Women unsungs

[oldman]

Don't forget Alice Mary Smith(1839-1884)  Her two symphonies are available on Chandos. Very Pleasent music IMHO.

[Marcus]

Yes I have the Meyer 5th symphony - very well written.
The  three symphonies of Louise Farrenc, on CPO,  are also very fine works. Also, Amy Beach"s Gaelic Symphony is a gem.It is a pity that women  composers in the 18th & 19th centuries were not encouraged. Imagine the works which Fanny Mendelssohn may have written had she been encouraged, or Clara Schumann,. just to name two.
A composer from Croatia, Dora Pejacevic, (1885-1923) wrote a Symphony in F#minor, which was performed in Holland in 2007 ? She also wrote 3 string Quartets, a piano Trio,a piano Quartet,,Fantasie Concertante for Piano & Orchestra, Piano, Violin,& Cello sonatas, & Piano pieces etc. Does anyone know if the Symphony, or any of her works has been recorded ?
Two  female composers who are better known for their piano music wrote symphonies .They were Cecile Chaminade, (1857-1944) Dramatic Symphony -" Les Amazones ", and Louise Adolpha Le Beau, (1850-1927) Symphony in F minor.
These works have never been recorded to my knowledge.

[Alan Howe]

cpo plans to release two CDs of Dora Pejacevic's chamber music in 2010.

[JSK]

Two  female composers who are better known for their piano music wrote symphonies .They were Cecile Chaminade, (1857-1944) Dramatic Symphony -" Les Amazones ", and Louise Adolpha Le Beau, (1850-1927) Symphony in F minor.
These works have never been recorded to my knowledge.

Re The Le Beau: You aren't missing anything. The symphony has not been recorded, and I do not believe that it has received a modern performance. After hearing her poor piano concerto I discussed the symphony with my professor who has seen the score. She has an amazing ear and can "hear" scores in her head, and she told me that it was not worthy of performance, just one giant boring sequence with no real development of themes otherwise. Le Beau was in fact jealous of Clara Schumann's success and her narcissistic complex seemed to, in my opinion, make her feel entitled to the same success without even objectively assessing her music and fixing some basic problems. I gather that Le Beau's cello sonata is the "best" of her works, which probably isn't saying all that much, but I am not familiar with it.

Chaminade is not among my favorites, but I imagine that her symphony might be interesting. Her piano concerto bears some uncanny architectural similarities to Rimsky-Korsakov's work in the same genre.

In terms of Woman composers, I still advocate Elfrida Andree. Her second symphony and the suite from her (unperformed) opera have been recorded on Sterling. The symphony is good, though not particularly memorable, and the suite is excellent.

[chill319]

Florence Price (1888-1953) wrote four symphonies. At least two are in print, edited by Rae Linda Brown. Her first symphony won a prize.  I have not heard the symphonies played, but her piano sonata in e minor, written around the time of her first symphony, has found a persuasive advocate in Althea Waites. It's an ambitious work from a talented person who, like Alice Mary Smith, dared, then persevered.

[TerraEpon]

Chaminade is not among my favorites, but I imagine that her symphony might be interesting. Her piano concerto bears some uncanny architectural similarities to Rimsky-Korsakov's work in the same genre.

I've mentioned this before, and probably above, but for ME, she's an absolute favorite. I'd LOVE a new recording of the concertino (not concerto), though thankfully the Vox set it's on is one of their better ones.

[JSK]

Chaminade was indeed a very unique composer. She was a master of writing huge quantities of "salon" music which could make her lots of money, yet she was also perfectly capable of writing more "serious" works of high quality. It's too bad that her reputation as a "salon composer" has diminished interest in her better works.

[peter_conole]

Hi all

Especially Peter1953.There are a number of Australian composers known to have written music in the 'grand manner', ie, in the classical romantic tradition we tend to prefer.  Miriam Hyde (lovely concertos!) is actually a fairly recent example.

Some composed in the 19th century, but the only survivor of recent Australian musical politics (leaving aside Percy Grainger) is Alfred Hill. He was active as a composer from the 1890s until the 1950s.

I fear the largely modernist domination of the conservatories in this country over the last few decades condemned just about about all colonial or early 20th Australian music to oblivion. And sometimes to destruction. The works of a respected composer, organist, teacher and critique (W.A.Orchard) could not be located in our National Archives a couple of years ago.

In my own State (Western Australia) the one major work of Paschal Needham (a  large-scale cantata of 1881 which impressed European visitors) has been lost. I think the works of William Stephens (active in the 1890s) have also 'gone missing'.

