Ossining, NY — Sept. 20. 2012

Nancy B. Reich (center), with Liane Curtis (right) and Judith Tick.

As President of Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy, I am proud to grant the AMY Award for Lifetime achievement in Music Scholarship to Dr. Nancy B. Reich. Her book, Clara Schumann: The Artist and the Woman (1985; rev. ed. 2001), was the first book of serious musicological scholarship devoted to a female musician. The very different scholarly landscape that surrounds us now, in which feminist scholarship and interest in women’s lives and musical creations is mainstream, is in a great part due Dr. Reich’s pioneering work.

Today Clara Schumann is both the subject of a range of scholarly inquiry as well as increasingly part of everyday discourse. For instance, witness the Google Doodle just last week—the first Doodle to honor a female musician. As a composer, Clara Schumann’s music, from her songs, piano music and chamber works, to her powerful piano concerto, are widely performed and recorded.

Reich’s subject matter was new for the field of musicology, but her research methods were solidly grounded, and the precision, detail, and discipline with which her work was carried out has led it to be widely respected and influential.

Dr. Reich has been generous and helpful to scholars from around the globe who are researching Clara Schumann and related subjects. By honoring Dr. Reich we recognize and celebrate her impact on musicology, as well as on the musical world in general.

Reich’s Clara Schumann: The Artist and the Woman, was hailed by critics as a major contribution and has been translated into German, Japanese and Chinese. In further celebration of Dr. Reich receiving the AMY Award for Lifetime Achievement in Music Scholarship, we are happy to announce that Cornell University Press, the publisher of Dr. Reich’s book, plans to reissue it in electronic format in the very near future.

NPR’s Deceptive Cadence picked up on a twitter feed recently questioning which composer is the “biggest badass”, with qualifications to include drugs, sex, guts and politics.

The list of composers included (surprise!!!) no women. Though the list, which was compiled here, did include Carlo Gesualdo, a late Renaissance composer who is remembered for his madrigals, chromaticism, and having murdered his wife and her lover and placing their bodies on display. (Interesting that instead of being remembered as a murderer he is praised as being “badass”…)

But this omission of women must have been an oversight – especially considering all of the badass women composers that have lived. My short list includes:

Hildegard von Bingen (who was included in the comments on the NPR story – thanks to Christine Beard)
She was an abbess, mystic and prophet who stood up to every authority in the Medieval Church, including the Pope himself, and lived to tell about it. She was also the first composer to so fastidiously document their work and sign their name to it – unheard of for even men at the time.

Dame Ethel Smyth
How much more badass can you get than being arrested for the cause you are fighting for (British women’s suffrage) – and continue to lead your followers even from behind prison bars? (Who doesn’t know the story of Smyth conducing her “March for Woman” from her cell window with a toothbrush??)

Nadia Boulanger
Forced to work at a young age due to the death of her father, Nadia took on jobs performing and teaching music to support her family. She took on the Prix de Rome by force and ruffled feathers along the way. Though she didn’t win (second place isn’t shabby either), she certainly paved the way for other women, including sister Lili. Nadia was also the first woman to conduct the BBC Symphony, Boston Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Her students included Aaron Copland and Astor Piazzola, and seemingly countless others, and her work continues to live on through the next generations.

Wendy Carlos
Wendy’s work with the Moog synthesizer, most notably her album Switched-On Bach re-introduced classical music to the masses. That album, first released in 1968, was one of the first classical LPs to sell 500,000 copies – eventually going gold and platinum. The album also brought home three Grammy awards: Album of the Year (Classical), Best Classical Performance, and Best Engineered Recording (Classical).

Clara Wieck Schumann
A child prodigy who defied her father to marry Robert, Clara also completely changed the format and standard repertoire of piano recitals. She took care of an often-ailing Robert and raised seven children while traveling and performing to make sure that they and continuing to travel and perform to share Robert’s music and bring home a paycheck. She out lived four of her eight children (one died in infancy) as well as her husband, and cared for her grandchildren when necessary. She continued to advocate for Robert’s works, including taking the lead roles of editor and interpreter until her death.

But this is just five of certainly dozens of women composers and musicians who fought the odds and managed to make a place in history for themselves (even if it is often forgotten in text books and in online polls).

Who else should be on this list???

Robert Owen Lehman is selling his collection of music manuscripts. The collection, which is valued at $135 million, is currently housed at The Morgan Library & Museum in NYC. Lehman hasn’t officially announced what he intends to do with the profits from the sale, but has been very clear that the buyer of the collection must not be broken up, and it must always be housed in a public institution.

