# Female composers



## Clouds Weep Snowflakes (Feb 24, 2019)

This is one thing that came up my mind last night-female Classical musicians are abundant, and I even opened a thread about female pianists a few days ago myself; but female composers? I have to admit I've never encountered that! Any recommendations for any of those? We can't just leave women to stay in musical eclipse!
(I'm a guy)


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Game (final): works by female composers.


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Clara Schumann
Amy Beach
Fanny Mendelssohn
Hildegard von Bingen
Lili Boulanger
Sofia Gubaidulina

They're not exactly in the classical masterpiece canon yet, but especially the music of Beach, Boulanger, and Gubaidulina is absolutely fantastic, I suggest you check it out.

Beach: Piano Quintet: 




Boulanger: D'un Matin de printemps: 




Gubaidulina: Offertorium:


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

there were several threads here already
Female Composers
ArtRock organized a game about female composers, that has run over several months and is now finishing. Here is a list of compositions by female composers that we selected
Game (nominations): Works by female composers

my personal favorites are Jacquet de la Guerre, Francesca Caccini, Hildegarde von Bingen, Louise Farrenc, Dora Pejacevic, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Florence Price, Grazyna Baczewicz, Lūcija Garūta and others


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes (Feb 24, 2019)

Thanks! Any more examples?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Gubaidulina, Chin, Saariaho, Beach, Bacewicz, Garūta.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Ruth Crawford Seeger wrote a really good string quartet.


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## Guest (Mar 4, 2019)

Women Composers

Keiko Abe (1937), Liana Alexandra (1947-2011), Franghiz Ali-Sadeh (1947), Lera Auerbach (1973), Lydia Auster (1912-1003), Anna-Maria Avram (1961-2017), Grazyna Bacewicz* (1909-1969), Natasha Barrett (1972), Carola Bauckholt (1959), Amy Beach* (1867-1944), Sally Beamish (1956, Sylvie Bodorova (1954), Mélanie Bonis (1858-1937), Victoria Borisova-Ollas (1969), Henriette Bosmans (1895-1952), Lili Boulanger (1893-1918), Stephanie Anne Boyd (1990), Ina Boyle (1889-1967), Charlotte Bray (1982), Elisabetta Brusa (1954), Britta Byström (1977), Francesca Caccini* (1587-1641), Edith Canat de Chizy (1950), Doreen Carwithen (1922-2003), Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944),Yi Chen (1953), Chaya Chernowin (1957), Unsuk Chin* (1941), Rebecca Clarke* (1886-1979), Anna Clyne (1980), Gloria Coates (1938), Ruth Crawford-Seeger (1901-1953), Beatriz de Dia (1140-1212), Milica Djordjevic (1984), Johanna Doderer (1969), Madeleine Dring (1923-1977), Louise Farrenc* (1804-1875), Alissa Firsova (1986), Stacy Garrop (1969), Lucija Garuta (1902-1977), Ruth Gipps (1921-1999), Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847-1935), Peggy Granville-Hicks (1912-1990), Sofia Gubaidulina* (1931), Jennifer Higdon* (1962), Augusta Holmes (1847-1903), Imogen Holst (1907-1984), Adriana Hölszky (1953), Dorothy Howell (1898-1982), Miriam Hyde (1913-2005), Clara Iannotta (1983), Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre* (1665-1729), Marie Jaell (1846-1925), Betsy Jolas (1926), Vitezslava Kapralova (1915-1940), Kassia (+- 810-865), Elena Kats-Chernin (1957), Anna Kuzina (1984), Larysa Kuzmenko (1956), Catherine Lamb (1982), Libby Larsen (1950), Luise Adolpha Le Beau (1850-1927), Francesca Lebrun (1756-1791), Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704), Zara Levina (1906-1976), Liza Lim (1966), Elizabeth Lutyens (1906-1983), Elizabeth Maconchy* (1907-1994), Ester Mägi (1922), Nina Makarova (1908-1976), Ljubica Maric (1909-2003), Marianna Martines (1744-1812), Aleksandra Maslovaric (1970), Emilie Mayer (1812-1883), Missy Mazzoli (1980), Cindy Mc Tee (1953), Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847), Elena Mendoza (1973), Anna Meredith (1978), Misato Mochizuki (1969), Meredith Monk* (1942), Geraldine Mucha (1917-2012), Isabel Mundry (1963), Thea Musgrave (1928), Onute Narbutaite (1956), Olga Neuwirth (1968), Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016), Roxanna Panufnik (1968), Hilda Paredes (1957), Alla Pavlova (1952), Dora Pejacevic (1885-1923), Florence Price (1887-1953), Shulamit Ran (1949), Henriette Renié (1875-1956), Lucia Ronchetti (1963), Amanda Röntgen-Maier (1853-1894), Elena Rykova (1991), Kaija Saariaho* (1954), Rebecca Saunders* (1967), Heather Schmidt (1975), Clara Schumann (1819-1896), Laura Schwendinger (1962), Caroline Shaw (1982), Sheila Silver (1946), Ylva Skog (1963), Gabriella Smith (1991), Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), Kate Soper (1981), Lisa Streich (1985), Rita Strohl (1865-1941), Barbara Strozzi* (1619-1677), Ellen Taaffe-Zwilich (1939), Dobrinka Tabakova* (1980), Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983), Andrea Tarrodi (1981), Augusta Read Thomas (1964), Anna Thorvaldsdottir* (1977), Joan Tower* (1938), Galina Ustvolskaya* (1919-2006), Pauline Viardot (1821-1910), Hildegard von Bingen* (1098-1179), Jennifer Walshe (1974), Elinor Warren (1900-1991), Judith Weir (1954), Rosy Wertheim (1888-1949), Hildegard Westerkamp (1946), Amy Williams (1969), Julia Wolfe* (1958), Joanna Wozny (1973), Agata Zubel (1978)
This should give some impetus to your interesting thread. I have given a star to my own favourites.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Thea Musgrave Turbulent Landscapes on the NMC label.


