Women will be Women: Female Composers - Part II (1800-now)

Over the centuries there are known less female composers than male composers. How could that be? Podcastcreator Botte Jellema made a topic about it in the Dutch podcast "Sound Cast/Hole" [Klankcast] (ep. 86, Vrouwelijke Componisten). In this podcast episode, Musicologist Kees Wisse has been invited to talk about the obstacles & victories of female composers. He has been searching through music history to find 14 female composers over the centuries (18 total). I have translated this episode into two articles, where I devide 6 female composers in Part I and 8 female composers in Part II. Let's meet them!

Photo Attribution: Micheile Henders / Unsplash

The previous article (Part I) has pointed two main reasons why female composers are not being brought to (spot)light in history:
1. The compositions had not been kept, printed, published nor played as much. 1% of all the compositions and information might have been saved.
2. The value and position of women in society was problematic.
And so the compositions and the story of female composers have been forgotten in history.

Kees Wisse mentions that it should not be an issue to define any gender in the profession of composers: There is no difference in the quality of music. Even so, we all need to still keeping a close eye on the process: It is important that we continue to make progress.. Hopefully within 20-30 years things will be equally balanced and this battle is not needed anymore.
“The moment women are not allowed to participate, you throw away half of your potential.”
They hope that this podcast episode will contribute to the rescue from oblivion and finding it's publicy for female composers.Based on 18 female figures over the centuries of history, let´s see how it led to the position of the woman in the music field and the position of the woman in society with focus on music. In this post, there will be shown the last 8 female music composers.

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Changing in 19th Century: Female composers were still an exception. In general, the amount of female musicians increased, especially singers. The amount of female performers increased as well, mostly violinists and pianists. Still, the amount of female composers remained the same. A woman had to push through more barrieres for recognision and acception. A remarkable point in this time: Whén a woman made it to success (one way or another) in the music field, the majority of the public accepted it without a doubt; The gender of the composer didn't matter, the focus was Music.

Photo Attribution: Micheile Henders / Unsplash

7. Louise Farrenc
Time: 19th Century (first half). As a young girl she was allowed by her parents to take the opportunity to study music. Her parents were very open to the idea of 'follow your talent'. If this is your talent, try it out! Her parents allowed her to make music as a profession at the conservatory. But that wasn't allowed by the conservatory, because Louise was a woman. Therefore Louise was not accepted at the conservatory.
Her parents had found another way to solve the problem: The teachers of the conservatory could give Louise private music lessons themselves. Even though the schooldepartment didn't agreed with this idea, the teachers of the conservatory were very font of Louise's talent and they gave her private music lessons. Very famous (male) pianists had given music lessons to Louise. She had been taught composition and became a very famous pianist herself. She married a flute player [wind player]. They formed a wellknown musical duo for a while with their instruments: Flute and piano. After a few years he got bored and decided to start a music publishing company. That helped a lot in Louise's music career. In this way she could publish her own music without having to convince any music publishing company. She was affiliated with the company of her husband and became very famous in this time. She wrote mostly  symphonic compositions, including three symphonies. She also became a teacher herself at the same conservatory that didn't accepted her when she was young. You can see, time will tell. She guided very good pianists in their music careers. Her daughter Victorine Farrenc also had a career as a pianist, although she passed away at a young age. That caused Louise to stop composing for a while. Eventually Louise picked up her music career. Her music caught the attention of Robert Schumann (composer). He was the founder of the music magazine The New Journal of Music [Neue Zeitschrift Für Muzik}. He wrote a few praising articles about her piano music with lines as: Her music is wonderful, you have to listen to it and it should be performed!

8. Emilie Mayer:
Time: 19th Century (second half). In this time Emilie became wellknown as a music composer. Her compositions has been regularly played and practised by diverse musicians and herself. Still, in this time there was a weird difference: If a male composer would like to publish his music compositions, the publisher would take the risk and buy/pay for the music rights. On the other hand, women experienced the opposite: Emilie Mayer had to pay quite a lot of money to the publisher to publish her compositions and - if - there was any profit, she only received the money for the profit. She was not pleased with this rule at all. She rebelled a lot.

9. (Dame) Ethel Smyth
Time: 19th Century (second half). Her father was against her decision to persue a music career. She did it anyway. That's why she started her music profession a bit later in life. Ethel was one of the first women in the art scenary who created a 'feminist' position. She is famous for participating as a member in the movement 'Women's suffrage'. There were a lot of big demonstrations for women's rights and position (fx. right to vote). Ethel demonstrated for a while and then decided to compose music again. She has developed herself into the nobility: She got granted a 'Damehood' and got a title as 'Dame'.
Not much of her music compositions have been heard nor played. Her compositions have been published, but it hasn't been kept alive that much.

