# Female composers



## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Here's a society devoted to them: http://www.kapralova.org/JOURNAL.htm

I'd like to see everyone's listening suggestions, because this is a subject that deserves to be surveyed. A great many lists on classical music are generated, that aren't populated by a single female. This brings out the Abigail Adams in me, because I have to tell you all that the quorum seems biased.


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## Guest (Oct 12, 2011)

Seems to me it's a prejudice against recent music more than it is a prejudice against women, as most women composers are still alive (or only recently deceased, like Maryanne Amacher).

Though several female composers have mentioned to me that the music world is still a male-dominated world. It'll be nice when that has changed.

For orchestral/instrumental, I'd suggest Thea Musgrave, Rebecca Saunders, and Chaya Czernowin. There are many more.

For electroacoustic, I'd suggest Michele Bokanowski (if you can find any--her CDs have a nasty habit of going out of print way too soon), Christine Groult, and Berangere Maximin. There are so many more, I can't believe I just mentioned three. Beatriz Ferreyra, Natasha Barrett, Elsa Justel, Diane Simpson (now Salazar), Marisol Jimenez, Hildegard Westerkamp, Alice Shields... Nope, too many. Must. Stop. Listing.

For live electronics, I'd suggest Pauline Oliveros (though she could easily have gone into the previous list), Lyn Goeringer (don't think there are any commercial recordings), Andrea Neumann, and Zeena Parkins. There are many more.

For minimal (not the pattern variety, the drone and or very stripped down varieties), I'd suggest Sachiko M, Eliane Radigue, and Maryanne Amacher. There are many more.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

IMHO the bias is cultural rather than internal to this forum. However, I will start the list by suggesting one of the best living composers in America who also just happens to be female: Jennifer Higdon. I would suggest starting with Blue Cathedral, then her Percussion Concerto and Violin Concerto. All are top shelf compositions.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

Here is a decent list of 284 classical female composers from a source I use often for reference.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

There are quite a few female classical composers here in *Australia*. Ones whose work I've come across to more or lesser extent and whom I can recommend are now deceased ones like *Miriam Hyde, Margaret Sutherland, Peggy-Glanville Hicks*. These had strong connections with UK & Europe, spent a lot of time there & so their music sounds more European than typically Australian. Two living ones whose work I quite like are *Anne Boyd *and *Elena Kats-Chernin*. They're quite eclectic now but their roots were in minimalism. THIS recording with Kats-Chernin's _Piano Concerto #2_ played by one of our finest pianists, Ian Munro, is a favourite of mine.

Some international female composers whose music I came across last year in a concert of choral music involving electronics were the Finnish *Kaija Saariaho* (whose music is well known by some members of TC) and also a young emerging Polish composer called *Kasia Glowicka* whose work was the highlight of that concert for me, kind of dramatic, a mix of classical, electro and techno beats, quite groovy it was.

That's what immediately came to my mind, anyway...


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

My God!!! has hell frozen over?? I thought that it was actually possible that this day would eventually come... that according to the simple laws of odds it would have to happen eventually... but who would have thought it could be so soon?!!! In spite of all that has transpired up to now, I have actually found that I quite enjoy what I am hearing by one of the composers recommended by some guy!!! I looked up Thea Musgrave on Spotify and found a disc of music by her entitled _Turbulent Landscapes_ which is actually quite good. No turntables, electronic scribbles, or sounds like fingers careening down the blackboard. Check her out!


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich - American composer born 1939


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## Guest (Oct 12, 2011)

*@ all posters.*
Can I suggest that it would be very user friendly to include short or even long clips of suggested music after all if you like it you should have it in your collection. The rest is easy


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

some guy said:


> Seems to me it's a prejudice against recent music more than it is a prejudice against women, *as most women composers are still alive (or only recently deceased, like Maryanne Amacher*).


Mm, I dunno about _most._ There are definitely a lot more women making a profession of composing today than there used to be, as societal prohibitions on their doing so have relaxed. However, there are loads of terrific dead female composers very few people seem to have heard of. I always hear people naming Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, and Alma Mahler, who are far from my favorite 19c female composers, and seem to me to have gained fame disproportionate to their relative talents due to their associations with very famous male composers.

