Europa Rossi: A Question of Identity

Abstract

Europa Rossi appears as a musician on Mantuan Court payrolls between 1589 and 1592. Listed as “Europa di Rossi” and “M.^a Europa his [Salamone Rossi’s] sister,” she performed for events at the Gonzaga Court and has the distinction of being the only known professional Jewish woman musician in sixteenth-century Mantua. Despite this, “Madama Europa,” as she is popularly known, remains a mysterious figure. Due to limited surviving biographical evidence and a lack of published works, constructing a clear image of Europa Rossi has proven to be particularly challenging; up to this point, Don Harrán’s 1995 article in Festa Musicologica remained the most comprehensive study. However, Europa Rossi operated within a thriving community of Jewish and non-Jewish performers who engaged with contemporary performance practices and repertoire, and her activities provide an opportunity to explore the conflicts and alignments of those practices with Jewish culture and music-making. This essay reinvestigates archival evidence, explores musical events concurrent with her activities, and reevaluates her role within Jewish and Italian communities. In doing so, I aim to provide a more comprehensive view of Europa Rossi’s individual identity and her role within the complex fabric of her overlapping, and sometimes conflicting, environments.