The one-act opera Suor Angelica is set in the cloisters of an Italian convent at the end of the seventeenth century. Of noble birth, Angelica has been a nun for seven years, forced there by her family as punishment for an unknown sin. When her aunt visits her, she tells Angelica that her child had died. This terrible news becomes the reason for her only aria, Senza Mamma, a heart-wrenching song of restraint and dignity to her little 'angel in heaven' (Angelo del Cielo). The ...