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for unity between men and women, or through exhibitions of her merit as philosopher and
composer, Casulana exposed the “conceited error of men” by proving that she too possessed the
“high gifts of the intellect.”
Madalena Casulana sought not only to have a voice within the male dominated society of
sixteenth-century Italy through her music, but to use her music to illustrate the flaws and failings
of a society based on exclusion and domination of women. Adopting and reapplying the sexual
metaphors of madrigal literature, Madalena worked within this male dominated genre and
transformed the feminine objects into human actors, partners with the male poetic speakers. Her
manipulation of musical semantics, text, and metaphor reveal an emphasis on a more egalitarian
view of male-female relations. In her efforts to reveal to men that they are not the only
possessors of the “high gifts of the intellect,” Madalena sought to equalize sexual relations in
poetry, replacing the hunted, conquered, and victimized women of male sexual fantasy with
living, breathing partners in sexual union. Rather than denounce or attack men, Casulana
elevated herself through musical manipulation, asserting equality with men and emphasizing that
intelligence is not gender specific. Madalena Casulana found her voice within the realm of the
sixteenth-century Italian madrigal, taking up the responsibility for showing the world that
women, through work of their own, not hindered by gender stereotypes, nor needing to
impersonate men, can possess the gift of intellect and produce great works of art.
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