10. Clara Schumann
Time: 19th Century. Clara has been one of the most famouse composers of the 19th century.
From the beginning, at a very young age she had been prepared to become a famous musician and componist. Her father was a talented pianist and had supported her in her education from the start. Clara became a concertpianist and was a real wonderkid. She didn't went to school, instead, she had followed prive lessons from her father. When she was around 10 years old, she made her own music compositions. Later in life, she fell in love with Robert Schumann. Her father didn't agreed with that, he didn't liked Robert at all. Schumann was still unknown at the time, a bit of a dreamy figure who composed some music here and there. Her father saw no future in him, and was against the marriage. Her father wanted the best for Clara. He wanted to have all the music attention to Clara instead of Schumann. Still, they got married. Along the years of that marriage, Schumann was fighting for recognision for his music, while Clara already got a lot of recognision for her music. It was like Schumann stood in the shadows of Clara: She went on tour and he carried her luggage behind her. He didn't liked that at all. It was a bit tragic, cause it turned out he was also mentally unstable, and he died miserably. Even though they were married, she still continued her music career. It was a lot of work to keep everything running at the same time: A lot of kids to take care of, taking care of Schumann and her music career - tours and performing -.... She had no choice: Schumann couldn't bring any money due to his mental health. Brahms (music composer) and Clara were really close friends and he had supported her a lot during this difficult time. It didn't turned out into a relationship when Schumann already passed. Still, Clara has kept her independency and made a lot of music compositions. She had a lot of fame and was compared to famous male composers like Lizst. Because of her fame, she was able to publish her own songs and made it public without any problems.

Photo Attribution: Micheile Henders / Unsplash

Development of chances for women in the 20th Century
Female music composers got a bit more recognision in this time. In the art scenary female composers are more accepted than in the rest of society. In certain countries they developed 'Universal suffrage'. Although it is still a battle in most countries. Female musicians and composers got a bit more opportunities in this time.

11. Germaine Tailleferre
Time: 20th Century. In France there was a group called 'Group des Six'. They were famous because of their own music style. There was 1 female composer in this group: Germaine. She didn't had to identify as woman; she was equal to the group.

12. Nadia Boulanger & Lili Boulanger
Time: 20th Century. They were not approached as women, but as music composers. George Gerswin took classical lessons from them cause he got declined multiple times by other teachers. By that the (professional) role for women changed slowly.

13. Henriëtte Bosmans
Time: 20th Century. Unfortunately the Dutch composer Henriëtte Bosmans has been so undervalued... Her mother taught Henriëtte her first [piano] music lessons. Later on she had  followed good professional education as a composer and a pianist. Her father was a solist cello player at the Dutch concert hall orchestra - That's why the cello has a perminent role in Henriëtte's compositions. Henriëtte performed as a piano solist herself in the Dutch concert hall orchestra. She was allowed to play compositions from others, but she had to put a lot of effort in to push through the idea to play her own music compositions.
She had taken music lessons from Cornelis Dopper, composer and conductor of the Dutch concert hall orchestra. They used musical influences in the style of impressionism in her music compositions. A bit in the style of like Debussy (music composer). Also she took music lessons from Willem Pijper [He invented the Dutch term for 'octatonic scale']. He was very famous in The Netherlands in the time before the Second World War. He taught her to focus on modern music, to use a bit more force and power in her music compositions.
Henriëtte married a violist, but he died the year after. Then for a while she had a relationship with a female flutist [wind player]. It inspired her to put the flute instrument in her compositions. She made a 10-minute composition 'Composition with flute and orchestra'. This was send to a prize-competition. There were lots of happenings in her music compositions as well as happenings and tragedy in her own time. The passing of her husband who she loved so deeply was an enormous shock to her. Also, she had Jewish roots and because of that she must have had a miserable time during the Second World War. She has been through the Second World War and survived. In that time Henriëtte couldn't compose or perform music at all. After the Second World War she carefully continued composing music. She went into a relationship with a soprano. It inspired her to use voices in her music compositions. Henriëtte slowly returned to the style of impressionism but with new elements. There might be a documentary about her life.

Photo Attribution: Micheile Henders / Unsplash

21th Century-Now: More and more female composers are getting known in their music career. It balances out more of the the genderunequality and so the focus comes back to music. A big achievement of our time and hopeful for the future. Still, we have a long way to go to keep the balance. Female players are still fighting for a position in the orchestra. To have (more) female chief-conductors and conductors in the orchestra will be a big step forward!

14. Calliope Tsoupaki
Time: 21th Century-now. Calliope is originally from Greece and she came to The Netherlands. She studied with Dutch composer Louis Andriessen. Her compositions have been played everywhere by orchestras. From 2018 till 2021 she has been granted the title 'Composer laureate of The Netherlands'. In 2021 she won the Matthijs Vermeulen Composition Award ['Thin Air']. Since 2007 she is a teacher in composition at the conservatory of The Hague. During the Covid-19 pandemic she made a composition called 'Meetingpoint'. There was an 1.5 meter distance rule.
She mentioned that:
Even though people had to be aware of keeping distance, music can lead to engagement and bring people together again. She also made a videoclip for this composition.She has an important position and thereby she is very influential as a female music composer in The Netherlands.

Podcastcreator Botte Jellema and Musicologist Kees Wisse reflected on the research through music history. Kees mentioned that as a musicologist he had been searching through the unknown 99% to create a wider perspective on the situation based on the 1% that has been  known. It has been a surprisingly experience to listen and doing research together he said. There were also a lot of music compositions by female composers that were irrelevant to the view that Kees Wisse wanted to bring forward in the podcast. Even so, he enjoyed the research and they were both happy to have created this podcast episode about female composers. Hopefully more female composers will be invited to the podcast episodes to brighten the perspective in music history!

I would like to thank Botte Jellema and Kees Wisse for this amazing (music-) educative podcast episode!