I really like *Louise Farrenc* (1804-1875, French), who wrote three well-structured, exciting symphonies. People mainly know her for her chamber music, it seems to me because it's easier to get small groups of musicians to record pieces by obscure dead women than to get a symphony orchestra to do so. But, good as her chamber music is, her symphonies deserve more recognition, IMO. 
*
Elfrida Andree* (1841-1929, Swedish) wrote in a rather nationalistic but still very individual style. The suite from her opera _Fritiof_ is really good. So is her first Swedish Mass (she wrote two, but I haven't heard the second), which is very varied and beautiful. Her music sounds like Scandinavia to me in kind of the same way as Sibelius', and also shows some Wagnerian influence.

*Ethel Smyth* (1858-1944, English) wrote the only opera by a women ever to be performed at the Met, _Der Wald._ She wrote six operas, but I think only one has been recorded commercially, and that is The Wreckers. And it's _awesome,_ and super dramatic. And I made a thread about it last summer: The Wreckers (It's got youtube clips.) Smyth was also a suffrage activist. Once, she got thrown in jail for smashing a window at a suffrage demonstration. While in jail, she conducted other imprisoned suffragists in the singing of her suffrage anthem "March of the Women"--with her toothbrush.

Violists should check out *Rebecca Clarke* (1886-1979, English), who was a virtuoso violist herself and wrote several beautiful compositions for viola. Her work shows influence both from impressionists and from English folk music, and the blend is very interesting. She was good friends with Vaughan Williams and they mutually influenced each other. My favorite thing by her is her "Three Irish Country Songs" for voice and violin.

Until last year, I only knew of *Germain Tailleferre* (1892-1983, French) as a member of _Les Six_ and hadn't really bothered listening to her music. But there's so much of it, and it's so varied and wonderful! Her style adapted a lot over the course of her long compositional career. I recommend listening to her early, colorful _"Image"_ for Eight Instruments and then her late, dry, partially serialist (and interesting!) Sonata for Solo Clarinet. My very favorite Tailleferre composition, though, is her Harp Sonata, which is probably her most performed work today.

My favorite living female composer (as far as I know, so far) is *Kaija Saariaho* (b. 1952, Finnish). Her music usually combines electronic and acoustic instruments. My favorite thing I've heard by her is Six Japanese Gardens, for Percussion and Electronics. It's very sparse, but very cool, and always makes me listen very intently.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Andante said:


> *@ all posters.*
> Can I suggest that it would be very user friendly to include short or even long clips of suggested music after all if you like it you should have it in your collection. The rest is easy


I'd love to, but unfortunately, when it comes to tech savvy, I tend to remind people of their grandmothers. Somebody should teach me how to do that (other than youtube clips--many of the pieces I have recommended are not on youtube).


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Meaghan said:


> Mm, I dunno about _most._ There are definitely a lot more women making a profession of composing today than there used to be, as societal prohibitions on their doing so have relaxed. However, there are loads of terrific dead female composers very few people seem to have heard of. I always hear people naming Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, and Alma Mahler, who are far from my favorite 19c female composers, and seem to me to have gained fame disproportionate to their relative talents due to their associations with very famous male composers.
> 
> I really like *Louise Farrenc* (1804-1875, French), who wrote three well-structured, exciting symphonies. People mainly know her for her chamber music, it seems to me because it's easier to get small groups of musicians to record pieces by obscure dead women than to get a symphony orchestra to do so. But, good as her chamber music is, her symphonies deserve more recognition, IMO.
> *
> ...


Those are some names I'd like to expand my personal and youtube libraries with.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Louise Bertin*:










A French poet and composer from the 19th century, that was able to stage at thirty years old the opera _La Esmeralda_, based on "Notre-Dame de Paris" with a libretto by Victor Hugo himself. It was not a big success, but it was recovered a couple of years ago in France, and a CD was published:










A sample in youtube:


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

A few who haven't been mentioned yet:

*Amy Beach* (1867 - 1944)





*Elisabetta Brusa* (b 1954)





*Sofia Gubaidulina* (b 1931)





*Elizabeth Maconchy* (1907 - 1994)





*Galina Ustvolskaya* (1919 - 2006)





*Pauline Viardot* [née García](1821 - 1910)


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Not mentioned yet: Grazyna Bacewicz. Brilliant violin concertos and string quartets.