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## Guest (Mar 6, 2019)

My favourites include Rebecca Saunders, Olga Neuwirth, Misato Mochizuki, Elena Rykova, Isabel Mundry, Liza Lim, Hilda Paredes, Adriana Hölszky, Elena Mendoza, Natasha Barrett and Joanna Woźny.


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## Guest (Mar 6, 2019)

hi shirime, as you are expert in contemporary i think our members would be grateful if you could tell us in a nutshell why you like rykova, mundry, lim, hölzky, mendoza, barrett, wozny. the others you mentioned have discernible qualities IMHO.
the stars i have given in my list are also for an extant body of work. is this also valid in your case? if we take liza lim's case for example the general audience does not have access to many of her works. 
in cases like natasha barrett i really have difficulties to enter her world.
Thks ia for your views.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

There are a large number of great female composer among late 20th century and contemporary composers. And since that is the period of music that dominates my listening and collection, I own a large amount of music by female composers.


Joan Tower
Jennifer Higdon 
Thea Musgrave
Sofia Gubaidulina
Augusta Read Thomas
Kaija Saariaho
Shulamit Ran
Olga Neuwirth
Tonia Ko

And more...


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Add Conni Ellisor to Marx's list.


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## nobilmente (Dec 18, 2018)

Hoping music for film is OK, then Debbie Wiseman's scores are great: one superb one with lovely strings is for "Wilde":


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

Joan Tower is a favorite of mine. There is a very nice album called "Made in America" which features several of her symphonic works.
Her Concerto for Orchestra is stellar:


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## Guest (Mar 10, 2019)

marc bollansee said:


> hi shirime, as you are expert in contemporary i think our members would be grateful if you could tell us in a nutshell why you like rykova, mundry, lim, hölzky, mendoza, barrett, wozny. the others you mentioned have discernible qualities IMHO.
> the stars i have given in my list are also for an extant body of work. is this also valid in your case? if we take liza lim's case for example the general audience does not have access to many of her works.
> in cases like natasha barrett i really have difficulties to enter her world.
> Thks ia for your views.


I'm certainly no expert. However, I enjoy their music because it brings me great pleasure. A lot of the compositions by these composers show a very detailed ear for colour, texture and a great judgement of pacing that allows me to feel engaged and absorbed in the sound-world of their compositions over an extended period of time. If a general audience does not have access to the works of these composers, I can always recommend youtube as the first stop for some access to their music, and then to the websites of each respective composer. Usually there would be tab in their websites that show where and when they have upcoming performances of their compositions so that audiences have access to live performances of their works. Other ways to find access would be to follow them of facebook, twitter or soundcloud if they have those (I follow Liza Lim on facebook and twitter, for example) and perhaps even look out for them at concerts of their music if they are in the audience and are open to meet new fans of their work.

