This is painful to read. With each passing year I grow more apoplectic at the underrepresentation of women composers. If the music weren't there, or if works by men were demonstrably better, there'd be some justification. But that's not true. Lots of music written by women is as good as music gets.
Here're mine:
Barraine
Beach
Bembo
Bonis
Canal
Dalberg
Jaëll
La Guerre
Leleu
Mayer
Smyth
Sohy
Soulage
Strohl
Von Bach
Von Schauroth
I've found with extensive listening, pieces can to a large extent "catch up" with the stuff I've been hearing for decades. Sometimes the process is quick; it's as if was always meant to be part of my personal "musical substrate" & only needed to be slotted in. Mayer's 7th & Barraine were like that.
Also, there are a number of works by historical women composers that are as good as music gets, they're just not very well known. Composers who've hit that mark (for me): Jaëll, Strohl, Beach, Chaminade, Bonis, Barraine, Dalberg, Hensel, Sohy, Leleu, von Schauroth, Bembo, de La Guerre, Mayer, Smyth.
There was so much more experimentation and interesting design happening with cellos in 17th and 18th centuries!
The side saddle thing was happening even into the 20th cent. I've wondered if the s-l-o-w adoption of the endpin was partly to keep women from playing cello. Every method book I've ever seen from the 19th century cites the endpinless knee hold as the "proper" way to play - which was very unladylike.
Yes.
Some faves of mine not listed in the article are the Sohy (1919)
Strohl's Forest symphony (1901)
Barraine's Nos. 1 & 2 (1931 & 1938)
Smyth's Serenade in D (not a symphony, but a fabulous symphonic work; Brahmsian, but with its own Smyth-y thing).
Bonis also has some great symphonic works.
The Marian Arkwright one ("A Retrospect") is intriguing. "Cello solo" in that era usually meant cello and piano. But Arkwright was known for unusual instrument combinations and may have taken the leap and written an unaccompanied work. 🤟🔥Fingers crossed the score is eventually discovered! 🤞🤞
One way historical male composers have an edge over their female counterparts is exposure via recordings. A piece by a woman may be as good, but there's only one recording of it from 2019, as opposed to dozens over a span of decades. Because we've heard it so many more times we assume it's "better."
Of course, any number of these composers could jump to the first list anytime (I'm already having second thoughts about some of them, like Chaminade and Beach). And there are more to add, plus some for whom I wouldn't DIE, but love their stuff, like
Eckhart-Grammate
Holst (Imogen)
Fromm-Michaels...
Beach
Bigot
Bon
Bosmans
Caccini (both)
Carreño
Casulana
Chaminade
Clarke
De Dia
De Montgeroult
Farrenc
Hensel
Le Beau
Leonarda
Mahler (Alma)
Mayer
Price
Rontgen-Maier
Smyth
Szymanowska
Tailleferre
Von Auenbrugger
Wieck
Barraine
Bembo
Bonis
Canal
Dalberg
Jaëll
La Guerre
Leleu
Sohy
Soulage
Strohl
Von Bach
Von Schauroth
There's also a sub group, which consists of composers who aren't totally in the can't live without category, but they've got a particular piece or pieces that I couldn't imagine life without:
A very interesting question. CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT.
There are a number of composers whose music I love, but if it disappeared from my life it wouldn't be DEVASTATING. Then there are those for whom the absence of their music WOULD be devastating.
Here's what I've come up with, in alphabetical order:
This is also my bow hold. And James Cervetto's (1748-1837).
By holding the stick with three fingers "against" the pinky & thumb, it's much easier to manage the bow. I couldn't imagine going back to the old way.
Thanks! I've been on your site before; fabulous resource. W/regard to my database, it's rare I find any 'new' composers who fit the criteria (it's at 265 composers right now) however every now and again I get pleasantly surprised!
(Yes, the playlist is on spotify. Sorry. Think of it as a rebel faction who eke out their hardscrabble existence below decks. They're dependant on the evil empire ship, but still manage to be subversive in their own arty ways.)
Lots of updates to my historical women composers cello database and playlist of same.
If you're a cellist, hit up the former, an aficionado, the latter.
www.wildcellist.ca/database
***
open.spotify.com/playlist/1ZH...
Sadly, no, however there's some surviving footage from that era when I played foot keyboard whilst playing guitar or strap-on electric cello. I found an old VHS awhile back but was only able to get a tiny bit off of it (fixable, I think. 🤞)
Near the end of this clip:
youtu.be/NKch2w6OINU?...
Yes! 1985. My musical partner sang lead vocals & played drum machine manually by tapping the buttons. I played guitar, bass pedals with my feet (akin to an organ foot keyboard). I sang as well & somehow ended up being the guy operating the lights - also with my feet. (The band name was not my idea!)
What frustrates me no end is the naivety of the Trudeau Liberals (which sadly still tends to hold true for US Dems and most left-leaning politicians in general).
They perennially have this stupid assumption that people who HATE them with every fibre their being will in any way act in good faith.
Her new single's at the top of this playlist:
open.spotify.com/playlist/7iy...
Her new single's at the top of this playlist:
open.spotify.com/playlist/7iy...
Bonis is amongst my all time favourite composers. In certain ways, she's in a class by herself. She has an uncanny attention to detail; the music overflows with kaleidoscopic subtleties, resulting in an incredibly nuanced and deeply felt emotional response.
I finished "Maddalena and the Dark."
Dark is right - and vibey!
But the only thing the character in the book has in common with the composer Maddalena Sirmen is their first name. (Well, ok, both were born/"born" in Venice, however the fictitious Maddalena in 1702; Sirmen in 1745.)
Strohl
Bonis
Sohy
Soulage
Renié
Canal
Barraine
Leleu
There was also way more improvisation, and it was common and even expected for performers to add in their own interpretive bits. Rigid adherence to the score down to nth degree infected classical music performance and it's sadly never changed back.
