent, but because she had «a special musical gift», they overlooked all other considerations. According to the Swede:

Religious music in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in both Portugal and its colonies absorbed much influence from dramatic music. The repertoire performed in the churches and convents often ranged from the sacred to the profane, both in vocal and instrumental music. An interesting report shows us how interdictions on musical practice would make a convent «less attractive». During a visit to the Convent of the Saboianas in Belém, British traveller, William Beckford, heard from the priest Teodoro de Almeida:

The residents at the Monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria had some modinhas’ scores in their collection, proving that not only sacred music fulfilled their long days inside the cloister.46 The coexistence of sacred and profane music in Portuguese eighteenth-century religious spaces was often mentioned by foreign travellers,47 as reinforced by the description of a Dutch merchant traveling through the Alentejo region at the beginning of 1797, who was received by the nuns of the Monastery of Santa Clara, near Estremoz:

With such interesting music being made inside conventual churches, it is natural to think that the ceremonies with virtuous music sung by brilliant performers and accompanied by several instruments would attract a lot of attention not only from regular congregation members but also from people wanting to listen to good music.

Although music was an important element in the functioning of a female monastic institution, the transition between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is particularly notable for the music commissioned and performed at the Royal Monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria. The number of preserved scores, predominantly in concertato style, is significantly higher from 1784 until 1829, even though music continued to be produced at the request of the Benedictines of Porto after the law nationalizing Church properties was enacted in 1834.

Despite the scarcity of biographical information about the nuns residing in the Monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria, the music scores preserved in the National Library of Portugal shows that there is one name that stands out not only for the number of works that mention her but also for the considerably high technical quality of most of the vocal pieces she performed: Anna Ignácia de Freitas. We know that in 1793/1794 she was already the Chapel Master of the Monastery and, even though composer Francisco de São Boaventura may have guided part of her musical training, her close relationship with composer António da Silva Leite becomes evident. Silva Leite wrote approximately 17 works to be sung by Anna Ignácia as a solo soprano or member of a vocal ensemble while Chapel Master between 1794 and 1826. She also had works written by other composers, such as António Leal Moreira, José Monteiro Pereira, Nicola Petruzzi or Gaspare Gabelloni. Some of the scores are «offered to D. Anna Ignácia de Freitas»,49 others mention «to be used by»50 the singer nun, and some works mention «being commissioned by»51 or «currently possessed by Anna Ignácia».52

Chapel Masters were the highest authorities in musical matters within female convents and monasteries. Their duties included preparing the repertoire according to the liturgical calendar, directing the singing, and taking care of the musical archive.53 Anna Ignacia held the position for nearly 33 years, during which she was responsible for 27 works for both solo voice and vocal ensemble, most of them accompanied by organ, violins, and bass. The scores written for Anna Ignacia demonstrate her impressive vocal range and her apparent ease with performing complex coloratura passages. This is evident in one of the works Silva Leite dedicated to her, the Aria Latina from 1795.54

Other examples of music in women’s convents and monasteries show a coexistence between repertoires of varying difficulty, from very simple pieces by ensemble grades to others with virtuosic coloraturas and operatic vocalizations, depending on the nuns’ abilities55. The degree of technical difficulty found in the Monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria points to a case of special excellence within the Portuguese musical panorama.

Thanks to the inscriptions in the musical manuscripts preserved at the National Library of Portugal, we know the names of some musician nuns from São Bento.

Maria Cândida Cardoso de Figueredo is another very peculiar musician from the monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria, as she sang as a bass. There is one aria titled Domine Labia Mea Aperies, written by Antonio da Silva Leite and dedicated to her, accompanied by the organ, which shows her rare and impressive vocal tessitura.56

In addition, Anna Felícia is recognized as one of the most prominent musicians at the end of the eighteenth century. She served as Chapel Master from 1784 to 1794, though the first score dedicated to her is from 1779, when she was referred to as a «beginner». A total of 14 music scores are dedicated to her, with most composed by António da Silva Leite, Francisco de São Boaventura, and José Monteiro Pereira.

Few musicians are identified as instrumentalists, such as Margarida Máxima and Maria do Ó, who played the violoncello, Mariana de Amorim, who was a cellist and an organist, and Joana Emília de Andrade, who played the harp. In fact, very few women are mentioned as instrumentalists in Portuguese historiography. In addition to Ernesto Vieira, Manuela Morilleau de Oliveira,58 and Adriana Latino59 also mention a small number of women musicians, amongst which we find the names of Archangela Maria da Assunção (fl. 1737), composer, Joana de Christo (d. 1603), organist, Maria da Conceição (d. 1680), organist and Catharina da Gloria (d. 1598), organist; all of them nuns. Other singer nuns are also mentioned, such as Brites da Gloria (d. 1663), and Ignez do Menino Jesus (d. 1638). We also find a reduced number of nonreligious musicians born in the eighteenth and early nineteenth-centuries, as well as other women musicians, both religious and non-religious in previous centuries. Still, the names of women instrumentalists are extremely rare, not only in court and aristocratic venues and public theatres, but also in female convents and monasteries60. As Luísa Morales states, it is paradoxical that, despite the numerous musician nuns in religious institutions since the 16^th century, we know the names of only a few performers and even fewer composers.61

With the death of the last nun in 1892, the Monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria was dissolved. This was in accordance with the laws established from 1834 onwards, which mandated the abolition of all religious orders in Portugal, prohibited new members from taking vows, and required the closure of convents upon the death of the last professed nun. The building was demolished to make way for the new central train station, while the remaining documents were put in the custody of different archives around the country, such as the District Archive of Porto, the National Archive of Torre do Tombo in Lisbon, and the National Library of Portugal, which preserves the great majority of music scores.

The repertoire still preserved reveals a great level of vocal virtuosity and reflects the spirit of the women living inside this institution. It was not a question of praying in music, since the plainchant did that quite effectively, but more likely these ladies, all from important and prestigious families of the city, of which women could never aspire to be more than a good mother and wife, had inside the convent an opportunity to show their artistry, to commission works that would be composed to their own particular abilities, to earn money from their profession, and to perform them on occasions when the church would be filled not only with deeply catholic members of the congregation but also with foreign travellers, students, young poets and the intellectual elite of the city. They could perform arias that were no less demanding than the ones sung in Opera Houses and made the audiences rave (and sometimes crave the famous cantarinas). Still, they did not compromise their reputations or those of their families by performing in the public sphere since, in the end, they were only singing to praise the Lord. Although the freiratice was widespread throughout the kingdom, making nuns sometimes more famous for their love affairs than for their devotion, they were hypocritically «protected» by the veil of sanctity that shrouded female convents.

The legacy left by the musician nuns of the Monastery of São Bento da Avé-Maria, proves that they should be remembered not only for their pious lives or promiscuous behaviour but also for the astounding art commissioned and performed in the transition of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Regardless of the reasons that led these women to live cloistered lives, they could transform their «prisons» into a place where art was possible. Their invisible bodies were surpassed by their virtuous voices, which the outside world could not silence.