Religious History and Composition
Many of Isabella's pieces are written for voice, violin and continuo, which was start for the seventeenth century, however she always included tenor and bass parts despite not having anyone in the convent to sing them; it is possible that the convent hired singers for performances, substituted the parts with instruments, or had nuns sing them an octave up. Her music also utilizes tempo changes to highlight specific words in the text, switching between tempos at the change of a phrase and utilizing syllabic language to further animate the text.
Her pieces are also unique in that as the specific type of sacred composition changes, so does her style:
Isabella did not only limit herself to vocal and choral music; she wrote instrumental pieces as well, varying the texture within them by alternating solos between instruments.1 4In her concerted masses and psalm settings, sections for full chorus alternate with solo passages and instrumental ritornellos. Her sacred non-liturgical works frequently have intensely emotional Latin texts, some of which may have been written by Leonarda herself. Four-voice compositions in this genre are conservative: imitative writing is pervasive and the organ provides the only instrumental accompaniment. Works for one to three voices are more modern, closely resembling chamber cantatas in form and melodic style. Many employ instrumental ritornellos and vocal refrains. In her numerous solo motets the sensuous lyricism of the arias balances the intense dramatic expression of the recitatives. Some arias are strophic, but most employ forms utilizing varied repetition. The solo motets reveal the composer at her most expressive: word-painting abounds, and occasional Neapolitan 6ths, augmented 6ths and diminished 7ths enrich the harmonic vocabulary. The vocal writing shows occasional flashes of coloratura, particularly in concluding ‘Alleluia’ sections.