Hispanic Women Composers #1: Marianna Martines

The concert features music by Marianna Martines, a Classical Composer in Vienna, performed by Sonnambula & Friends.

The Hispanic society of America presents a series of concerts that present music by unknown Spanish women composers. The first concert features music by Marianna Martines (1744–1812), performed by Sonnambula & Friends.

About Marianna Martines

Marianna Martines was a composer of Spanish lineage living and working in Vienna at the height of the Classical era. She lived with her family on Vienna’s Michaelerplatz, in a stately building whose other inhabitants included Esterházy court poet Metastasio and composer Nicola Porpora, the latter of whom taught Martines to compose and play the harpsichord. Her lessons with Porpora were accompanied by yet another neighbor: a young Haydn, then a struggling musician who lived upstairs in the attic rooms. Mozart was a frequent guest to her salons, and composed four-hand piano sonatas to perform with her.

About Sonnambula Ensemble

Sonnambula is a Renaissance ensemble that brings to light unknown music for various combinations of early instruments with the lush sound of the viol at the core. Sonnambula had its début at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s MetLiveArts series last season with a landmark performance of the complete works of Leonora Duarte (1610–1678).

Sonnambula has a strong commitment to education, and has presented interactive masterclasses, lecture/demonstrations, museum programs, and composer workshops at The Frick Collection, The Hispanic Society of America, and Princeton University, where they are working at the Princeton Sound Kitchen lab to commission new work for old instruments.

Previous concerts at the Hispanic Society of America have included premieres of 18th-century Cuban sacred works presented by the Cuban Cultural Center of New York; ¡Zarzuela!, a program of Spanish theatrical music of the high Baroque; and a program of Spanish Golden Age works drawn from the over 450 pieces in the Cancionero Musical de Palacio, a manuscript at the Royal Palace of Madrid.