There has been a recent independent recording of a fine 1866 Mass (soli, chorus, orchestra) by an obscure Melbourne-based musician known as G.O.Rutter, plus an earlier recording of a Mass by John Delany (1850-1907). And there are other recorded fragments and bits and pieces around - but very little. As far as I now, the 'quaint' but possibly interesting operas of Isaac Nathan have never been given an airing.

A couple of solid 'imports' (Marshall-Hall and Bainton - the latter an early 20th century man) have received a little more respect, but there is not much available in the musical tradition that is the core object of our attention. In passing, I believe not one note by a composer ancestor of mine (early to mid-20th century) can be traced.

regards
Peter

[monafam]

I know this is a subject I have seldom looked into -- so much so, that I wonder if I couldn't have been labeled a musical chauvinist.  That being said, I have made little steps here and there to make amends and discover beautiful music written by women (i.e. Amy Beach, Alla Pavlova, etc.).  As I feel the board indirectly, yet constantly, reminds me of how much music is out there to enjoy! 

[thalbergmad]

Much to my shame, I used to think Beryl Rubinstein was female. I guess this is partially forgivable.

I have recently played some rather charming variations by Clasine Josephine van Brussel who has not been mentioned yet. I fully expect someone will tell me she was a he.

Thal

[Pengelli]

What about Grace Williams? Over at the R3 forum everyone seemed to be raving about her after she was featured as a Composer of the Week.Although maybe a bit too recent,her music is lyrical & often tuneful.Some of her music gets a hearing now & again in Wales,but always the same ones.
Also Morfydd Owen,a sort of Welsh counterpart to Augusta Holmes,perhaps;glamorous & died young in rather mysterious circumstances. Some people still reckon she was bumped off!
Two books on her were released by the Gomer Press some years ago & the BMS Journal had an article about her once.She's a bit of a legend in Wales.

[Peter1953]

Especially Peter1953.There are a number of Australian composers known to have written music in the 'grand manner', ie, in the classical romantic tradition we tend to prefer.  Miriam Hyde (lovely concertos!) is actually a fairly recent example

Thanks for your interesting post, Peter. I think I've always been to narrow-minded by thinking that classical composers were typically something from Europe and the US. There is so much more to discover, at least for me.

I'm awaiting the CD with Miriam Hyde's PCs.

[Syrelius]

Also Morfydd Owen,a sort of Welsh counterpart to Augusta Holmes,perhaps;glamorous & died young in rather mysterious circumstances. Some people still reckon she was bumped off!
Two books on her were released by the Gomer Press some years ago & the BMS Journal had an article about her once.She's a bit of a legend in Wales.

Morfydd Owen does sound like an interesting composer. According to Wikipedia, she wrote about 180 compositions, mainly songs, but also a few orchestral works. Something for Dutton, perhaps? On that label you find an interesting work by Lilian Elkington, who apparently abandoned composition at an early age. Judging from the work on this cd, Out of the Mist, this might have been something of a loss to British music.

There is, by the way, more information on British Women composers on Musicweb International:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2002/Oct02/distaff.htm

[Marcus]

Another remarkable woman composer is Minna Keal, 1909-2000.Born in England, she studied at the RAM, came under the influence of William Alwyn & Thomas Knott. In the 1920's married and assumed control of a family business. She produced a few early compostions, her last being the Ballade in F minor in 1929, before abandoning music, and devoting herself to the family and family business. In the 1970's, 46 years later  she rekindled her interest in music and began giving piano lessons.  With the help of Justin Connoly, a piano student examiner, and Oliver Knussen, she began composition again. Her music is typically late 20th century in style.
Her Symphony Op.3,( 3 movts. 20'26"), took 5 years to complete, from 1980-1985, and she has written a String Quartet Op.1, a Wind Quintet Op.2, Cantillation for Violin & Orchestra Op.4,  & Cello Concerto Op.5. All of these works have been recorded on Lorelt CD #INT-110, and NMC CD #DO48S. The last disc includes the early work ,Ballade in F minor for Violin & Piano. These are the only works published, and I am not sure if she wrote beyond the Opus 5 before dying in January 2000.
Minna Keal's early works in M/S,are most likely  held  by the family.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Readers of this forum may l.ike to know that a public performance of Lilian Elkington's quite splendid "Out of the Mist" will take place at a concert in aid of the St Lazarus Charitable Trust (which raises money for the relief of leprosy) I am organising in  the Cadogan Hall, London on November 11th, 2010. It will also include Dorothy Howell's Piano Concerto. Valentina seferinova is the pianist and the orchrestrea is the Orion Orchestra (a professional band of young musicians) under the baton of Toby Purser.