#fannymendelssohn — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #fannymendelssohn, aggregated by home.social.
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we'll be using the score and parts from the excellent #HenselPushers: https://henselpushers.org/h-numbers/h265 #FannyHensel #FannyMendelssohn
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#TIL that the Hensel pushers are working to put all of Fanny's sheet music online for free: https://henselpushers.org/ #FannyHensel #FannyMendelssohn
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Fanny Mendelssohn: Das Jahr (The Year)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=lasXTtsM5hw&si=6WUF8rMEA1ZsoyxK
#ClassicalMusic
#WomenComposers
#GaiaSokoli
#FannyMendelssohn -
The Best of Female Composers – A Classical Journey from Von Bingen to Li...
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wIm-U43WlKY&si=2tAgvYZKmzEeRVtD
#WomenComposers
@womencomposers
#ClassicalMusic
#HildegardVonBingen
#FrancescaCaccini
#BarbaraStrozzi
#ClaraSchumannWieck
#FannyMendelssohn
#RebeccaClarke
#AmyBeach
#GermaineTailleferre
#LiliBoulanger -
The Best of Female Composers – A Classical Journey from Von Bingen to Li...
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wIm-U43WlKY&si=2tAgvYZKmzEeRVtD
#WomenComposers
@womencomposers
#ClassicalMusic
#HildegardVonBingen
#FrancescaCaccini
#BarbaraStrozzi
#ClaraSchumannWieck
#FannyMendelssohn
#RebeccaClarke
#AmyBeach
#GermaineTailleferre
#LiliBoulanger -
The Best of Female Composers – A Classical Journey from Von Bingen to Li...
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wIm-U43WlKY&si=2tAgvYZKmzEeRVtD
#WomenComposers
@womencomposers
#ClassicalMusic
#HildegardVonBingen
#FrancescaCaccini
#BarbaraStrozzi
#ClaraSchumannWieck
#FannyMendelssohn
#RebeccaClarke
#AmyBeach
#GermaineTailleferre
#LiliBoulanger -
The Best of Female Composers – A Classical Journey from Von Bingen to Li...
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wIm-U43WlKY&si=2tAgvYZKmzEeRVtD
#WomenComposers
@womencomposers
#ClassicalMusic
#HildegardVonBingen
#FrancescaCaccini
#BarbaraStrozzi
#ClaraSchumannWieck
#FannyMendelssohn
#RebeccaClarke
#AmyBeach
#GermaineTailleferre
#LiliBoulanger -
The Best of Female Composers – A Classical Journey from Von Bingen to Li...
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wIm-U43WlKY&si=2tAgvYZKmzEeRVtD
#WomenComposers
@womencomposers
#ClassicalMusic
#HildegardVonBingen
#FrancescaCaccini
#BarbaraStrozzi
#ClaraSchumannWieck
#FannyMendelssohn
#RebeccaClarke
#AmyBeach
#GermaineTailleferre
#LiliBoulanger -
Fanny Mendelssohn: Easter Sonata in A Major / World Premiere (Century’s ...
https://youtube.com/watch?v=CgROnJeTYaQ&si=x8zs7sucv2Waaxc3
#ClassicalMusic
#WomenComposers
@womencomposers
@evameitner
#EricHeidsieck
#FannyMendelssohn -
“D minor Opus 11 Movements 2 & 3: Andante Esressivio and Lied: Allegretto” by Fanny Mendelssohn (https://youtu.be/TZr-2szy_uY?si=oXUyVYbEaYn0hfiJ) was written between 1846 and 1847 as a birthday present for her sister, and was posthumously published in 1850, 3 years after Fanny Mendelssohn’s death. It’s considered one of her most impressive works.