From AllMusic: Bacewicz's earliest works were for violin or for piano, but starting with a 1933 wind quintet, her catalog quickly grew more diverse. At first, she was primarily interested in classical forms: sonatas, quartets, partitas, and so on. By the end of World War II, though, she had become more fascinated by counterpoint, as can be heard in her four surviving symphonies and in her seven violin concertos, in addition to her two piano sonatas. Bacewicz's music from the early '50s was receiving considerable attention and praise, most notably her fourth and fifth string quartets, her third symphony, and her fourth violin concerto. She essentially put away her violin around 1955 to devote more time to composing. By 1961, with the chamber orchestra work Pensieri notturni, she was attempting to come to terms with serial organization, a struggle Bacewicz eventually abandoned. With her viola concerto, Bacewicz's last major work, she began to return to the earlier idiom that had made her name in the 1950s.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

Bacewicz was next on my list, were one allowed to post more than 6 videos in a post. Bacewicz was a very fine composer.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Judith Weir, British composer that has written one of the best operas in the last thirty years, in my view, _A Night at the Chinese Opera_.

A couple of youtubes:


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Martin


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Some links for composers I was talking about earlier on this thread -

*Kasia Glowicka* - her website & pieces by her HERE.

*Elena Kats-Chernin* - First movt. of her Piano Concerto #2 played by Ian Munro

A piano piece by *Miriam Hyde*.

Gymnopedie #1 by *Peggy Glanville-Hicks*.

A choral piece by *Anne Boyd*.

I cannot find anything by Margaret Sutherland on youtube...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Meaghan said:


> ...
> ...*Germain Tailleferre* (1892-1983, French) as a member of _Les Six_...My very favorite Tailleferre composition, though, is her *Harp Sonata*, which is probably her most performed work today.
> 
> ...


That very work has been a recent discovery for me (& a very pleasant one, besides), HERE is a review, incl. youtube clip, I did earlier of it on another thread...


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Oops, I spelled Germaine wrong and now I can't edit my post.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Meaghan said:


> I really like *Louise Farrenc* (1804-1875, French), who wrote three well-structured, exciting symphonies. People mainly know her for her chamber music, it seems to me because it's easier to get small groups of musicians to record pieces by obscure dead women than to get a symphony orchestra to do so. But, good as her chamber music is, her symphonies deserve more recognition, IMO.


Indeed. I love this CD, not to mention the symphonies also on the CPO label.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present you the first (or one of the first) lady composers in western classical music history who actually challenged her times by way of composing and *publishing her own music*. You ought to know that being a composer was no recognised profession for a lady during her times. She even had the artistic audacity to publish her own works not under a pseudonym, but under her real name. Evidence of that in the clip below, deliberately chosen. _Harpsichord Pieces by Mademoiselle de La Guerre_. Like most French Baroque keyboard music, it is subtle, understated and elegant (in contrast to the richness of dexterity often seen in say, Italian pieces). Naxos has released a CD of some of her harpsichord music.

*Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre* (1665-1729)


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Ruth Crawford Seeger, _Suite for wind quintet_:


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

From the Austrian avant-garde composer Olga Neuwirth, the trumpet concerto "miramondo multiplo":


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## jdavid (Oct 4, 2011)

I know this isn't the place for it, so please forgive me - but, I must mention Rachel Portman, the British composer (b. 1960) of motion picture soundtracks - of her many credits I would mention especially 'The Cider House Rules' (1999) and 'Chocolat' (2000).
Effortless melodic and atmospheric music!


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Priaulx Rainier (1903-1986)*

_Cello concerto_


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## Guest (Oct 28, 2011)

The emprientes DIGITALes site has many clips. You have to do a fair amount of clicking to get to them. Easiest for this thread's purpose is to click on "97 composers" on the left under the word "Welcome," then click on "by gender."

That gets you to the 19 women they have recorded. (I don't know how they derived any of their numbers. I counted 19 women and 24 CDs. Neither of those numbers are 30, which is the number they report. They have 73 male composers (101 is their number)--I didn't count the male CDs. 73 plus 19 makes 92, too, not 97. And 101 plus 30 makes 131, not 97.)

