Female Composers??

[rojo]

Me too. So I had a little look around.

Amy Beach wrote a 'Gaelic' Symphony, which got performed by the Boston S.O., so I fugure it can`t be bad.

Libby Larsen, an American composer, wrote five of them, apparently. Haven`t heard any of them. Yet...

 

[Ouled Nails]

Hello Wunderhorn. Amy Beach (U.S., 1867-1944) wrote a symphony called the "Gaelic Symphony" which has been recorded on a widely found commercial label. The interesting Nadia Boulanger, on the other hand, was so affected by the youthful death of her sister, Lilli Boulanger (1893-1918) that Nadia stopped composing and never exceeded the short opus of her dead sister. But Nadia Boulanger's greatest achievements, other than being the first woman to conduct a symphony orchestra, in London, were mainly pedagogical. Her students include Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, Walter Piston and numerous other famous composers.Her sister, Lilli, was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, for a cantata. Her music, somewhat impressionistic, always very poetic, has also been recorded on several labels. Good luck in your search!

 

[Ouled Nails]

I see that rojo and I are on the same wave length!

 

[rojo]

Apparently, lol! :grin:

 

[Art Rock]

Amy Beach' Gaelic symphony and Libby Larsens Water Music symphony are both well worth hearing!
Gubaidulina and Ustvolskaya are amongst the best late 20th century composers in my opinion.

 

[Kromme]

Dame Ethel Smith is one of the greatest woman composers.Her music was even championed by Sir Thomas Beecham who did not have very favourable views about in classical music

 

[Kromme]

Dame Ethel Smith is one of the greatest woman composers.Her music was even championed by Sir Thomas Beecham who did not have very favourable views about women in classical music

That is what i tried to post earlier

 

[mm75]

Emma Kodály. I don't know her oeuvre (mostly piano pieces and Lieds), but now I feel like getting acquainted with it.

 

[Krummhorn]

Pamela Decker, American composer and organist here in the Southwestern US. She is also Assoc Professor of Organ/Music Theory at the University of Arizona.

 

[Nullifidian]

Nadia Boulanger
Clara Schumann

These women were both fine composers, and their have been many more in the 20th century, I'm sure. I personally would like to hear a women's symphony!

Go search out the symphonies of Louise Farrenc. You'll be glad you did.

 

[mm75]

Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677). Nice music! :clap:
http://kopszak.mnw.art.pl/as/uccellini-en.html

 

[rojo]

Hmm, nice find, mm75.

 

[ses]

Kaija Saariaho born 1952. Finnish (what else?). I have a lovely record with "Private Gardens" from Ondine ODE 906-2.
She works mostly with electroacoustics muisc.

 

[zlya]

I believe that the gender of a composer has exactly as much significance as their sexual preference. Though perhaps of some analytical interest, in evaluating music gender should not matter, nor occasion any particular remark. I eagerly await the day when female composers are known for their music, rather than their gender, and forum topics such as this one are rendered as ridiculous as discussions about which composers had blond hair or cleft chins.

 

[NaxosUSA]

I didn't see the incredible female American composer Joan Tower mentioned. She's been a part of some recordings for us here at Naxos. She has just come off a tour of playing her newest work, "Made In America" with over 80 performances by 65 orchestras.

David

 

[Theodor Ulieriu]

Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre

I see that no one mentioned here Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guere (1665-1729), French prodigy child, harpsichord virtuoso and composer. Besides being acclaimed by Louis XIV and the Versailles court at the age of 5, count her among the first composers to introduce cantatas and trio-sonatas in France and as the first woman to compose a tragedie lyrique (Cephale et Procris, 1694). To my mind, totally unignorable.

 

[rojo]

I believe that the gender of a composer has exactly as much significance as their sexual preference. Though perhaps of some analytical interest, in evaluating music gender should not matter, nor occasion any particular remark. I eagerly await the day when female composers are known for their music, rather than their gender, and forum topics such as this one are rendered as ridiculous as discussions about which composers had blond hair or cleft chins.

I absolutely agree with you, zlya. Unfortunately, it may take a while...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/arts/music/01wome.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Hopefully the NY Times won`t mind me quoting from the article here-

''Yet evidently music by women still needs champions; women remain strikingly underrepresented in the ranks of composers. According the American Symphony Orchestra League, 1 percent of the music American orchestras played in 2004-5 was written by women. That figure jumped to 2 percent in 2005-6, thanks to Ms. Joan Tower, who was the most-played living composer over that season because of the project “Made in America,” a commissioned work played by 65 orchestras around the country.
This statistic also reflects, of course, that most orchestral music performed today comes from a core repertory of works written by a pantheon of men; 19th-century female composers are unlikely ever to become more than an interesting footnote. Yet even among living composers, women represent a distinct minority.''

Maybe women fare better in chamber music repertoire, etc.?

 

[rojo]

Apparently Ms. Tower now curates a new festival promoting women composers-

http://www.scena.org/brand/brand.as...//www.playbillarts.com/news/article/6588.html

 

[tomato]

When I was living in Knoxville, Tennessee, the radio station had a special on women composers. Of course, Amy Beach was included. I remember the name Helen Hopechurch, and I thought her music was quite melodious.

I read somewhere that Amy Beach was married to a big-time male chauvinist businessman who inhibited her work. Most of her most ambitious compositions were written after her husband's death.

I also read somewhere that Felix Mendelssohn took his dear little sister aside and explained to her that composing music was not lady-like. However, he would be glad to include some of her short piano pieces in his forthcoming Songs Without Words.

Queen Victoria once designated one of those pieces as her favorite, not realizing that it was written by Felix's little sister.

 

[some guy]

and

Michele Bokanowski
Beatriz Ferreyra
Pauline Oliveros
Eliane Radigue
Christine Groult
Alice Shields
Ana-Maria Avram
Christina Kubisch
Elsa Justel
Francoise Barriere
Zeena Parkins
Roxanne Turcotte
Frances Marie Uitti

Well, there's at least a short list of particularly good composers. Other than the ones already mentioned, that is.

(Hi rojo. Looks like a nice place y'all got here...)