#SymSat #WomensHistoryMonth #FannyMendelssohn -
Fanny Mendelssohn (November 14, 1805-May 14, 1847)🇩🇪 was an Early Romantic era German composer and pianist. Some of her 460 compositions were published under the name of her younger brother Felix-including a song titled “Italien” (https://youtu.be/7WPY3cLY2RY?si=9oxrS0qWWq1apYX1) which was noted as being a favorite of Queen Victoria. Unfortunately, her career was both cut short due to the misogyny of the time and her untimely death due to a stroke at age 47.
#SymSat #WomensHistoryMonth #FannyMendelssohn -
Fanny Mendelssohn (1805 – 1847)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Hensel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Mendelssohn"Piano Music"
[Das Jahr, H. 385
Nocturne In G Minor, H. 337
Nocturne Napolitano In B Minor
Introduction And Capriccio in B MInor, H. 349]
Martina Frezzotti
(Piano Classics 2022)
https://songwhip.com/martinafrezzotti/fanny-mendelssohn-piano-music#NowListening #ClassicalMusic #music #musique #PianoMusic #WomenComposers
#GermanComposers
#FannyMendelssohn
#FannyHensel -
I make the effort explore whatever the #AustralianStringQuartet offer when the come to #Adelaide. In November they introduced me to #FannyMendelssohn. Here they chat with the ABC about, and perform, the last movement of her String Quartet in E-flat major.
There's five minutes of chat then they play. Really stirring. Worth a listen.
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Composer and pianist Fanny Mendelssohn (November 14, 1805 – May 14, 1847), also known as Fanny (Cäcilie) Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Fanny Hensel, and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel. Portrait by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim. #FannyMendelssohn #MoritzDanielOppenheim #FannyHensel #classicalmusic #BOTD
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In 2021 the theme of ‘female composer’ still touches upon an open nerve
The theme of the invisible female composer runs like a thread through my career and is still hot stuff in 2021. My musicology studies at the University of Amsterdam started out promising, with an extensive lecture series on Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179). After that it remained deafeningly quiet, until one song by Clara Schumann came along in the classes about the 19th century. So the score of female composers in four years of study on over a thousand years of music was 2…
After my graduation in 1996, I immediately started advocating the ‘women’s cause’, both as a music publicist and programme maker for Radio 4. In fact, I already made my breakthrough as a journalist in 1995, thanks to an interview with Galina Ustvolskaya for Vrij Nederland. Two years later, I programmed the radio series Het tweede gezicht (At second glance), about composers from Hadewych to Bordewijk-Roepman and Componeren in Nederland (Composing in the Netherlands), eight extensive portraits of and with such diverse composers as Hanna Kulenty, Caroline Ansink and Calliope Tsoupaki.
Not everyone was enthusiastic and soon I was deprecatingly dubbed ‘her of the women’. An epithet that I then embraced as a badge of honour. A big problem in putting together the programmes was finding suitable material. Women proved not only to be virtually invisible in daily music practice, but also in the very extensive record and CD collection of the broadcasting company. And the few registrations I did find were, to put it mildly, not always of top quality.
The then head of Radio 4, Hans Hierck, supported me wholeheartedly in my aim to give female composers a voice, but was wary of the sometimes mediocre performances that were aired on his station as a result. This was a constant point of frustration and concern for me as well, because was I really helping the cause if compositions were not optimally performed? A convincing interpretation is essential for all music, after all.
When, at the beginning of the 21st century, I made the programme Composer of the Week for VARA Radio4, it was still often an endless quest to find suitable material. It proved really tough to fill the mere five half hours at my disposal with high quality registrations of the work of ladies such as Francesca Caccini, Ethel Smyth or Elena Firsova. From this never ending search I have gained many beautiful, international contacts, but through what sad cause!
At the moment, a new feminist wave seems to have arisen, in which a younger generation of musicians, musicologists and music journalists are ‘discovering’ women composers as a forgotten theme. Suddenly all around articles and books appear that address the shameful disregard for the inescapable trio Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann and Lili Boulanger. On the one hand this is heart-warming, on the other it is deeply disconcerting: as if all the hard work of earlier generations of feminists has gone unnoticed.
