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Maria Xaveria Peruchona (1652–after 1709)

Maria Xaveria Peruchona (or Parruchona) was born in the northern Italian town of Gozzano. At the age of sixteen she entered the Ursuline convent in Galliate, where she apparently studied music with Francesco Beria and Antonio Grosso. She suffered from poor health throughout her life, and died in the convent sometime after 1709. Her only known musical output was Sacri concerti de motetti a una, due, tre, e quattro voci, parte con violini, e parte senza, published in 1675 by Francesco Vigone of Milan. Of the eighteen pieces in this collection, the works for smaller ensembles are particularly fine. Her texts, while lacking the polished eloquence of her fellow Ursuline, Isabella Leonarda, are intensely personal and deeply felt.

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