NPR has the story here.

Though I haven’t been able to find the full catalog of this collection (or determine if any music by women composers is included, The Morgan Library does provide a complete list of composers whose work can be found at the institution.

Included in the list are:

• Bettina von Arnim
• Louise Farrenc
• Barbara Marchisio
• Sophie Menter
• Christina Nilsson
• Charlotte Sainton-Dolby
• Clara Schumann
• Pauline Viardot-Garcia – the manuscript to Junge Fischer is available digitally through the Morgan

I’m going to keep investigating to see if any of the above composers are included in Mr. Lehman’s collection. Bur regardless to that, I’m excited to learn about these manuscripts being available to the public through the Morgan Library. If you have had experience looking at these documents at the Morgan, please share your experience in the comments section!

I recently wrote about the representation of women’s works at the Cabrillo Festival. But, that is far from the only festival where you can hear music by women this summer.

In fact, one of the themes for the Oregon Bach Festival is In Praise of Women. Unfortunately enough, though there are several works that honor specific women, like a tribute to St. Cecilia, and Marin Alsop conducting Honegger’s Joan of Arc at the Stake, (which will also be performed by the Baltimore Symphony in their 2011-2012 concert season), there is only one concert that includes works composed by women. The free event will feature works by Fernande Decruck, Joan Tower, Marilyn Shrude, and Jeanine Rueff.

You can hear Jennifer Higdon’s Loco at Tanglewood this summer, as well as Eve Beglarian’s Robin Redbreast and Errollyn Wallen’s The Girl in My Alphabet in the same concert.

Libby Larsen’s Slang will be heard at the Aspen Music Festival, and Jennifer Higdon will celebrate a World Premiere at the Grand Teton Music Festival with her new commission, All Things Majestic.

Music at Menlo will present Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in g Minor, op. 17 (1846) – and wins for being the only representation I have found of work by a historic woman.

But I undoubtedly missed some – what Festivals are you attending that are including works composed by women? Leave a note in the Comments section!

For more on the Festival season you can visit NPR’s Deceptive Cadence, which has a run-down of their picks for this summer.

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:

As I mentioned at the beginning of this month, every month is Women’s History Month at WPA, as it is in every feminist community.  There are many concerns and mixed feelings about what it means to separate one month for the recognition of one group – and understandably so.  If we remember the works of women in March, does that mean we get to go back to neglecting them in April?  Certainly not – but that is more than likely the case in the general public.

This March there have been several notable “celebrations” of women’s work in music by different radio stations and publications.

WGBH in Boston has been featuring the contributions of women to classical music each weekday morning in the 7 o’clock hour.  Shame that it isn’t featured in a later program when more listeners might be listening (though, I suppose there might be at least a few sitting in rush hour traffic….)  WGBH also did a feature on Nadia Boulanger in honor of Women’s History month, though the cynic in me is quick to note that Nadia is mostly remembered as the teacher of many famous male composers.

Amanda Angel of WQXR in New York City compiled a list of the “Top Five Women Composers” to counter Tommasini’s list of top ten composers that neglected any women.  On WQXR’s list are Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, Amy Beach, Hildegard von Bingen, and Lili Boulanger.  Though the effort is commendable, the piece lacks some careful fact checking and depth that is deserved on the topic.  But, I am rather biased.

Certainly the best piece that I have (at least as of yet) seen featuring women composers in March is by Fiona Maddocks of The Guardian.  The opening paragraph sets just the right mood:

Try this test. Write down all the women composers you know of. No, don’t run away. Given the nature of this column, stick to contemporary classical. Too hard? OK, include anyone, past or present, who has written religious, symphonic, chamber, vocal, choral, operatic, electro-acoustic works. To make it simple, film and TV scores are allowed too. Still zero? You’re in distinguished company. The Guardian‘s 100 Most Inspiring Women this week, marking the 100th International Women’s Day, featured not one.

Though, the candor that Maddocks shares with readers shouldn’t be surprising – Maddocks is familiar with the topic of women in music, having written a biography of Hildegard von Bingen.  Her piece, which I highly recommend, not only recognizes the continued absence in programming (specifically in the UK), but also the efforts that are being made.  For example, Sue Perkins, who won the reality-TV conducting competition several years back, conducted an all-women’s orchestra in a performance of Ethel Smyth’s “The March of the Women” as the final performance of the Women of the World conference held last weekend.  Maddocks concludes her piece with a list of eight young composers to look out for.