That's a nice place to hear a lot of generous samples, though.

A lot of women composers have gone into electronics. One, it's easier to compete in a man's world if you have fewer people to organize. A woman writing for instruments is immediately confronted with at least one other person to convince. A woman writing for electronics has only to buy some equipment. Two, a lot of composers, male or female, have gone into electronics just for the sounds and for the possibilities electronics opens up. Plus, if you're a control freak, electronics gives you total control over everything. If you're into indeterminacy, at the other extreme, electronics gives you unlimited possibilities for setting up indeterminate situations as well.

As the emprientesDIGITALes ratio indicates, women still have to compete with a lot of men. The advantage for us listeners is that to get performances and recording contracts, women have to put forth their very best work. Generally speaking, men can be much sloppier and put out much less than their best and still get performances and recording contracts. So you're likelier to get quality work by a female composer than from a male composer. 

Of course there are exceptions. That's why I said "likelier"!!

If you allow improvisation, then there's a lot of women in live electronics. There are tons of youtube clips of the likes of Andrea Neumann, Zeena Parkins, Sachiko M, Lyn Goeringer, Katsura Mouri, and people like that.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

My current favorite is *Cecile Chaminade*, largely because I began enjoying her music for its own sake without being aware of her gender. (I figured if Camille Saint-Saens was a dude, Cecile probably was too.) Her work is melodic and engaging.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

some guy said:


> If you allow improvisation, then there's a lot of women in live electronics. There are tons of youtube clips of the likes of Andrea Neumann, Zeena Parkins, Sachiko M, Lyn Goeringer, Katsura Mouri, and people like that.


Seriously, I randomly picked Lyn Goeringer, and this was what I got at youtube. Bizzare & fringe stuff. Amusing qualities more than anything. And if you look at the audience numbers, the concert hall / theatre seemed much less than half filled. 

Is this music or what? But someone will love it and think it's great. I'm adding it to my favourites ...


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present you the first (or one of the first) lady composers in western classical music history who actually challenged her times by way of composing and *publishing her own music*. . . . Like most French Baroque keyboard music, it is subtle, understated and elegant (in contrast to the richness of dexterity often seen in say, Italian pieces).


You certainly may. I'm still trying to wrap my head around thge idea of French Baroque as subtle or understated, though I'll buy the elegant description. Thanks for this piece.



schigolch said:


> Ruth Crawford Seeger, _Suite for wind quintet_:


^This is the coolest new (to me) piece of music I've come across in a long time. It's so motive oriented I have visions of molecules combining and separating in my head.



HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Seriously, I randomly picked Lyn Goeringer, and this was what I got at youtube. Bizzare & fringe stuff. Amusing qualities more than anything. And if you look at the audience numbers, the concert hall / theatre seemed much less than half filled.
> 
> Is this music or what? But someone will love it and think it's great. I'm adding it to my favourites ...


^This is weirdly sensuous. I think it is more interesting to watch than to listen to, or rather it would be incomplete if it were merely a CD track. Even more than opera, it is meant to be both seen and heard.


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## Guest (Oct 29, 2011)

Seriously HC, how many months has it been now that you've been following my posts from thread to thread, finding youtube clips to go with things I mention and expressing bewilderment, incredulity and disdain.

Seriously, if you had spent that time actually listening to some music, getting to know it and perhaps even like it, don't you think that would have been time better spent? 

As it is, there's all this cool music out there, and all you seem capable of doing is commenting on the size of the audience or expostulating about how fringe and bizarre this stuff is. Doesn't that seem like a waste of time and energy?

At least you take the time that I am not taking to post clips!! That's useful, even if the accompanying "What the hells" are a tad tedious.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

some guy said:


> At least you take the time that I am not taking to post clips!! That's useful, even if the accompanying "What the hells" are a tad tedious.


Thanks, my friend. I'm doing my very best to promote avant-garde music in my humble way. I mean, if it wasn't for me, Lyn G-whatever would go by unnoticed today, not even member violadude would have had the opportunity to enjoy her box-perversion, ooops, I meant box-performance. Look forward to my next promotion, after your recommendation of course. Cheers, HC.