Precisely in the period when I became active myself, the invisibility of female composers was a much-discussed topic. As early as 1979, the Archiv Frau und Musik was established, and in 1986 the Furore-Verlag was set up to publish scores from women composers. Their work was further promoted in the book series Annäherungen (Approximations). In 1991 Helen Metzelaar published Zes vrouwelijke componisten (Six Female Composers); two years later the American musicologist Marcia Citron presented Gender and the Musical Canon.
Gradually, more and better recordings became available. But hit the CD section in music magazines such as Gramophone or BBC Music Magazine and you’ll discover that finding ‘female’ notes is like searching for a needle in a haystack. However, today there are countless online initiatives, varying from a Facebook group like Women & Gender Diverse People in Composition, to websites such as Women in Music and databases such as Composer Diversity.
Nice initiatives, but with a partly counterproductive effect: just naming the underrepresentation of women nowadays often works like a red rag on a bull. As recently as 2019 the programmer of an important concert series even argued in a letter to the editor that Bach was in danger of being overshadowed by his female contemporaries because of the continued demands for gender equality…
And as soon as, in a preview, review or interview about a cd or concert programme I issue a teasing note about its rather one-sided focus on male composers, hell breaks loose. Only rarely does the musician or concert organizer in question frankly admit simply not having thought about the topic. Others argue in an offended tone that they ‘don’t care’ whether music is written by a man or a woman, stressing they only base their choices on ‘quality’. – As if men never deliver a mediocre composition and women never produce a masterpiece.
Recently, I came across a very surprising issue on this theme. While one musician complained that female composers were too overcharged to accept a composition assignment, another despaired that he hardly knew any composing ladies. – Could the Twitter community please spit out some names?
A funny paradox, after which a stream of reactions quickly degenerated into the muddle of misunderstandings and reproaches so typical of social media. What one person regards as a harmless pinprick, another feels as a frontal attack, and what one person presents as incontrovertible fact, another person dubs blatant nonsense. In this way, everyone cherishes his or her own right.
This is not only unfortunate for all those who are devoted to the women’s cause, but at the same time it poignantly illustrates that even in the year 2021 the theme of ‘female composer’ still touches an open nerve…
Enjoyed my post? A gift, however small, is welcome through PayPal (2nd option), or direct money transfer to my bank account: T. Derks, Amsterdam, NL82 INGB 0004 2616 94. Thanks!
#CalliopeTsoupaki #CarolineAnsink #ClaraSchumann #ElenaFirsova #EthelSmyth #FannyMendelssohn #FrancescaCaccini #HannaKulenty #HansHierck #HelenMetzelaar #HildegardVonBingen #LiliBoulanger
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Between diapers & dishes – the (in)visibility of the female composer
Walkyrien (c) Emil Doepler, via Wikipedia Media
Amsterdam, 8 March 2018. No chance to miss today is women’s day. The media are brimming with articles about the unequal pay for women and their still limited representation in prestigious positions. – In politics, the business world, universities and the arts.
The most conservative is perhaps the classical music world, where the female composer still has to fend for her right to exist. Even in 2018 she still has to cram her creative work in between domestic tasks, it seems. – Will a male composer ever be asked how he combines his work ‘with the children’? Despite tiny steps in the right direction, his female colleague still balances between diapers & dishes.
Perotinus & Leoninus
My own history began in a village in Limburg. I was not allowed to join the local brass band – simply because I was a girl. Later I started my own pop group. Though I wrote all the songs, invariably in interviews my male band members were asked all the questions. During my entire studies in musicology only two ladies were mentioned. Hildegard von Bingen was treated extensively, but after that it remained silent. In my my final year one song by Clara Schumann was analyzed.
