The French string quartet Ebène just released a new CD pairing the work of Fanny Mendelssohn with her brother Felix.

Visit NPR to catch up on a story done by All Things Considered about the ensemble and their new CD release. The NPR page also has the Allegro molto vivace movement of Fanny’s String Quartet in E-flat available streaming—please have a listen!

And do make sure you listen to both the story and the track—it is of interest to hear how they “discovered” Fanny’s work through a friend and learned it first on a whim before considering it a serious composition, and then deciding to include it on their new album.

I also very much appreciate this NPR field recording of Ebène performing some of the other Mendelssohn in a bookstore in Brooklyn. (But who doesn’t love live music surrounded by books?)

The Rochester Philharmonic’s concerts are encored in streaming radio broadcast—

this concert (May 7,  2012 Monday, at 8 pm) starts with Fanny Hensel’s Cantata, “Job.”   Find the WXXI Classical 91.5 Stream Player here

http://interactive.wxxi.org/listen#fmstream

Here is the schedule for the Broadcasts   http://interactive.wxxi.org/rpo/listings

The Cantata is not very long (ca. 15 minutes), and then is follow by Mahler’s 2nd Symphony. The one CD of Hensel’s Cantata is now out of print, so this a rare opportunity to hear this work.

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.

Sunday, November 14, was Fanny Mendelssohn’s 205^th birthday.

I wrote about Fanny recently in conjunction with R. Larry Todd’s new work, Fanny Hensel – The Other Mendelssohn. Big sister of Felix, Fanny demonstrated the same musical aptitude as her brother, and received a very extensive music education, but faced tremendous social pressures to conform to gender roles.  Though she was prevented from publishing her music during her lifetime, she was not entirely silenced.  She continued to write chamber works and songs, considered to be fairly “acceptable” forms for women to compose, and host musical salons in her home to have her music heard.

Her works, which total over 400, are now being published and performed.  In fact, you can purchase many of her lieder and works for solo piano here.

In fact, the American Symphony Orchestra just performed one of her few large works, “Musik für die Toten der Cholera-Epidemie: Oratorium Nach den Bildern der Bibel” (“Music for Those Who Dies in the Cholear Epidemic: Oratorio After Scenes From the Bible”), which is an all too fitting piece for the current situation in Haiti.  You can read a review of the performance here.

So, let’s have some cake in honor of Fanny and in celebration of the musical legacy that she fought to create and preserve for future generations.

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!