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## hocket (Feb 21, 2010)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present you the first (or one of the first) lady composers in western classical music history


Okay HC, I'll go you one better with some Barbara Strozzi (c.1619-c.1677):


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

English composer Rebecca Saunders is one of the most interesting contemporary voices, male or female. This is a chamber piece from the 1990s, _Into the Blue_:


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## Guest (Oct 29, 2011)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Look forward to my next promotion, after your recommendation of course. Cheers, HC.


Oh I do. I can hardly wait!


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)

Japanese women are more well-known than western women composers. This is due to music education in Japanese schools being stricter and more thorough from a younger age compared to the west. As a result you have more Japanese women composers.

Japanese work ethics and workforce structure may also have an effect. The Japanese have in-house composers that stay with the company for many years and move up through the positions. The west tends to use freelance composers as this is cheaper. As a result fewer women become big names or celebrated in Western Video Game Music.

Akari Kaida
Asuka Ohta
Ayako Saso
Ellen Meijers-Gabriel
Eveline Novakovic
Fumie Kumatani
Hitomi Sato
Jun Chikuma
Junko Ozawa
Kazuko Umino
Kinuyo Yamashita
Kumi Tanioka
Luna Umegaki
Manami Matsumae
Mari Yamaguchi
Mariko Nanba
Michiko Naruke
Michiru Oshima
Michiru Yamane
Mieko Ishikawa
Minako Hamano
Miyoko Takaoka
Noriko Matsueda
Rika Muranaka
Saori Kobayashi
Shinobu Amayake
Soyo Oka
Tamayo Kawamoto
Tomoko Sasaki
Yoko Shimomura
Yoshino Aoki
Yuka Tsujiyoko
Yuko Takehara
Yumiko Kanki
Laura Shigihara
Nobuko Toda
Yoko Kanno
Yuki Kajiura
Utada Hikaru
Miki Higashino
Maki Kirioka
Tamayo Kawamoto
Pinar Toprak


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Sadly, I've not done enough study into people who write video game music, even though some of them are great composers.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present you the first (or one of the first) lady composers in western classical music history who actually challenged her times by way of composing and *publishing her own music*. You ought to know that being a composer was no recognised profession for a lady during her times. She even had the artistic audacity to publish her own works not under a pseudonym, but under her real name.


Not that she wasn't a badass, but it probably helped that Louis XIV was her patron.


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## Guest (Oct 30, 2011)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Seriously, I randomly picked Lyn Goeringer, and this was what I got at youtube. Bizzare & fringe stuff. Amusing qualities more than anything. And if you look at the audience numbers, the concert hall / theatre seemed much less than half filled.
> 
> Is this music or what? But someone will love it and think it's great. I'm adding it to my favourites ...


Oh yes absolutely blooming luvly, and she did it from memory amazing. I wonder what the score looked like??
HC if you do come across any more of this try to resist the urge to share.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Aleksandra Vrebalov is a Serbian composer, resident in the United States. Sometime ago I heard this piece in a recital by the Kronos Quartet:

_Pannonia Boundless_

that caught my attention, first for the evocative "Roman Empire" flavour of the title, and then by the homage to the folklore music of the 'pannonian' gypsies. This is very approachable music, suitable for all type of sensibilities:


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## Toddlertoddy (Sep 17, 2011)

Bumping this because why are there barely any female composers compared to male? I can understand that there aren't many non-whites because the music is from Europe (derp). (I really hate when people say classical music is elitist and back it up with that statement.) It's like saying Indian classical music is dominated by mostly Indians.

But why female? Visual arts are becoming more balanced (e.g. performance art), so why not music?