During concerts I heard music from Perotinus & Leoninus, Bach and Handel, Mozart and Beethoven, Stravinsky and Bartók. Only in the world of new music I was sparsely treated to works by Galina Ustvolskaya and Sofia Gubaidulina, or Kaija Saariaho and Unsuk Chin. When I started working at Radio 4, I made thematic programs on countless subjects. But the moment I dedicated a series to female composers, I was deprecatingly dubbed ‘Her of the Women’.
Smyth ‘influenced’ by unborn Britten
Undaunted I tried to get work by female composers performed, but I stumbled on a wall of unwillingness and bias. The most poignant was my experience with the opera The Wreckers by Ethel Smyth. Everyone I played a recording to was enthusiastic about the beautiful and powerful music. – Invariably followed by the comment that Smyth had been ‘strongly influenced’ by Peter Grimes of Benjamin Britten.
A hilarious argument: Britten wasn’t even born when Smyth composed her opera in 1906. Indeed, Peter Grimes did not appear until 1945, a year after her death. When I pointed this out, my interlocutors fell silent, baffled. But the penny did not drop and the opera remained unperformed. While a rediscovered second-class composition of a man is not seldom hailed ‘discovery of the century’.
Netherlands’ Men’s Days and Bosmans Prize
During the yearly Netherlands’ Music Days hardly any women’s compositions were performed, so I dubbed them the Netherlands’ Men’s Days; in 2010 the event died a silent death. Even the composition competition named after Henriëtte Bosmans was never won by a woman. After I had criticized this in a column, at least some female jurors were recruited. But it wasn’t until 2008, when an audience prize was established, that this finally went to a female composer. After 2011 also this competition ceased to exist.
When the Festival of Early Music Utrecht put Felix Mendelssohn in the context of his time, not one note from his sister Fanny was played. She was not only Felix’s source of inspiration and sounding board, but also a composer who was highly appreciated in her own time. Most probably she developed the ‘Song without Words’, which is invariably attributed to her brother. After yet another column of mine the all-male concept was somewhat released. Since then, sporadically music by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Barbara Strozzi, Hildegard of Bingen or Isabella Leonarda was programmed.
Modern music world forms an exception
A positive exception is formed by the circuit of modern music, such as the Thursday Evening Concerts of Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ. The same goes for the Red Sofa series of De Doelen, the Oranjewoudfestival and Dag in de branding. In Gaudeamus Muziekweek, women’s work sounds regularly, although the competition itself is still dominated by men.
The coming edition of Classical Encounters in The Hague only has male works in store for us, even thought the programmer is a woman. Muziekgebouw Eindhoven features two ladies in its new season; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra one; the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra none. In the upcoming Opera Forward Festival, only two female composers will be represented.
Bright spots
It is sad that even in the 21st century we have to fight for the music of women composers. Nevertheless, there have been some bright spots recently, thanks in part to the social media. Databases with female composers from all ages can be updated online and this information is shared quickly and easily. The #MeToo discussion also contributes to a greater awareness of the subordination of women.
In terms of policy, some steps have been made as well. Mayke Nas succeeded Willem Jeths as Composer Laureate in 2016. A year later, Kate Moore was the first woman ever to win the prestigious Matthijs Vermeulen Prize. The BBC initiated the project Celebrating Women Composers and the new February Festival gave voice to Fanny Mendelsohn and Clara Schumann. From season 2018-19 onwards, the Concertgebouw and NTRZaterdagMatinee will pay structural attention to composing ladies. Its counterpart AVROTROSVrijdagconcert also regularly features music by women composers.
Small successes that ‘Her of the Women’ will continue to fight for in the future.
Tonight Silbersee will perform music by Seung-Won Oh in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, I will speak to her during the introduction at 7.15 pm.
Please support independent music jounalism. Any amount is welcome. Thanks!
