Religious History and Composition
Her masses were huge pieces of music, including soprano, alto, and tenor solos, a four-part chorus, and an orchestra of trumpets, oboes, flutes, violins, and organ, and one of her masses is thought to have been a model for Mozart's 1768 mass. Her greatest work, however, is often considered to be her setting of Psalm 109, Dixit Dominus. This piece drew choral elements from her previous motets and the individual style of her cantatas. It was this composition that secured her title at the Accademia, though it was never performed at their festival.
She set most of her music to the words of her teacher Metastasio, but her motets were written around the Italianized psalm translations of Mattei, who was initially hesitant to have a woman writing the music for his translations. After hearing her compositions, however, he had nothing but praise for her work and immediately sent her more requests.
Marianna was alive in a very unique time and surrounded by people who were able to support and boost her work in composition; had she been born 50 years later, she would not have be afforded the same opportunities. Her impact on female composition is somewhat difficult to ascertain, due to the reactions to her work after her death. Her pieces stopped being performed, and more than half of them were lost.¹ ²