Le donne di Isone - Suite Corale

The project "Suite corale / Chorische Suite / Suite chorale" sheds light on
little-known stories set in various Swiss Cantons, paying
tribute to all those women who fought to secure their rights
in the workplace, regarding wages, education, and social life.
The first installment takes us to Ticino, to the small village of Isone,
in the district of Bellinzona, in the year 1820.

It recounts a surprising and little-known episode featuring several unnamed women and a young priest, Don Cesare Trefogli.
The reasons that drove swiss women to fight for their rights are many and profound. But who would have imagined that, once upon a time, one would even have to fight for the right to sing?

In church, among the lay faithful, only men could join their voices
to that of the celebrant. Women were forbidden to sing: an ancient custom, sanctioned by the Church of Rome. As late as 1903, Pope Pius X reiterated in an official document that during liturgical celebrations, only male voices and children’s voices could be heard. The official recognition of women’s participation in Catholic liturgical singing would not come until the Second Vatican Council, in the 1960s. This council changed the liturgical vision, and the choir.

And yet, almost unnoticed, a few exceptions had emerged here and there, especially in small, remote villages, far from the watchful eye
of the church hierarchy. The foresight of Father Cesare Trefogli and the determination of his parishioners are the central elements of this first story, presented within a musical and theatrical framework that highlights the conflicting emotions experienced by all the protagonists but, above all, by them: the women of Isone. Who, without knowing it, were writing a small piece of history.