#ClaraSchumann #EthelSmyth #FannyMendelssohn #GalinaUstvolskaya #HenriëtteBosmans #HildegardVonBingen #KaijaSaariaho #MeToo #PeterGrimes #SofiaGubaidulina #TheWreckers #UnsukChin #WomenSDay
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Between diapers & dishes – the (in)visibility of the female composer
Walkyrien (c) Emil Doepler, via Wikipedia Media
Amsterdam, 8 March 2018. No chance to miss today is women’s day. The media are brimming with articles about the unequal pay for women and their still limited representation in prestigious positions. – In politics, the business world, universities and the arts.
The most conservative is perhaps the classical music world, where the female composer still has to fend for her right to exist. Even in 2018 she still has to cram her creative work in between domestic tasks, it seems. – Will a male composer ever be asked how he combines his work ‘with the children’? Despite tiny steps in the right direction, his female colleague still balances between diapers & dishes.
Perotinus & Leoninus
My own history began in a village in Limburg. I was not allowed to join the local brass band – simply because I was a girl. Later I started my own pop group. Though I wrote all the songs, invariably in interviews my male band members were asked all the questions. During my entire studies in musicology only two ladies were mentioned. Hildegard von Bingen was treated extensively, but after that it remained silent. In my my final year one song by Clara Schumann was analyzed.
During concerts I heard music from Perotinus & Leoninus, Bach and Handel, Mozart and Beethoven, Stravinsky and Bartók. Only in the world of new music I was sparsely treated to works by Galina Ustvolskaya and Sofia Gubaidulina, or Kaija Saariaho and Unsuk Chin. When I started working at Radio 4, I made thematic programs on countless subjects. But the moment I dedicated a series to female composers, I was deprecatingly dubbed ‘Her of the Women’.
Smyth ‘influenced’ by unborn Britten
Undaunted I tried to get work by female composers performed, but I stumbled on a wall of unwillingness and bias. The most poignant was my experience with the opera The Wreckers by Ethel Smyth. Everyone I played a recording to was enthusiastic about the beautiful and powerful music. – Invariably followed by the comment that Smyth had been ‘strongly influenced’ by Peter Grimes of Benjamin Britten.
A hilarious argument: Britten wasn’t even born when Smyth composed her opera in 1906. Indeed, Peter Grimes did not appear until 1945, a year after her death. When I pointed this out, my interlocutors fell silent, baffled. But the penny did not drop and the opera remained unperformed. While a rediscovered second-class composition of a man is not seldom hailed ‘discovery of the century’.
Netherlands’ Men’s Days and Bosmans Prize
During the yearly Netherlands’ Music Days hardly any women’s compositions were performed, so I dubbed them the Netherlands’ Men’s Days; in 2010 the event died a silent death. Even the composition competition named after Henriëtte Bosmans was never won by a woman. After I had criticized this in a column, at least some female jurors were recruited. But it wasn’t until 2008, when an audience prize was established, that this finally went to a female composer. After 2011 also this competition ceased to exist.
When the Festival of Early Music Utrecht put Felix Mendelssohn in the context of his time, not one note from his sister Fanny was played. She was not only Felix’s source of inspiration and sounding board, but also a composer who was highly appreciated in her own time. Most probably she developed the ‘Song without Words’, which is invariably attributed to her brother. After yet another column of mine the all-male concept was somewhat released. Since then, sporadically music by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Barbara Strozzi, Hildegard of Bingen or Isabella Leonarda was programmed.
Modern music world forms an exception
A positive exception is formed by the circuit of modern music, such as the Thursday Evening Concerts of Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ. The same goes for the Red Sofa series of De Doelen, the Oranjewoudfestival and Dag in de branding. In Gaudeamus Muziekweek, women’s work sounds regularly, although the competition itself is still dominated by men.
The coming edition of Classical Encounters in The Hague only has male works in store for us, even thought the programmer is a woman. Muziekgebouw Eindhoven features two ladies in its new season; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra one; the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra none. In the upcoming Opera Forward Festival, only two female composers will be represented.
