The Woman Composer Question: Four Case Studies from the Romantic Era (original) (raw)
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The Woman Composer Question: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives
Kapralova Society Journal, 2006
Through a conspiracy of silence on the part of music historians, coupled with the gender-biased writings of philosophers, music critics and music educators of the past, the age-old myth has been perpetuated that the gift of musical creativity is granted only to males. This article examines some of these writings in order to demonstrate their relationship to both the limited content of music education for women throughout most of the Romantic era--specifically, the lack of adequate instruction in theoretical subjects--and the nineteenth-century double standard in music criticism, which allowed critics to evaluate a woman's compositions in terms of the extent to which they were thought to conform to prevailing stereotypes of ideal femininity.
The Liberation of Women Composers: Overcoming a History Sexism in the Classical Music World
Few women composers from before the twentieth century are household names or remembered for any significant contribution to classical music. Exceptions include the first internationally acknowledged composer, Hildegard Von Bingen, and internationally recognized nineteenth century composer and pianist Clara Schumann. This paper begins by exploring the factors that prevented women from pursuing careers in composition before the twentieth century and by presenting many striking examples of women, such as Fanny Mendelssohn, who had similar musical educational backgrounds as their brothers but were barred from composing as soon as they married. Indeed, it was almost impossible for women to have careers in music or any other field once they married unless they had supportive husbands and families. Thus, I provide a historiographical approach to the history of music composition. The heart of the paper explores pioneering women composers of the twentieth century and their struggle to be heard and gain recognition in a predominately sexist field. This includes the numerous women involved in writing and creating film music that were often uncredited in the final product. Lastly, I explore the lives of prominent current classical music women composers, such as Joan Tower and Missy Mazzoli, and the unique contributions they make to the classical music world. I also explore the obstacles women composers studying in today’s classical conservatories and music departments still face. In recent years, enlightening articles and publications have helped erode private and public barriers to women in the classical composition world. Despite recent progress, there is much work still needed to achieve gender equality in the classical music composition field and beyond.
Composing the ‘Woman’ Composer
Musicology Australia, 2011
There was a time, not so long ago, when the names of women composers were virtually unknown. Second-wave feminism in the 1970s marks a dynamic moment when this begins to change. A women's music history is gradually assembled and establishes the fact that music composition is not solely a male domain. It shows that women are not only present but are worthy of celebration in that domain. 1 Pendle's annotated bibliography on women's music, compiled in the first decade of the twenty-first century, attests to this fact. Its verdict is that women's music has blossomed into a thriving field of knowledge. 2 Earlier than Pendle, Wood observes that women composers 'have become more visible, more accomplished, and more numerous'. 3 But, as some researchers are also warning, it is still too early to be complacent: women's music destined for the concert hall struggles to be heard. 4 Musicological work on women's music therefore remains an ongoing necessity: it 1 Prior to 1970, as McClary notes, very little was known about women in music history. After that time, research 'turned up far more than anyone could have anticipated'. See Susan McClary, 'Reshaping a Discipline: Musicology and Feminism in the 1990s', Feminist Studies 9/2 (Summer 1993), 399-423. Another important source that provides an overview of this work is: Elizabeth Wood, 'Women in Music', Signs 6/2 (Winter 1980), 283-97.
2015
But few musicologists or historians have examined the part played by women in the musical culture of Britain during this time of 're-birth'. This dissertation explores the position of British women composers during the period 1880-1918 (commonly regarded as the core of the so-called 'Renaissance'), setting them in the general context of late Victorian and Edwardian society, with its changing and often complicated attitudes towards women's involvement with various musical worlds, and placing them in a tradition of women's musical work. The lives, careers and work of six composers will be explored in some detail: Frances
The Women Composer Question in the 21st Century
Journal of Singing, 2008
Listening to Kathryn Mishell's recent interview of composer Joan Tower, one is struck by Tower's spunky frankness as she deftly responded to a query so frequently posed, known simply as the "woman composer question": "I do like the fact-and I do mention it-that that I am a woman composer, and living!"1 She continued: I'm a fighter for both of these issues: the living composer and the woman composer. I ask audiences, have you heard a woman composer? Two hands go up. They are just not aware of this as a fact at all. See, this is just a fact, it's just a reminder that they are leaving out things. Well, how many living composers have you heard? Three [hands]. And how many [living] women? None! . . . I think that the statistics, if you look at them, are pretty miserable. I've never had any overt-you know, signs of-"we don't want you, you're a woman." But all you have to do is look at the statistics, and then you can see what is fa...
With the goal of understanding what experiences and musical identities of women who choose to compose, the purpose of this research was to examine the experience and musical identity of women who choose to compose music. This study was guided by the following Grand Tour question and sub-questions: Why do these women choose to compose? 1. What experiences and relationships have played a foundational role in shaping these women as composers? 2. What experiences and relationships allowed these women to self-identify as a composer? 3. What influences, if any, do these women perceive that their gender has had upon their approach to composing? This investigation was a multiple case study of the learning experiences of three female graduate composition majors enrolled at State University, a large, state university in the midwest. The primary data collection involved four or five interviews between the participants and myself, email communications, one focus group interview with all participants, and field observations at composition studio classes and composition recitals. Two stages of musician-composer identity were observed: the foundational musician-composer identity and the emerging composer-musician identity. There were four main components at play in the foundational musician-composer identity: family support, positive mentors, multiple experiences, and perseverance/independence. Differing from the foundational musician-composer identity, the emerging composer-musician identity and themes that supported this identity allowed the women the confidence to self-identify as a composer. These three themes--arranging as a creative introduction, interest in music theory, and a need for an alternative to music performance--established a scenario in which all the women felt confident to call themselves a composer, though in some cases the label was fragile. I was unable to identify influences confidently that gender had upon their approach to composing. I was unable to answer this question not because I did not ask it, but because the women themselves were relatively unaware of any influences they faced related to gender in their field. These women compose because they must. This compulsion happened independently and in conjunction with many of the experiences that allowed for a foundational musician-composer identity and later an emerging composer-musician identity. Implications for music education include the inclusion of more creative experiences in K-8 music education, a need for arranging as a scaffolding device in creative pedagogy, and the inclusion of alternative music classes for which public performance is not the main objective. Implications for composers include collaborating with researchers and practitioners in music education to help nurture future music composers in K-12 music education.
Creating a career as a woman composer: Implications for music in higher education
Recent decades have seen gender and feminist research emerge as major fields of enquiry in musicology and to a far lesser extent, music education. While these fields have increased awareness of the issues confronting women and other marginalised groups, the pedagogical practices and curricular design that might support aspiring women composers are in urgent need of attention. This article reports from an international survey of women composers (n=225), who in western art music continue to experience a masculine bias that has its roots in the past. The findings in the survey were focused on income, work and learning, relationships and networks, and gender. Numerous composers surveyed noted the under-representation of music composed by women in their higher education curricula. They also described their unpreparedness for a career in music. The article explores the issue of gender in music composition and makes practical recommendations for a more gender balanced music curriculum in higher education.