Certainly, we are working towards a time where it is not necessary to highlight the gender (or race, or nationality, etc.) of the composers that are being performed.  The challenge that Maddocks presented to her readers clearly demonstrates that we are not yet even close.  Till then, our work continues.

Pauline Viardot, like many other women featured this month, was fortunate to be born into a musical family. Born in Paris in 1821, Viardot (nee Garcia) has Spanish ancestry. Her parents were opera singers and fostered her talents as a singer, though she was also a highly accomplished pianist. Throughout her lifetime she was a student of Liszt and Reica, and a friend of Chopin and Clara Schumann, sang under Berlioz and knew Jenny Lind. She was also on friendly terms with Tchaikovsky and Rossini, who visited her home. After she retired from the stage, Viardot taught at the Paris Conservatory. She died in Paris in 1910.

More information about Viardot can be found through the Tchaikovsky Research Center, which includes a more detailed accounts of the time and correspondence that Viardot shared with Tchaikovsky. Viardot’s papers are held at Harvard.

Though known primarily as a performer, Viardot composed actively. Her compositional output was primarily songs, and often arranged the instrumental works of other composers (including Chopin, Haydn, Schubert, and Brahms) as songs. Though she never actively pursued the role or title of “composer”, as most of her works were written to be used as educational tools with her students, her work was praised highly in its time. Included in her oeuvre are several salon operas and chamber works.

Here is Cecilia Bartoi performing Viardot’s “Hai luli”:

I recently wrote about the news from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra that they are making a concerted effort to include and recognize the contributions of women musicians in their 2011-2012 concert season.  Just days after the BSO news was announced, I learned that the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra is making similar strides in their programming.  The press release can be found here.

It is notable that this is the inaugural season for the RPO’s new Music Director, Arild Remmereit.  Christopher Seaman, Remmereit’s predecessor, was not known to embrace works by women in his programming – according to the League of American Orchestra reports the Rochester Philharmonic has only performed three works by women in the last ten years – (Higdon’s Blue Cathedral; Larsen’s Notes Slipped Under the Door, and Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman).  This season, however, the RPO will perform eight works:

• Amy Beach’s Symphony No. 2, “Gaelic”
• Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s Hiob (Job)
• Gabriela Lena Frank’s Three Latin American Dances
• Peggy Stuart Coolidge’s Blue Planet
• Karen Tanaka’s Rose Absolute
• Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor
• Sofia Gubaidulina’s Two Paths: Dedication to Mary and Martha, Concerto for Two Violas
• And a newly commissioned piece by Margaret Brouwer

In my eyes, Remmereit has created a fantastic season including a more diverse representation of women’s work through history and nationalities than likely has ever been seen in a professional orchestra’s programming.  We can only hope that the effort and thought that was part of the artistic choices for the 2011-2012 season will carry through future seasons, and that Remmereit and the RPO will continue to perform diverse programming.  If this is how Remmereit is approaching his first season in Rochester, I am anxious to see what future concerts will hold!

Today is the 191st birthday of Clara Wieck Schumann, piano virtuoso and composer, though she is most often remembered as the wife and supporter of Robert, as well as friend and source of inspiration (and perhaps torment) to Brahms.

Her life and work is truly honored in Nancy Reich’s biography, Clara Schumann: The Artist and the Woman.

In honor of her life and work have a listen to her Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 7:

In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, NPR music commentator Miles Hoffman did a report on musical families for Morning Edition. The light piece, lasting about seven minutes, discussed the work of a few of the best known (or “most likely to be known”) women that were connected to the now seemingly legendary men.

Among the relatives mentioned were Maria Anna Mozart (who Wolfgang called Nannerl), Fanny Mendelssohn, and Clara Schumann. I found it unfortunate that in the discussion of the Bach family the only mention of Bach’s wives was the birth of twenty children – there was no reference to the musicianship or compositions of Anna Magdalena.

Fanny Mendelssohn’s Character Piece No. 2 for Piano and Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G Minor – Allegro Moderato were both heard in part during the broadcast, which can be heard here.

The seven minutes of light conversation did briefly address some of the obstacles that Fanny Mendelssohn faced as a composer from her family and the larger society, as well as the virtuosic abilities of Maria Anna Mozart and Clara Schumann. What they did not recognize was that this was the tip of a very large iceberg…

I also find it unfortunate that these talented women continue to be recognized primarily by their connection to more famous and (unfortunately) more respected men. I personally feel that the story, which was intended to be a fluff piece for the holiday, treated the few women mentioned as oddities, refusing to recognize the tradition and talent that continues to this day. But perhaps I am taking all of this a bit too personally – have a listen for yourself!