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## Guest (Jul 11, 2012)

Shhhhhh you will wake up our tame Tiger 'some guy'


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present you the first (or one of the first) lady composers in western classical music history who actually challenged her times by way of composing and *publishing her own music*. You ought to know that being a composer was no recognised profession for a lady during her times. She even had the artistic audacity to publish her own works not under a pseudonym, but under her real name. Evidence of that in the clip below, deliberately chosen. _Harpsichord Pieces by Mademoiselle de La Guerre_. Like most French Baroque keyboard music, it is subtle, understated and elegant (in contrast to the richness of dexterity often seen in say, Italian pieces). Naxos has released a CD of some of her harpsichord music.
> 
> *Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre* (1665-1729)


Hildegard von Bingen


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Moira said:


> Hildegard von Bingen


Sappho (born c. 612 BCE)
Khosrovidukht (fl. early 8th century)
Sahakduxt (fl. early 8th century)
Kassia (c.810-before 867)

_I WIN_


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

Toddlertoddy said:


> Bumping this because why are there barely any female composers compared to male? I can understand that there aren't many non-whites because the music is from Europe (derp). (I really hate when people say classical music is elitist and back it up with that statement.) It's like saying Indian classical music is dominated by mostly Indians.
> 
> But why female? Visual arts are becoming more balanced (e.g. performance art), so why not music?


You need to check up on your sociological history (from which music and the other arts are not immune). It is only in the last one hundred years that women have been properly enfranchised. Before this, it was frowned upon, even forbidden, for women to be creative artists. That was not their place, after all. Yes, there have been a few exceptions over the last thousand years or so, but their number is TINY compared to the 99.9% of men who dominated the musical world (not only as composers, but as performers as well).

All this means that women have an awful lot of catching up to do - about 900 years' worth of catching up. Some men still seem to be threatened by women and see female composers and conductors (and sometimes even other instrumentalists) as somehow inferior to their male counterparts. There are more women composers now than at any time in history, but they are still a minority, it's true. I'm not sure if the balance is different in other art forms (is it?), but in the realm of acting women have necessarily become on an equal footing, partly because they're needed to play female roles and partly because they have evolved with the very modern media of radio, TV and cinema.


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## Guest (Jul 11, 2012)

Andante said:


> Shhhhhh you will wake up our tame Tiger 'some guy'


Too late. He's already awakened something far worse!


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

On the topic of female composers, this looks interesting:










1. Concertino (Concerto) for harp & orchestra (also reduced for harp & piano): Allegretto
2. Pieces (3) for cello & piano: Vite et nerveusement rythmé
3. Sonnets From the Portuguese (6), for voice & chamber ensemble: How do I love thee?
4. Das Jahr, for piano, Mai: Frühlingslied
5. Ballad for piano in D flat major, Op. 6
6. D'un matin de printemps, for violin (or flute) & piano (or orchestra)
7. Symphony No. 3: Largo
8. Missa Gaia, 'Mass for the Earth': Introit
9. Sonata for cello: Impetuoso
10. Piano Sonata in G minor: Adagio
11. Preludes (10) for cello: Staccato - Legato
12. Preludes (10) for cello: Legato - Staccato
13. Preludes (10) for cello: Còn Sordino - Senza Sordino
14. Preludes (10) for cello: Ricochet
15. Travel Song, for voice & piano (from 'Specimen Days')
16. Fantasy Movements (3) for cello & orchestra: Slow
17. Orfeo II: An Improvisation on a Theme, for flute & strings: Orpheo Laments
18. Piano Sonata No. 6


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Florestan said:


> On the topic of female composers, this looks interesting:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Very impressive, only the lowest price for me would be from Canada, 12 weeks shipping.


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

Florestan said:


> On the topic of female composers, this looks interesting:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


These Amazon listings are useless - one doesn't know who wrote what.


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

Cecille Chaminade. Her Flute Concertino (Opus 107) is delightful from beginning to end!


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Delicious Manager said:


> These Amazon listings are useless - one doesn't know who wrote what.


That, and a reviewer on Amazon said there are partial works, kind of a compilation disk. We need something of a multi disk set to really do this justice.

The Customer Images includes a back of the jewel case where you might be able to make out some of the composer names on the track list:
https://www.amazon.com/Boulanger-Gubaidulina-Mendelssohn-Musgrave-Zwilich/dp/B000001SKH/


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Then there is this one only in MP3 (but should be CD if NAXOS?):









https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IO4Y2VW/


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Florestan said:


> Then there is this one only in MP3 (but should be CD if NAXOS?):
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It is Florestan, I checked it.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Florestan said:


> Then there is this one only in MP3 (but should be CD if NAXOS?):
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Here it is on Presto (yes, download only), with the composers listed.

