Leonora Duarte (1610–1678): Converso Composer in Antwerp
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 9-2019 Leonora Duarte (1610–1678): Converso Composer in Antwerp Elizabeth A. Weinfield The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3512 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] LEONORA DUARTE (1610–1678): CONVERSO COMPOSER IN ANTWERP by Elizabeth A. Weinfield A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2019 © 2019 Elizabeth A. Weinfield All Rights Reserved ii Leonora Duarte (1610–1678): Converso Composer in Antwerp by Elizabeth A. Weinfield This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Music in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date Tina Frühauf Chair of Examining Committee Date Norman Carey Executive Officer Supervising Committee: Emily Wilbourne Janette Tilley Rebecca Cypess THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Leonora Duarte (1610–1678): Converso Composer in Antwerp by Elizabeth A. Weinfield Advisor: Emily Wilbourne Leonora Duarte (1610–1678), a converso of Jewish descent living in Antwerp, is the author of seven five-part Sinfonias for viol consort — the only known seventeenth-century viol music written by a woman. This music is testament to a formidable talent for composition, yet very little is known about the life and times in which Duarte produced her work. Her family were merchants and art collectors of Jewish descent who immigrated from Portugal in the early sixteenth century to escape the Inquisition; in exile in Antwerp, they achieved enormous success and provided the means with which to educate their children and integrate them into certain aspects of their business world. Duarte’s musical education reveals knowledge of many instruments as well as lessons in composition and it is manifested in the prominence her music played in her internationally-known family. Examining Duarte’s life presents a remarkable opportunity to consider performance within the early modern domestic sphere — this is a project that intersects with embodiment and display, as well as issues of gender and race. This dissertation considers Duarte and her music as iv products of diverse influences within the landscape of post-Inquisition Antwerp, as evidence of complex and symbiotic relationships with contemporaries, and as vital testimony to the cultural accomplishments of women conversos in early modern Europe, about which almost nothing is known. It draws upon musical analysis, critical theory, art history, Jewish studies, and my own performances and recording of her music. What emerges is a narrative in which the experience of domestic musical performance allowed Duarte to navigate the waters of social diplomacy within the broader context of cultural exchange in Antwerp. v For Walter and Jude vi Acknowledgments Many people helped me to complete this dissertation, but there are a few individuals I want to personally thank here. Thank you to my advisor, Emily Wilbourne, who worked tirelessly with me to get the job done; she met me where I was from the beginning, and this made everything possible. My husband, Jude Ziliak, provided both moral and intellectual support throughout the entire process — and took on the lion’s share of household duties as I worked. Walter’s emergence as the document grew was the very comfort I needed, at every turn. Heartfelt thanks are also due to Tonisha Alexander, Marlan Barry, Joyce Block, Rebecca Cypess, Amy Domingues, Tina Frühauf, Barbara Hanning, Sumi Hansen, Shirley Hunt, Toma Iliev, Julie Jones, James Kennerley, Victor Sachse, Bradley Strauchen-Scherer, Femke Speelberg, Anne Stone, Janette Tilley, Limor Tomer, Barbara Weinfield, Henry Weinfield, Madeline Weinfield, Tony Weinfield, Catherine Weinfield-Zell, Camille Zamora, and María Edurne Zuazu. vii Table of Contents Abstract iv List of Figures vii List of Tables viii List of Musical Examples ix List of Appendices x Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Leonora Duarte: Converso Composer in Antwerp 22 Chapter 2: Music, Business, and Belonging in the Early Modern Antwerp Salon 96 Chapter 3: Performance and The Body in the Antwerp Kunstkammer: A Case Study 124 Chapter 4: Unity in Exile? Alchemy, Judaism, and Letters 166 Conclusion 215 Bibliography 219 viii List of Figures 1.1 The Duarte residence on the Meir in Antwerp. Picture taken in 1898 shortly before its demolition. Image: Antwerp City Archives. 32 1.2 Gaspar Duarte, Letter to Constantijn Huygens, Antwerp, April 27, 1641. Leiden University Library, Cod. Hug. 37 (Duarte) 5, p. 1. 55 1.3 Leonora Duarte, Sinfonia No. 5, Mus. Ms. 429, p. 33. Christ Church College Library, University of Oxford. 64 1.4 Christopher Simpson, The Division Violist, dedication page. London: William Godbid, 1659. 68 1.5 Detail of Letter from Constantijn Huygens to Utricia Ogle Swann, February 23, 1648. Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, KA 48, fol. 47rv. 70 1.6 Anonymous (British), Division Viol, 1640–65. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Image in the Public Domain. 73 2.1 Anthony van Dyck, William II, Prince of Orange, and his Bride, Mary Stuart, 1641. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Image in the Public Domain. 87 3.1 Frans van Mieris the Elder, The Serenade, ca. 1678–80. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Image in the Public Domain. 104 3.2 Willem van Haecht, Picture Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest, 1628. The Rubenshius, Antwerp. Image in the Public Domain. 119 3.3 Jacob de Formentrou, et. al., A Cabinet of Pictures, c. 1659. Royal Collection Trust, London. Image in the Public Domain. 119 3.4 Anonymous Flemish, Cognoscenti in a Room Hung with Pictures, c. 1620. The National Gallery, London. Image in the Public Domain. 120 3.5 Gonzales Cocques, Portrait of the Duarte Family, 1650s. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. Image in the Public Domain. 122 3.6 Frans Van Mieris the Elder, The Cloth Shop, 1660. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Image in the Public Domain. 126 3.7 ‘T Uitnemend Kabinet. Amsterdam, Paulus Matthysz: 1646 and 1649. Image in the Public Domain. 129 ix List of Tables 1.1 Leonora Duarte, Seven Sinfonias 62 x List of Musical Examples 1.1 Leonora Duarte, Sinfonia No. 4, mm. 27–34 71 3.1 Leonora Duarte, Sinfonia No. 3, mm. 1–6 132 3.2 Alfonso Ferrabosco II, Fantasia à4, VdGSA No. 9, mm. 1–10 133 3.3 Leonora Duarte, Sinfonia No. 3, mm. 16–20 135 3.4 Leonora Duarte, Sinfonia No. 3, mm. 21–25 136 3.5 Leonora Duarte, Sinfonia No. 3, mm. 26–29 137 3.6 Leonora Duarte, Sinfonia No. 3, mm. 33–36 138 3.7 John Dowland, Lachrimae antiquae, mm. 1–3 139 4.1 Leonora Duarte, Sinfonia No. 4, mm. 1–4 187 4.2 Leonora Duarte, Sinfonia No. 4, mm. 5–8 187 4.3 Leonora Duarte, Sinfonia No. 4, mm. 20–22 188 4.4 Leonora Duarte, Sinfonia No. 4, mm. 23–26 189 4.5 Leonora Duarte, Sinfonia No. 4, mm. 31–34 190 xi List of Appendices 1. Music-Making in the Duarte Household 196 2. Works and/or Composers Known to the Duarte Family 205 3. Guillelmo Calandrini, Letter to Constantijn Huygens, Paris, September 25, 1638 214 4. Anna Roemers Visscher, Poem to Gaspar Duarte, Antwerp, 1640 215 5. Gaspar Duarte, Letter to Constantijn Huygens, Antwerp, November 21, 1640 216 6. Duarte Family Tree 217 7. Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, Two Letters to Leonora Duarte, Antwerp, c. 1650s 218 xii Introduction In the middle of the seventeenth century, Leonora Duarte (1610–1678), a converso living in Antwerp, wrote seven five-part Sinfonias for viol consort. This is the only known seventeenth- century viol music written by a woman and testament to a formidable talent for composition. Born in Antwerp to a prominent family of merchants and art collectors who had immigrated from Portugal in the sixteenth century, Duarte very likely received a superb musical education that included instruction on harpsichord, lute, and viol, as well as lessons in counterpoint.1 Her musical evenings with her siblings quickly made her home a well-known port of call for traveling diplomats and literati, among them Constantijn Huygens, William and Margaret Cavendish, the composer Nicholas Lanier, the Dutch poet Anna Roemers Visscher, the singer Anne de la Barre, and many others. Ethnically Jewish and female, Duarte received no commissions from church or court, and thus the existence of the Sinfonias presents a remarkable opportunity to engage with a marginalized voice and its relationship to the musical canon. This dissertation will consider Duarte and her music as products of diverse influences within the landscape of post-Inquisition Antwerp, as evidence of complex and symbiotic relationships with male contemporaries, and as vital testimony to the cultural accomplishments of women conversos in early modern Europe. It will draw upon musical analysis, critical theory, issues of gender, and my own recording of the works as musical examples (Sonnambula; Centaur Records, 2019). 1 Rudolf A. Rasch, “The Antwerp Duarte Family as Musical Patrons,” in Orlandus Lassus and His Time, Colloquium Proceedings, Antwerp, August 24–26, 1994 (Peer: Alamire, 1995), 418. 1 By excavating little-known repertoire by a female composer, this dissertation engages in the kind of historical work that Suzanne Cusick argues becomes possible once women’s music, and by extension the music making of minority figures in general, is taken into account.2 By uprooting a heretofore obscure composer from a point of inferiority and relative powerlessness to a position of visibility, my feminist investigation provides insight into a multi-voiced and interdisciplinary history.