And I handed out a flier (200 of ‘em!). It’s amazing how some people look right through you when you are trying to hand them something. Others were, of course, full of interest and enthusiasm! I met some very kind people! And I met BSO artistic administrator Tony Fogg, who I had written back when I wrote James Levine and Mark Volpe in 2008 (and several times after that). He said that he had written me back a lengthy reply, but I never received it. Too bad to have a miscommunication, I will try again … and again …
Here’s a link to the front of the flier in PDF format (the back was a summary of my letter to the BSO referenced above)
In this time of strife for orchestral musicians, it is refreshing to remember just how dedicated many have been throughout their careers. Norman Lebrecht posted on his blog a “near-definitive” list of the longest serving orchestral musicians. While it will surely continue to be updated and changed as more information comes forth, it is significant to note that women performers hold the top two positions.
Today is the 124th birthday of composer, conductor, and educator Nadia Boulanger.
I was actually reminded of this on my morning commute by my local independent radio station, WDIY, who did a birthday tribute to Nadia by playing works of some of her most famous pupils. I have included here Nadia’s Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra:
Though she is often remembered as the wife of Gustav, her own career as a musician and composer is neglected. Alma studied piano from an early age and took composition lessons with Josef Labor and Alexander von Zemlinsky. When she married in 1902 Gustav required her to give up her own composing to focus on the home and future family.
Her works were primarily lieder, though there is evidence of instrumental works as well as part of an opera. Only 17 songs survive. Most were published in her lifetime after the death of Gustav. Her papers are at the University of Pennsylvania.
Here is a recording of Alma’s “In meines Vaters Garten”:
I had been trying to put together some thoughts about the way women who perform classical music are viewed/described by the media, long before Yuja Wang made her controversial Hollywood Bowl appearance. And after sifting through dozens of articles and critiques, I have come up with at least some of what I want to say.
For those who are (perhaps blissfully) unaware of the media frenzy that has recently taken over the classical music community, Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, performed Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano concerto at the Hollywood Bowl on August 2. However, what has remained on everyone’s minds (continuing to be mentioned even 2-½ weeks later) is not her interpretation of the work, but rather what she wore.
The August 3 review in the LA Times by Mark Swed devoted a whole paragraph to the dress:
Her dress Tuesday was so short and tight that had there been any less of it, the Bowl might have been forced to restrict admission to any music lover under 18 not accompanied by an adult. Had her heels been any higher, walking, to say nothing of her sensitive pedaling, would have been unfeasible. The infernal helicopters that brazenly buzz the Bowl seemed, on this night, like long-necked paparazzi wanting a good look.
For reference, here is a video of Yuja Wang (wearing a different – although equally revealing – dress) playing Scriabin:
The responses to the concert, and the review, have been plentiful:
Anne Midgette, music critic at the Washington Post, is familiar with the topic, having written a lengthy article for the New York Times in 2004 titled, “The Curse of Beauty for Serious Musicians; Young Women Find the Playing Field is Far From Level”. In recent days she, too, has contributed to the conversation regarding Wang’s dress, and criticizesLA Times reviewer Mark Swed’s take on the outfit, and speaks to larger concerns with how the classical music community is advancing and embracing change, or not.
And Amanda Ameer at Life’s A Pitch, commented on the dress, sharing her conflicted standpoint on a performer’s right to personal choice versus the expectations for a collaborative effort with the rest of the musicians. Many readers’ comments also raise excellent points on the implications of the general of beauty.
The Well-Tempered Ear is conducting a poll about what “appropriate” concert attire would look like, and rightfully addresses the differences in expectations for male and female soloists.
Adam Tschorn, also of the LA Times, shares his thoughts on the dress and the hulabaloo here.
An article in the Philadelphia Inquirer by music critic David Patrick Stearns likens Wang and her contemporaries (young soloists, like Lang Lang) as “rock stars”. Stearns believes that it is reasonable for young, talented, popular musicians to conform to the fashion of the day, but cautions that it’s going too far:
But it’s all getting so extreme, some might say classical music is turning into its own slutwalk, with artists seizing upon every possible media outlet, and looking as provocative as possible.
(Aside: Isn’t it interesting that he certainly purposefully chose that term and still misses the point, even with all the recent news coverage of slutwalks taking place across the country and around the world.)
Moreover, Stearns seems to be more concerned that fans of Wang will only be interested in attending concerts because of her attire and not her music, and then immediately calls to reference the other women that have faced scrutiny over the years
Overall, the classical world is a better place since violinist Anne Sophie Mutter began, in the mid-1980s, wearing strapless concert gowns that give her more freedom of movement, not to mention the sensual pleasure of feeling her violin close to her bare skin. Soprano Karita Mattila spends her spare time making her own form-fitting concert gowns; one could have worse hobbies. Both artists have exemplary careers with adventuresome contemporary repertoire. Also, visual desensitization set in quickly: After a few concerts, I stopped noticing what they wore and was all ears.
…and still seems to miss his own point.
