I will finish the WPA tribute to historic female composers by remembering the life and music of Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915-1940). Though she lived a tragically short life, she made a dramatic impact as a composer and conductor.
Czech by birth, Kaprálová studied at the Brno Conservatory and well as abroad with (among others) Nadia Boulanger. She conducted her own work with the Czech Philharmonic in 1937 and the BBC Orchestra in 1938. Her compositions ranged in genre and style, including art songs, chamber works, a cantata, two piano concertos, and other orchestral works. Her works continue to be published and recorded today.
Her life and works were the foundation for the Kapralova Society, which seeks to not only further educate and share the work of this one composer, but also seeks to educate about the role, works, and history of women in music.
More information about Kaprálová can also be found through Radio Praha, which provides an in-depth look at her life and music. Follow the link to the audio file of the original broadcast, as well as to the full transcription.
Here is an example of her writing for voice and orchestra:
Marion Bauer (1882-1955) was born in Walla Walla, Washington to immigrant French Jewish parents. She studied piano from a young age, later refining her talent in piano and composition at the Paris Conservatory. While in France she was the first American student of Nadia Boulanger, who taught her in exchange for English lessons. When she returned to the United States she became a professor at New York University. She was an advocate for new music, including extensive scholarship, and co-founded The American Music Center.
Born in Moscow in 1899, Sophie Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté studied piano, violin, and composition at the Paris Conservatory and continued her music education in Berlin. In her youth she toured extensively as a pianist and violinist, often performing her own works. After being widowed and touring America, performing her compositions in Philadelphia and Chicago, Eckhardt-Gramatté turned away from performance and focused almost entirely on composition. Her later years were spent in Canada, where she was the recipient of many awards and commissions. She died tragically in an accident in Germany in 1974.
Her legacy lives on in the Eckhardt-Gramatté Foundation, established by her widower to honor Sophie Carmen. Taken from the website:
The Eckhardt-Gramatté Foundation is a charitable organization, established in 1982 by Dr Ferdinand Eckhardt, former director of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, in memory an honor of his late wife, the composer and musician Sophie Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté and her first husband, German Expressionist Walter Gramatté, for the purpose of advancement of public appreciation, understanding and education of the musical and artistic works of these two people in Canada and elsewhere.
She composed in large and small forms, including quite a lot of chamber music. However, orchestral forms also constitute a significant portion of her compositional output. Below is her Bassoon Concerto (1950):
Another example of being fortunate enough to be born into a musical family lies with Josephine Lang (1815-1880). Her father, Theodor, was a violinist and her mother, Regina Hitzelberger, was an opera singer. They supported their daughter in her musical ambitions, including opportunities to become acquainted with Felix Mendelssohn who worked to have Lang’s music published. Robert Schumann also recognized Lang’s abilities as a composer by publishing one of Lang’s pieces in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik.
Though she was a talented and respected musician, her luck fell short in her personal life. Lang was often sickly, was widowed young, and had to support herself and her six children through her compositions and piano pedagogy. It was after a benefit concert of Lang’s work performed by Clara Schumann and some promotion by Ferdinand Hiller that Lang was able to achieve some success as a published composer. Sadly, her final years were filled with more illness, trauma after the death of her three sons, and loneliness. However, she continued to compose and teach until her death in 1880.
A new biography, Josephine Lang: her life and songs, was published in 2007. Harald and Sharon Krebs, the authors, present strong and well-research scholarship on her life and music. The text, published by Oxford, also includes a companion website featuring 30 songs by Lang as performed by Sharon Krebs, soprano, and Harald Krebs, piano. Harald Krebs, who is faculty at the University of Victoria and in 2010 was named the President of the Society for Music Theory, also edited two volumes of Lang’s songs which are published by Hildegard Press.
Below is Lang’s “Erinnerung” as performed by Dana MacKay:
Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759-1824) was an Austrian composer, famous for her blindness and her friendship with Mozart. She was the daughter of Joseph Anton Paradis, the Imperial Secretary of Commerce and Court Councilor to the Empress Maria Theresa, whom this composer was named after.
Her education included music theory, composition, piano, and voice. Among her teachers were Antonio Salieri. Known as a singer and pianist in salons throughout Vienna, von Paradis commissioned several works in her lifetime, including concerti from Salieri, Mozart, and Haydn. After making a name for herself in Vienna, von Paradis also toured Paris, London, Germany, and Switzerland.
She began composing during her European tour and her compositional output increased as her touring schedule slowed. Her first works were for keyboard or voice and keyboard, but also completed five operas and three cantatas. Von Paradis composed by using a composition board that was invented by her partner and librettist Johann Riedinger.
