Divas in the Convent : The University of Chicago Press : 9780226535197 : 0226535193 : 12 Jun 2012 : When eight-year-old Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana (1590&;1662) entered one of the preeminent convents in Bologna in 1598, she had no idea what cloistered life had in store for her. Thanks to clandestine instruction from a local maestro di cappella&;and despite the church hierarchy&;s vehement opposition to all convent music&;Vizzana became the star of the convent, composing works so thoroughly modern and expressive that a recent critic described them as &;historical treasures.&; But at the very moment when Vizzana&;s works appeared in 1623&;she would be the only Bolognese nun ever to publish her music&;extraordinary troubles beset her and her fellow nuns, as episcopal authorities arrived to investigate anonymous allegations of sisterly improprieties with male members of their order.            Craig A. Monson retells the story of Vizzana and the nuns of Santa Cristina to elucidate the role tha