Bright spots
It is sad that even in the 21st century we have to fight for the music of women composers. Nevertheless, there have been some bright spots recently, thanks in part to the social media. Databases with female composers from all ages can be updated online and this information is shared quickly and easily. The #MeToo discussion also contributes to a greater awareness of the subordination of women.
In terms of policy, some steps have been made as well. Mayke Nas succeeded Willem Jeths as Composer Laureate in 2016. A year later, Kate Moore was the first woman ever to win the prestigious Matthijs Vermeulen Prize. The BBC initiated the project Celebrating Women Composers and the new February Festival gave voice to Fanny Mendelsohn and Clara Schumann. From season 2018-19 onwards, the Concertgebouw and NTRZaterdagMatinee will pay structural attention to composing ladies. Its counterpart AVROTROSVrijdagconcert also regularly features music by women composers.
Small successes that ‘Her of the Women’ will continue to fight for in the future.
Tonight Silbersee will perform music by Seung-Won Oh in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, I will speak to her during the introduction at 7.15 pm.
Please support independent music jounalism. Any amount is welcome. Thanks!
#ClaraSchumann #EthelSmyth #FannyMendelssohn #GalinaUstvolskaya #HenriëtteBosmans #HildegardVonBingen #KaijaSaariaho #MeToo #PeterGrimes #SofiaGubaidulina #TheWreckers #UnsukChin #WomenSDay
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Between diapers & dishes – the (in)visibility of the female composer
Walkyrien (c) Emil Doepler, via Wikipedia Media
Amsterdam, 8 March 2018. No chance to miss today is women’s day. The media are brimming with articles about the unequal pay for women and their still limited representation in prestigious positions. – In politics, the business world, universities and the arts.
The most conservative is perhaps the classical music world, where the female composer still has to fend for her right to exist. Even in 2018 she still has to cram her creative work in between domestic tasks, it seems. – Will a male composer ever be asked how he combines his work ‘with the children’? Despite tiny steps in the right direction, his female colleague still balances between diapers & dishes.
Perotinus & Leoninus
My own history began in a village in Limburg. I was not allowed to join the local brass band – simply because I was a girl. Later I started my own pop group. Though I wrote all the songs, invariably in interviews my male band members were asked all the questions. During my entire studies in musicology only two ladies were mentioned. Hildegard von Bingen was treated extensively, but after that it remained silent. In my my final year one song by Clara Schumann was analyzed.
During concerts I heard music from Perotinus & Leoninus, Bach and Handel, Mozart and Beethoven, Stravinsky and Bartók. Only in the world of new music I was sparsely treated to works by Galina Ustvolskaya and Sofia Gubaidulina, or Kaija Saariaho and Unsuk Chin. When I started working at Radio 4, I made thematic programs on countless subjects. But the moment I dedicated a series to female composers, I was deprecatingly dubbed ‘Her of the Women’.
Smyth ‘influenced’ by unborn Britten
Undaunted I tried to get work by female composers performed, but I stumbled on a wall of unwillingness and bias. The most poignant was my experience with the opera The Wreckers by Ethel Smyth. Everyone I played a recording to was enthusiastic about the beautiful and powerful music. – Invariably followed by the comment that Smyth had been ‘strongly influenced’ by Peter Grimes of Benjamin Britten.
A hilarious argument: Britten wasn’t even born when Smyth composed her opera in 1906. Indeed, Peter Grimes did not appear until 1945, a year after her death. When I pointed this out, my interlocutors fell silent, baffled. But the penny did not drop and the opera remained unperformed. While a rediscovered second-class composition of a man is not seldom hailed ‘discovery of the century’.