Here's a short comment on what I enjoy about the composers you listed from my list:

Rykova: I love the way different types of art (visual, performance, sound) influence and complement each other to create a richly contrapuntal experience overall.
Mundry: I love her very rich harmonic sense and her ability to create such a cohesive flow in her music. 
Lim: I love her ability to create a sense of endless, emotion-filled melody. I love the way melodic lines sound like they twist and turn like entangled vines.
Hölszky: I love how her music evokes an almost primal or elemental sense of emotion. There's something in her music I find utterly humanist and universal.
Mendoza: I love how she is able to create a strong sense of hierarchy across various timbres possible in an ensemble and structure them with such precision as to make the overall colours flow as if they are their own kind of melody as well.
Barrett: I love her ability to manipulate sound and create a very rich and complex (but never complicated) layering of musical activity with just environmental sounds.
Wozny: I love her ability to fluidly move between hard edged, almost brutal sounds and a much softer, simpler sound, and her ability to shape the music's direction between them in a very natural sounding, emotively-driven way.

Sorry, I'm never really gonna be 'academic' or 'objective' when it comes to describing how I feel about the music I enjoy, so these descriptions might not be the same as (or close to) other people's opinions who also enjoy their music.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

A female composer I recently discovered is Lili Boulanger, who died quite young. From all indications she was a musical genius. Listen to her _Pie Jesu_.


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2019)

hi shirime, i am very grateful for your comments; it is exactly what i was looking for and i am sure they will be of interest to our members; as a matter of fact i would look forward to similar comments from knowledgeable members on recent contemporary music


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## Guest (Mar 15, 2019)

No problem, marc. I'd be interested to know your thoughts on contemporary composers as well whether they be the ones listed or others.


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## Guest (Mar 15, 2019)

Hi shirime, thks for your kindness,
i grew up with xenakis'music and to me he is the best composer of all times. no need to go into details why but i am especially interested by sound, tension, energy in music. i also very much believe in the mentor/pupil relationship and the links between composers of different generations. dusapin, g.f.haas, R.barrett and so many others have further developed xenakis' ideas.
like widmann and rihm have developed stockhausen's. 
gubaidulina is the greatest female composer alive using non-traditional methods of producing sound and unusual combination of instruments. great composers should be able to compose for many different instruments. there are other great female composers out there.i especially like saariaho, tower, higdon, bauckholt and zubel. zubel is a genius; some of her vocal music is boring, but she can be absolutely outstanding like in her violin concerto. the point i want to make here is that we do not have a good overview of these female composers' music and can only like some of their works.
i listened a lot to natasha barrett and like parts of her compositions. what i do not like are the fragmented and crackling sounds.
i am very open to new music, so i will continue to listen to her music. talk classical is great in the sense that some of the members discover stuff that few people know about and communicate it. 
i suggest you try to find me on facebook. i feel we have common ground although we belong to different generations. best marc


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## Guest (Mar 16, 2019)

Oooh, thanks for mentioning Agata Zubel; I had completely forgotten! I agree that she is a brilliant composer. I have a fondness for vocal music, choral and opera included, and that’s what drew me to her music initially.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

I am partial to Ethyl Smyth's Concerto for Violin, Horn and Orchestra, quite a Brahmsian piece.


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## AeolianStrains (Apr 4, 2018)

Two of my favorite and much underrated composers:
Louise Farrenc: Air Russe Varié (Eickhorst)
Dora Pejačević: Cello Sonata in E minor (Poltéra & Triendl)


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## Guest (Mar 17, 2019)

Here's Zubel's violin concerto, mentioned earlier:


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## Guest (Mar 17, 2019)

Personally, I enjoy this more. It's an extremely fun, rather gentle piece. A lot of Zubel's music I enjoy sounds like pure joy.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Deleted -- erogenous post.


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## RockyIII (Jan 21, 2019)

I really enjoy Amy Beach's Symphony in E minor (Gaelic) and Piano Concerto in C sharp minor.


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