I suppose these kinds of compilations serve as a useful reminder that there are indeed female composers, but otherwise they strike me as oddly random - what do all these pieces of music have in common except that they were written by women?

As _some guy_ noted way back in 2011 when the thread started, the absence of women from people's perception of classical music is "a prejudice against recent music more than it is a prejudice against women". Anyone who listens to contemporary music should (I mean, statistically should, not morally should!) be listening to a significant portion of women.


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

One Classic FM keeps playing is Debbie Wiseman. She is Composer in Residence. Quite good!!


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

In the case of Fanny Mendelssohn I read that some of her music was included by her brother in his compositions. That makes for an interesting twist--sort of a brother/sister team.


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## Hildadam Bingor (May 7, 2016)

Nereffid said:


> As _some guy_ noted way back in 2011 when the thread started, the absence of women from people's perception of classical music is "a prejudice against recent music more than it is a prejudice against women". Anyone who listens to contemporary music should (I mean, statistically should, not morally should!) be listening to a significant portion of women.


And women composers weren't unusual before the 19th century. The nadir was the first half of the 19th century (maybe a result of the cult of female domesticity constructed by Rousseau and others as a last ditch defense as the concept of the rights of woman inevitably emerged in the wake of the rights of man).


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Florestan said:


> In the case of Fanny Mendelssohn I read that some of her music was included by her brother in his compositions. That makes for an interesting twist--sort of a brother/sister team.


Shame that Abram Lincoln is not seeing this, he knows all the answers .


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Amy Beach, the equal of any of her contemporaries.

That's all I'm saying.


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## jormaple (Aug 19, 2016)

Clara Schumann's Piano Trio in G minor Op.17 can be enjoyed here in this Cottier Chamber Project concert: :http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07lfrby#play


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

jormaple said:


> Clara Schumann's Piano Trio in G minor Op.17 can be enjoyed here in this Cottier Chamber Project concert: :http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07lfrby#play


Thank you for posting, welcome to Talk Classical .


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## Hildadam Bingor (May 7, 2016)

Pat Fairlea said:


> Amy Beach, the equal of any of her contemporaries.


She was born within 5 years of Debussy and R Strauss, so yeah, no.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Hildadam Bingor said:


> She was born within 5 years of Debussy and R Strauss, so yeah, no.


Well, I said equal, not superior. A composer to be spoken of in the same breath, so to speak.


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## Jesse000 (Aug 18, 2016)

Clara Schumann's Nocturnes are fantastic, imo. Particularly this one in F.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Florestan said:


> In the case of Fanny Mendelssohn I read that some of her music was included by her brother in his compositions. That makes for an interesting twist--sort of a brother/sister team.


Still reading the same book on Mendelssohn, and now I see this:


> In artistic matters the brother and sister always acted as a couple. And that went on; until quite late in life Felix scarcely wrote a note that he did not submit to Fanny for approval.


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## Nevum (Nov 28, 2013)

Louise Farrenc. Contemporary of Schubert. Simply amazing.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Nevum said:


> Louise Farrenc. Contemporary of Schubert. Simply amazing.


Indeed, stunning!


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Nevum said:


> Louise Farrenc. Contemporary of Schubert. Simply amazing.


I am blown away, so I just placed an order for two disks, one has Symponies 1&3, the other has Symphony 2 and two overtures. I know of no other woman who has full blown symphonies and the bonus is that these are absolutely wonderful. Oh how much great music have we missed because society frowned on women being composers?


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## Nevum (Nov 28, 2013)

You did exactly what I did when I first heard Louise. She was a brilliant composer. She deserves far more recognition than she has now. One of the very best composers of the pre-romantic era.



Florestan said:


> I am blown away, so I just placed an order for two disks, one has Symponies 1&3, the other has Symphony 2 and two overtures. I know of no other woman who has full blown symphonies and the bonus is that these are absolutely wonderful. Oh how much great music have we missed because society frowned on women being composers?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I found another female composer who has a symphony (I prefer Louise Farrenc's symphonies though):


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## scarecroe (Jan 1, 2016)

Nevum said:


> Louise Farrenc. Contemporary of Schubert. Simply amazing.


Thanks for the link. What a great piece!


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