Netherlands’ Men’s Days and Bosmans Prize
During the yearly Netherlands’ Music Days hardly any women’s compositions were performed, so I dubbed them the Netherlands’ Men’s Days; in 2010 the event died a silent death. Even the composition competition named after Henriëtte Bosmans was never won by a woman. After I had criticized this in a column, at least some female jurors were recruited. But it wasn’t until 2008, when an audience prize was established, that this finally went to a female composer. After 2011 also this competition ceased to exist.
When the Festival of Early Music Utrecht put Felix Mendelssohn in the context of his time, not one note from his sister Fanny was played. She was not only Felix’s source of inspiration and sounding board, but also a composer who was highly appreciated in her own time. Most probably she developed the ‘Song without Words’, which is invariably attributed to her brother. After yet another column of mine the all-male concept was somewhat released. Since then, sporadically music by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Barbara Strozzi, Hildegard of Bingen or Isabella Leonarda was programmed.
Modern music world forms an exception
A positive exception is formed by the circuit of modern music, such as the Thursday Evening Concerts of Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ. The same goes for the Red Sofa series of De Doelen, the Oranjewoudfestival and Dag in de branding. In Gaudeamus Muziekweek, women’s work sounds regularly, although the competition itself is still dominated by men.
The coming edition of Classical Encounters in The Hague only has male works in store for us, even thought the programmer is a woman. Muziekgebouw Eindhoven features two ladies in its new season; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra one; the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra none. In the upcoming Opera Forward Festival, only two female composers will be represented.
Bright spots
It is sad that even in the 21st century we have to fight for the music of women composers. Nevertheless, there have been some bright spots recently, thanks in part to the social media. Databases with female composers from all ages can be updated online and this information is shared quickly and easily. The #MeToo discussion also contributes to a greater awareness of the subordination of women.
In terms of policy, some steps have been made as well. Mayke Nas succeeded Willem Jeths as Composer Laureate in 2016. A year later, Kate Moore was the first woman ever to win the prestigious Matthijs Vermeulen Prize. The BBC initiated the project Celebrating Women Composers and the new February Festival gave voice to Fanny Mendelsohn and Clara Schumann. From season 2018-19 onwards, the Concertgebouw and NTRZaterdagMatinee will pay structural attention to composing ladies. Its counterpart AVROTROSVrijdagconcert also regularly features music by women composers.
Small successes that ‘Her of the Women’ will continue to fight for in the future.
Tonight Silbersee will perform music by Seung-Won Oh in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, I will speak to her during the introduction at 7.15 pm.
Please support independent music jounalism. Any amount is welcome. Thanks!
#ClaraSchumann #EthelSmyth #FannyMendelssohn #GalinaUstvolskaya #HenriëtteBosmans #HildegardVonBingen #KaijaSaariaho #MeToo #PeterGrimes #SofiaGubaidulina #TheWreckers #UnsukChin #WomenSDay
-
Between diapers & dishes – the (in)visibility of the female composer
Walkyrien (c) Emil Doepler, via Wikipedia Media
Amsterdam, 8 March 2018. No chance to miss today is women’s day. The media are brimming with articles about the unequal pay for women and their still limited representation in prestigious positions. – In politics, the business world, universities and the arts.
The most conservative is perhaps the classical music world, where the female composer still has to fend for her right to exist. Even in 2018 she still has to cram her creative work in between domestic tasks, it seems. – Will a male composer ever be asked how he combines his work ‘with the children’? Despite tiny steps in the right direction, his female colleague still balances between diapers & dishes.
Perotinus & Leoninus
My own history began in a village in Limburg. I was not allowed to join the local brass band – simply because I was a girl. Later I started my own pop group. Though I wrote all the songs, invariably in interviews my male band members were asked all the questions. During my entire studies in musicology only two ladies were mentioned. Hildegard von Bingen was treated extensively, but after that it remained silent. In my my final year one song by Clara Schumann was analyzed.