***
As those of us who pay attention to these things know, it is not the first time that a critique of visual aspects of the performer took precedence over the music and its interpretation. Physical appearance has always played a role in music making – how a women presents herself physically is, and has always been, important to the society at large. There is a long history of women being prohibited from playing instruments because of how they required a woman to hold her body (think cello), or contort her face (oboe, trumpet, etc.). Instead, women were encouraged to play instruments that would enhance their feminine beauty.
When women first began to step into the spotlight in the 19th century as soloists (like Camilla Urso, for example), their attire was usually just as heavily critiqued as their performance. As Beth Abelson Macleod noted in her book Women Performing Music, many dresses were described “with an attention to detail generally reserved for bridal gowns on today’s society pages.”
And the bias that women faced in joining symphony orchestras, which was rampant in mid-late 20th century in the United States, and which continues in Europe, included commentary on physical appearance. In 1946 conductor Sir Thomas Beecham was quoted as saying,
I do not like, and never will, the association of men and women in orchestras and other instrumental combinations…. As a member of the orchestra once said to me, ‘If she is attractive I can’t play with her and if she is not I won’t.’
And he wasn’t alone. Franz Reiner, who conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony, said around 1945 that “I’ll take any man in the country before I’ll take a woman.”
The inherent bias was so troubling that blind auditions (where performers auditioned anonymously behind a curtain) were put in place in the 1960s and 1970s to allow for the possibility of merit to be the qualifying factor.
In the following decades, more women found their ways into professional orchestras, and earned success as soloists. But though expectations for appearance changed, it was never removed from the equation. Women instrumentalists have often found their attire to take up more room in their concert reviews than any thoughtful criticism of the performance. World-renowned violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter was one of the reviewers’ favorite targets in the late 1990’s. In a review that appeared on February 28, 1997, Toronto Star critic William Littler wrote:
The late English music critic Sir Neville Cardus, whose eyes were as open as his ears, used to say of the Viennese soprano Lisa della Casa that one should go to her concerts twice: once to listen, once to look. It is the kind of remark familiar as well to German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, she of the flowing tresses and off-the-shoulder gowns. It is a sexist remark, no doubt, for which those of us with trousers make no apology. Nature has been bounteous to such women and just a little bit cruel as well, because we can never entirely regard their artistry in isolation from their beauty.
Which brings us to the other side of this problem. Female solo performers are criticized if they choose attire that is considered too “racy”, as well as when they choose perhaps a more conservative ensemble. Lara St. John, Canadian violinist with a history of wearing un-conservative concert attire, received criticism of the latter kind from critic John Terauds in a February 13, 2004 review (also in the Toronto Star):
An almost matronly St. John shambled out on to the Jane Mallett Theatre stage in a wrinkled pigeon-coloured number that had to be one of the ugliest frocks to see stage lights this season….This violinist proved that what you look like says little about your music. Her music last night was as good as it gets. But it still might be time to buy a new dress.
(Midgette’s Times article, linked above, is written in response to this review by Terauds.)
Physical appearance in classical music continues to be an important factor for performers who seek to get ahead – particularly women. Over-sexualization of women performers is rampant, evidenced in part by the website Beauty in Music has been cataloguing “The Sexist Women in Classical Music”, which provided pictures of instrumentalists but neglects to include any names. And Norman Lebrecht at Slipped Disc had the audacity to suggest just a few months ago that EMI, having signed trumpet soloist Tine Thing Helseth, may have made an error in that they “already have a young, blonde trumpet player in Alison Blasom.” The implication, of course, being that there is only room in the classical world for one sexy trumpet player, and certainly not two, irregardless of their talent or creativity.
Men (perhaps increasingly) also face expectations and criticism – this evidenced by the listing of The Top 12 Classical Music Pinups (which includes men and women), and “breaking” stories about a composer who joined a modeling agency.
Expectations for vocalists are even more cutthroat than instrumentalists, particularly in this world of ever-enterprising, novelty-seeking and boundary-breaking operatic directors. The story of soprano Deborah Voight’s dramatic weight loss after being removed from an opera production because she couldn’t fit into a specific black cocktail dress is now infamous – and being retold by Voight, at Glimmerglass this past year as well as in an upcoming memoir. Australian opera director Lyndon Terracini has publicly and very clearly proclaimed his position in a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald:
The fat lady has sung. And if Lyndon Terracini continues to get his way, she won’t get an encore until she at least shifts some weight.
Lest the man charged with overseeing the future of opera in Australia be accused of sexism, he is quick to point out that his shape-up-or-ship-out message applies to all performers, regardless of gender.
”If you’re seeing a couple making out and one of them is obese, who wants to watch that?” he says with a theatrical grimace. ‘‘It’s obscene. You just think, ‘Jeez, for Chrissakes, don’t let the children see that’.”
Apparently it is okay to be fat-phobic if you are not sexist about it.
There have been plenty of arguments as to why it is important to maintain the concert standards that were created decades ago – but also arguments to change the status quo. If classical music is going to thrive once again, isn’t it time to move beyond these trite and blatantly sexist criticisms, which further reinforce the patriarchy that we still can’t seem to shake? It appears more and more that talent is coming in second place to reinforcing flawed and damaging beauty standards. We expect classical musicians to look beautiful, but not be too sexy or glamorous or empowered. And if they don’t conform to what the resounding majority believes to be beautiful, then they don’t belong on the stage at all.
