The musical culture of the female monastic institution called La Concezione, or il monastero nuovo, reflected the political, social and devotional objectives of the Medici court. In 1562, at the close of the Council of Trent, the convent was founded through the last testament of Grand Duchess Eleonora de Toledo de'Medici with the support of Grand Duke Cosimo I's personal knighthood-- the Cavalieri di Santo Stefano. Glorified as a "reformed" institution reflecting the piety of Florence and the rectitude of the Medici family, the public image of the convent required strict adherence to Catholic Reformation ideals of female virtue. Musically, the women of the convent restricted their public performance to monophonic chant. The only universally approved music for monastics, chant was thought to be the most appropriate form of public musical devotion for the virginal daughters of the court. In private, the patrician women perhaps enjoyed the popular polyphonic music that the vast resources of their families, the Florentine court, and their superiors, afforded them. The public image of perfection was of the utmost importance to the Medici; polyphonic performance was only allowed in the most private spaces of the cloister--away from the public eyes and ears. A counter-example to recent scholarship, this view of female monastic music is in contrast to studies that have highlighted examples of wealthy convents that actively sought opportunities for polyphonic performance as part of their public character. This dissertation relies on various extant archival documents of the convent, the Order of Santo Stefano and the Medici family in an examination of the role that music played in both the public and private spheres of the most elite convent of early modern Florence. / text

This thesis is focused on the life stories of four nuns of St. Vincent de Paul during the period of communist administration in Czechoslovakia. Between the years 1948 and 1989 the communist government persecuted all orders, whether male or female, confining their members in internment camps where they often were not provided even the most basic needs. The communist regime also prevented the orders from their activities and forbade them to accept new members. The most important part of this paper consists of the four life-stories of nuns - stories which tell us why they decided to join the order during this particular period which was so very unfavorable for the orders, then they depict how the regime was treating them and how they were actually able to survive these difficult times. To be of aid to others is among the highest priorities for nuns, and thus, they were able to endure this period without a single hateful word against their occupiers. They accepted it as their destiny, knowing that they had to work in terrible working conditions and were forced to do strenuous physical labor. This thesis uses the method of oral history - interviews with the nuns of St. Vincent. The opening chapters serve as a supplement to this information and were compiled on the basis of available literature. Last but...