 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: The Big J
Date: 2001-02-24 20:14
It's really wierd, and just occured to me... there are alot of people made famous by composing music, but think about how many are female.... I can't even think of any!! None from history, and none that I know of right now. I mean like famous composers. Anyone have any feedback or have an opinion in this?
-Jeanie
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-02-24 20:55
Maria Schneider, perhaps the pre-eminent composer for Big Band Jazz today.
Check out "Wirgly".
anji
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2001-02-24 21:32
There aren't any very famous women composers but there are some slightly less known:
Rebecca Clarke
Joan Tower (she's written some pieces for clarinet)
Susan Botti
Sofia Gubaidulina (I've never heard anything by Botti or Gubaidulina but I saw their names on the New York Philharmonic schedule)
Fanny Mendelssohn (Felix's sister)
Clara Schumann (mostly known as a pianist but also composed; Robert's wife)
Hildegard of Binegin (not sure of the spelling there. She was back in the Middle Ages.)
I remember reading an article recently about a new opera written by a woman but I can't remember who. Does anyone know?
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Author: Melanie Brown
Date: 2001-02-25 02:47
Don't forget:
Alma Mahler (Gustav's wife)
Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre
Lili Boulanger
Barbara Strozzi
Libby Larsen
Cecile Chaminade
just to name a few....but there are plenty more....
I attend an all-female college, and in our school of music, we ALWAYS emphasize women composers. Some of the more obscure composers are gaining prominence with more performances. Ex: Hildegard von Bingen, the medieval abbess, is quite en vogue in the early music circles.
Western society has been primarily male-dominated, and until relatively recently, composition was regarded as a man's job. Heck, for the longest time, high vocal solos were not performed by skilled sopranos and coloraturas, but by castrati (male singers). Be on the lookout for contemporary women composers and concerts featuring some of the older composers, too.
Melanie
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Author: deebee
Date: 2001-02-25 02:51
Jeanie + Micaela
Sofia Gubaidulina (b 1931) has a fair amount recorded on CD -- even on the budget-priced Naxos label. Stylistically (very roughly -- I'll be shot down here!), think 80% Ligeti and 20% Pärt. Well worth checking out.
A while ago there was someone looking for clarinet works by women -- not <i>exactly</i> what you're asking about, but have a look at: http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=35837&t=11652
Germaine Tailleferre (1892 - 1975) was a member of Les Six (therefore a <i>bit</i> famous!). Have a look at her Arabesque for Cl + Pno.
Some other not-really-famous 8^) women composers to follow up:
Thea Musgrave (UK)
Elisabeth Lutyens (UK)
Nicola LeFanu (UK)
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (US) (spelling?)
Grazyna Bacewicz (Poland)
I've always wondered why women are/were "under-represented" in music composition -- this doesn't seem to be the case in, say, music performance (unless you look at some German and Austrian orchestras!) or literature. Occasionally, usually when we're all sitting around with a bottle of red, I ask women musicians if they had/have ever considered composing -- as a male composer-of-sorts I'm in the "other" roughly 85%. Interesting topic for <i>your</i> next bottle of red?!?
deebee
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Author: Jim
Date: 2001-02-25 03:56
There are several presently in the choral/ liturgical field:
Alice Parker who has arranged extensively for the late Robert Shaw is a composer in her own right.
Diane Bish, more known for organ performance
Natalie Sleath (sp?)
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-02-25 22:34
Go to the Composition section here on Sneezy and type Female in the Search box ... there's a number of them, some quite famous!
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Author: Eoin McAuley
Date: 2001-02-27 07:09
In History, women were actively discouraged from composing. As a child, Fanny Mendelssohn was a much better composer than her brother Felix at a similar age, but she was discouraged, saying that she could never become a composer while Felix could make a living as a composer even though he didn't show the same promise. Considering that Felix was one of the greatest composer prodigies of all time, we really missed something by not hearing Fanny Mendelssohn.
Clara Schumann was famous in her day, but now she is eclipsed by the fame of her husband, Robert.
Alma Mahler did some composing, but when she married Gustav, he forbade her from doing any more composing. If she was to marry him at all, she had to give up everything and devote herself to looking after him!
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