Female Composers??

[hanako sappho]

hi rune vejby, there are lots of female classical composers. Clara Schumann (1819–1896) & Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847) are 2 of the first female classical composers (european) I've come across with. Here are some other female composers (asian, japanese to be exact) who have contributed (and are still contributing...) to music history. They work mostly on video game/anime and film music but the still, they're really good composers:

>Toshiko Akiyoshi (mostly jazz compositions, she has very nice piano compositions for that genre)
>Yoko Kanno (anime/video game composer. she has worked with nobuo uematsu *Final Fantasy Fans will probably know this girl*)
>Yoko Shimomura (anime/video game composer. also in league with nobuo uematsu)
Their compositions are sort of symphonic-like and they use a very wide range of instruments. sometimes they fuse classical orchestras with either japanese folk instruments and/or modern rock/metal instruments. ^_^

[Corno Dolce]

Hmmm - Jeanne Demessieux came first to mind...

[tomato]

When I was a kid, my favorite hymn was this one:

http://www.breadsite.org/psheet4/ope...0may%20see.jpg

I liked it partly for its multiplicity of dominant seventh chords,
although at the time, I didn't know enough music theory to know what a dominant seventh chord was.

I recently looked up Clara H. Scott's name on the Internet.
She was a music instructor at a women's college.
She was also the first woman to compile a hymnal.

[avguste]

Also Raina Murnak from the University of Miami-Florida

[methodistgirl]

What about Fanny Crosby? In this day and age you have Dolly Pardon,
Carole King, and here in kentucky two are Loretta Lynn, and Dottie Rambo.
Just listen and look around. That's all that"s all I know about right now.
judy tooley

[avguste]

So actually it seems there are quite a few woman composers

[Corno Dolce]

Then there is Elfrieda Andree - the first woman organist of a Diocesan Cathedral in Sweden. She wrote organ symphonies, masses, chamber music, and other interesting fare.

[methodistgirl]

The ones that I mentioned earlier in another answer are the only ones
that I know of. Amy Grant is another one.
judy tooley

[Ouled Nails]

Second try. First post didn't get through on this busy Thanksgiving Day.

Of course there are lots of female composers, male composers too! In fact, the vast majority of composers are not any more familiar to classic music lovers than your neighborhood plumber. But which female composers stand out during the Early Music, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Post-Romantic, Modern, and Contemporary periods?

That is the unanswered question!

[Mahlon]

eleanor cory is a very good modern female composer http://www.eleanorcory.com/

[FranzD'epinay]

In my judgement, some of Clara Schumann's music can be considered outstanding, although it seems that she, as her letters attest, did not feel that she was particularly gifted as a composer, and she clearly saw her talents as being inferior to those of her husband and her friend Brahms. As Ms. Schumann wrote in her diary in 1839: "I once thought that is possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose. There has never been one able to do it. Should I expect to be that one?" And while one might not be so quick as to place her on the same pedestal as Brahms, I would not write her off completely. But since the title of this post is "female composers" I feel that it is valuable to remember that any distinction between music written by women or music written by men is mere polemic, unless it supersedes an initial distinction between "good" and "bad" music. Schumann, is an extraordinary composer, not quite as "good" as Brahms or her husband Robert. I think I am correct in making the judgement that the majority of female composers are very bad when judged in comparison to the male composers of their respective eras. The issue of gender should arise only after the aesthetic achievement is judged as such.

[Ouled Nails]

As I stated, above, the fast majority of all composers remain mostly unknown today. Hence, the dichotomy between "very bad" female composers and outstanding male geniuses is a smokescreen proportionate to forest fires in this era of global warming. It isn't a matter of comparing male and female composers but of determining the proportion of memorable composers in each gender groups. As women composers were, until recently, far fewer than males, then the question becomes how many memorable female composers are there in proportion to the total number of female composers. If somebody can figure that out, in both gender groups, then will it be possible to assess who fared the best.

[FranzD'epinay]

I agree with you, BUT I really do not see how gender enters into it, not even to assess who fared the best in their respective gender groups. Example: I really don't think it matters that there are more females composing now than ever, as in my judgement there are no modern composers, male or female, in either gender, that meet the highest aesthetic and cognitive standards that music can exemplify - i.e. MOZART. Personally I do not think there has been any good music since Shostakovich and Stravinsky. But back to my point, music should NEVER be taught or studied on the basis of gender - i.e. a course called "female composers through-out the centuries". Using gender IN ANY WAY to evaluate the artistic merit of validity of a work is to say the least, a horrible absurdity and a debasement of the arts. HENCE, while I do concur with your statement, I will go one further and say that it is not even a matter of determining the proportion of "memorable"* composers in each gender group, but rather determining the proportion of good composers - composers who wrote music of the highest cognitive and aesthetic standards regardless of gender - to mediocre composers. To do as you propose, would be an exercise in futility as one will inevitably be able to assess "who fared the best."

[ALGERNON]

But which female composers stand out during the Early Music, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Post-Romantic, Modern, and Contemporary periods?

That is the unanswered question!

If representation-by-category is to be the law, then the demise of music criticism and appreciation cannot be far off. Mozart and Bach were European males; is that really worth remarking? It is not ironical that, in these dark ages, music is not of a higher quality than its criticism. While it is true that Schubert had little authentic critical response in his lifetime, he at least did not have to endure a cultural situation fundamentally hostile to aesthetic and cognitive standards of judgement. Whatever the case may be, I really do not understand the function of this topic.

It seems to me
merely to be
meaningless prate.

And this further validates Clarissa's and D'Epinay's claim that this board is hardly the royal road to enlightenment. If someone has an argument, I welcome them to air it.

[Ouled Nails]

Reply to Franz d'Epinay and to Algernon:
You are both trying, in your respective discourses, to pass on the very judgemental opinion that no classical music of worth was created after the nineteenth century (when female composers became more noticeable).

Answer: I disagree totally and entirely, however "cultivated" the rhetoric.
It's not even worth arguing.