In 1808 von Paradis founded a music school in Vienna and taught young girls singing, piano, and theory. She continued to teach until her death in 1824.
Below is perhaps her most famous work Sicilenne performed by Jacqueline due Pré:
Unfortunately, little information is readily available on the life and work of Julia Perry (1924-1979). She was born in Kentucky, raised in Ohio, and studied at the Westminster Choir College, Juilliard, and abroad, including with Nadia Boulanger in France.
Among her compositions are several secular cantatas – Chicago was written for her master’s thesis. She is perhaps most famous for her one-act opera, The Cask of Amontillado based on the short story by Poe. In addition to works for voice, Perry also composed a total of twelve symphonies. Her Short Piece for Orchestra was performed by the New York Philharmonic in 1965. Along with composing, Perry became a skilled conductor, leading a series of concerts in Europe. After suffering a stroke in 1971 she taught herself to write with her left hand so that she could continue composing.
Christine Ammer, author of Unsung: A History of Women in American Music provides more information about Perry’s life and work – you can read an excerpt from Ammer’s work here. You can also read more on the Africlassical blog. Some of her work is still available to purchase.
Below is Perry’s arrangement of the Negro Spiritual, “I’m a Poor Lil Orphan”:
Born and raised in Texas, Julia Smith (1905-1989) achieved acclaim as a composer, pianist, and musicologist – but is is perhaps best remembered for composing the music for the University of North Texas alma mater.
After graduating from UNT, Smith completed her graduate work at Juilliard and New York University. She performed as a pianist in Orchestrette Classique, an all-woman chamber orchestra in New York City. Later, she accepted a position at the Hartt School, where she founded the music education department. Her scholarship focused on the life of Aaron Copland, but she also edited and published a Directory of American Woman Composers, with selected music for senior & junior clubs in 1970 through the national Federation of Music Clubs, suggesting her own activism in promoting underperformed works. She also chaired the Decade of Women Committee from 1970-1979.
Among her numerous compositions, Smith is best known for her operas and orchestra works – all of which were performed in her lifetime, but have fallen to obscurity today. Her talent was recognized in her lifetime, evident by her achievements and the numerous commissions that she Unfortunately, I was unable to find any recordings readily available online to share with you.
You can read her obituary printed in the New York Timeshere. Her papers are held at the UNT Library.
Violet Archer (1913-2000), Canadian composer, pianist, percussionist, organist, and educator, received recognition and acclaim throughout Canada and the United States. She was a student of Béla Bartók and Paul Hindemith, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1983, and had The Canadian Music Centre Library named in her honor. She was also an active performer, including being a percussionist with the Montreal Women’s Symphony Orchestra. Her achievements extend beyond there, including having a Canadian indeed rock band named after her – follow the link to learn more about the band The Violet Archers.
Her works, which were written for small and large ensembles and number over 280, have been actively recorded in Canada. The Canadian Music Centre has more information about Archer, including an extensive biography, sample recordings, and samples of her scores.
We don’t know much about Maddalena Casulana (c. 1540 – c.1590) other than she was an Italian composer, lutenist and singer during the Renaissance and was one of the first (if not the very first) woman to have her music printed.
She is remembered for her madrigals – many of which were published in collections throughout her lifetime. Several dedications to Isabella de’Medici indicates a strong friendship between the two. Her work was respected and performed often; there is evidence that Orlando di Lasso conducted works by Casulana at the court of Albrech of Bavaria in Munich. More information about Casulana can be found in the New Historical Anthology of Music by Women. A total of 66 madrigals survive today, and her work is starting to become available in the public domain.
Though there are few other records of her life, she did leave strong words regarding her position as a woman in a profession dominated by men. In the dedication to Isabella de’Medici in her first collection of madrigals Casulana stated:
I want to show the world, as much as I can in this profession of music, the vain error of men that they alone possess the gifts of intellect and artistry, and that such gifts are never given to women.
Also known as Maria Antonia of Bavaria (1724-1780) was Electress of Saxony as well as a composer, singer, harpsichordist and arts patron. In the same year that she wed (1747) she also joined the Accademia dell’Arcadia of Rome which sought to reform opera. Opera played a significant role in her life – she composed two operas in her lifetime, including penning the librettos. Other works attributed to Maria Antonia include arias, intermezzo, motets, and other small works.
Maria Antonia received an excellent music education, studying with Giovanni Battista Ferrandini, Nicola Porpora and Johann Adolph Hasse. Her works were published in her lifetime, though under a pseudonym, and received good reviews. You can purchase a recording of her opera Talestri, about the Amazons, through the WPA store.