Performers are on stage to be seen and heard, certainly. Watching a performer engage with the music is why I attend live performances. However, I see no point in forgetting the music for the sake of being a beauty/fashion critic, other than to detract from what is more than likely amazing (and maybe threatening) talent for the sake of maintaining restrictive social standards for beauty and appearance.
I just saw the new trailer for the film, titled Mozart’s Sister, yesterday – and today NPR’s classical music blog Deceptive Cadence discussed the film and the how little is really known about the life and music of the “other” Mozart.
Here’s the official trailer for the film:
It has opened (in limited release), and I’m anxious to find a theater in my area that will be presenting it. Though surely flawed, as almost all films of this nature are, it will undoubtedly provide a better insight into who Nannerl was and the forces that she had to work against throughout her lifetime.
The official website for the film also provides information about where and when it will be released nationwide.
The Hildegard Publishing Company, which is named after my favorite medieval abbess and is one of my favorite resources for finding music composed by women, put together a great resource for music educators who may be looking for new resources for their classroom or studio.
Be sure to check out their Back to School Guide and stock up on some wonderful music!
The Santa Fe Opera announced three new commissions to be premiered over the next three years. The particularly excellent news is that two of the composers are Jennifer Higdon and Judith Weir.
COLD MOUNTAIN – Jennifer Higdon, composer; Gene Scheer, librettist
2015 marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. Cold Mountain is Charles Frazier’s powerful account of one soldier, W. P. Inman, who deserts the Confederate army as the war is coming to an end and makes his way back to his home on Cold Mountain. The novel won the 1997 National Book Award and was made into a film in 2003. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards.
The Civil War has a special resonance for New Mexicans. The New Mexico Territory was the site of one of the final and westernmost battles of the Civil War, fought at nearby Glorieta Pass in 1862. Historians have called it a major event in the history of the Civil War. The village of Pecos is the site of an annual reenactment of the skirmish.
Cold Mountain composer Jennifer Higdon is one of the most in-demand composers today. She was awarded the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto and a Grammy the same year for her Percussion Concerto. blue cathedral, written in 2000, on the death of her brother, has become one of the most performed modern orchestral works. Her compositions have been performed by leading orchestras throughout the country and she has received commissions from numerous instrumental ensembles.
The versatile American librettist and composer Gene Scheer is the librettist. Among his many projects are several with composer Jake Heggie, the latest being Moby Dick for the Dallas Opera which was premiered in 2010. He collaborated with Tobias Picker on two operas, An American Tragedy, premiered at the Metropolitan Opera, andTherese Raquin for the Dallas Opera. He has written songs for singers including Renée Fleming, Sylvia McNair and Stephanie Blythe, and a song cycle, Voices from World War II for Nathan Gunn.
Nathan Gunn, who will sing the role of W.P. Inman, is one of the country’s leading operatic baritones. He has performed in virtually every major opera house in the world and is admired as an interpreter of new works including operas by Tobias Picker, Daron Hagen, Andre Previn and Peter Eötvös. He collaborated with Gene Scheer on the opera An American Tragedy, and the song cycle Voices from World War II. Gunn is also a distinguished concert performer and recitalist. He appeared in the 1998 production of Berlioz’ Beatrice and Benedict and the following year in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos in Santa Fe. He is currently Professor of Voice at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
MISS FORTUNE – Judith Weir, composer, librettist
Miss Fortune is based on a Sicilian folk tale called Sfortuna. Composer Judith Weir, who often makes use of folk idioms, is her own librettist. She has updated the story to the 21st century making it a topical morality tale about the ups and downs of life and the inconsistencies of fate. The opera is enlivened by a group of acrobats called “Fates Gang.”
Here’s more about the commissions from the New York Times. And congratulations to both composers!!
One of the always interesting and exciting parts about doing research on women’s work in music is that you often come across a name that you may have never encountered before. While this can be truly exciting – it is also another reminder of just how many names and histories have fallen completely by the wayside waiting to be rediscovered.
As I was reading through blog updates this past week I came across the name Philippa Schuyler in a post at The Overgrown Path. Philippa was a pianist and composer, a child prodigy, and, in many unfortunate ways, the (dare I say) victim of experimental parenting and a dysfunctional home life. As she grew and became more fully aware of the inequality she faced, both as the child of a mixed race marriage (her mother was white, her father was black), as well as the expectations for the roles of women, Philippa became an outspoken feminist and eventually left music for the world of journalism. She died as the result of a helicopter crash while working as a journalist in Vietnam.
Image from: http://www.overgrownpath.com/
It is truly unfortunate that her musical career is largely forgotten from common knowledge. She performed and toured extensively and internationally, was the student of Antonia Brico, and an acquaintance of Leonard Bernstein. Her compositions included many works for piano which were published, and works for orchestra which were performed in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
I highly encourage you to read the two articles at the Overgrown Path, the first provides a wonderfully detailed history of her life, and the second details her piano compositions and tonal and harmonic language.