During concerts I heard music from Perotinus & Leoninus, Bach and Handel, Mozart and Beethoven, Stravinsky and Bartók. Only in the world of new music I was sparsely treated to works by Galina Ustvolskaya and Sofia Gubaidulina, or Kaija Saariaho and Unsuk Chin. When I started working at Radio 4, I made thematic programs on countless subjects. But the moment I dedicated a series to female composers, I was deprecatingly dubbed ‘Her of the Women’.
Smyth ‘influenced’ by unborn Britten
Undaunted I tried to get work by female composers performed, but I stumbled on a wall of unwillingness and bias. The most poignant was my experience with the opera The Wreckers by Ethel Smyth. Everyone I played a recording to was enthusiastic about the beautiful and powerful music. – Invariably followed by the comment that Smyth had been ‘strongly influenced’ by Peter Grimes of Benjamin Britten.
A hilarious argument: Britten wasn’t even born when Smyth composed her opera in 1906. Indeed, Peter Grimes did not appear until 1945, a year after her death. When I pointed this out, my interlocutors fell silent, baffled. But the penny did not drop and the opera remained unperformed. While a rediscovered second-class composition of a man is not seldom hailed ‘discovery of the century’.
Netherlands’ Men’s Days and Bosmans Prize
During the yearly Netherlands’ Music Days hardly any women’s compositions were performed, so I dubbed them the Netherlands’ Men’s Days; in 2010 the event died a silent death. Even the composition competition named after Henriëtte Bosmans was never won by a woman. After I had criticized this in a column, at least some female jurors were recruited. But it wasn’t until 2008, when an audience prize was established, that this finally went to a female composer. After 2011 also this competition ceased to exist.
When the Festival of Early Music Utrecht put Felix Mendelssohn in the context of his time, not one note from his sister Fanny was played. She was not only Felix’s source of inspiration and sounding board, but also a composer who was highly appreciated in her own time. Most probably she developed the ‘Song without Words’, which is invariably attributed to her brother. After yet another column of mine the all-male concept was somewhat released. Since then, sporadically music by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Barbara Strozzi, Hildegard of Bingen or Isabella Leonarda was programmed.
Modern music world forms an exception
A positive exception is formed by the circuit of modern music, such as the Thursday Evening Concerts of Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ. The same goes for the Red Sofa series of De Doelen, the Oranjewoudfestival and Dag in de branding. In Gaudeamus Muziekweek, women’s work sounds regularly, although the competition itself is still dominated by men.
The coming edition of Classical Encounters in The Hague only has male works in store for us, even thought the programmer is a woman. Muziekgebouw Eindhoven features two ladies in its new season; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra one; the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra none. In the upcoming Opera Forward Festival, only two female composers will be represented.
Bright spots
It is sad that even in the 21st century we have to fight for the music of women composers. Nevertheless, there have been some bright spots recently, thanks in part to the social media. Databases with female composers from all ages can be updated online and this information is shared quickly and easily. The #MeToo discussion also contributes to a greater awareness of the subordination of women.
In terms of policy, some steps have been made as well. Mayke Nas succeeded Willem Jeths as Composer Laureate in 2016. A year later, Kate Moore was the first woman ever to win the prestigious Matthijs Vermeulen Prize. The BBC initiated the project Celebrating Women Composers and the new February Festival gave voice to Fanny Mendelsohn and Clara Schumann. From season 2018-19 onwards, the Concertgebouw and NTRZaterdagMatinee will pay structural attention to composing ladies. Its counterpart AVROTROSVrijdagconcert also regularly features music by women composers.
Small successes that ‘Her of the Women’ will continue to fight for in the future.
Tonight Silbersee will perform music by Seung-Won Oh in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, I will speak to her during the introduction at 7.15 pm.
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#ClaraSchumann #EthelSmyth #FannyMendelssohn #GalinaUstvolskaya #HenriëtteBosmans #HildegardVonBingen #KaijaSaariaho #MeToo #PeterGrimes #SofiaGubaidulina #TheWreckers #UnsukChin #WomenSDay