Composers
Women Composers
The Lost Tradition Found
Medieval through Classical, page 1 of 4
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1170) (Germany),
a unique and extraordinary woman by any century's measure, wrote books
on natural science, theology and medicine and the first morality play
set to music. She composed a large collection of religious music, Symphonia
armonie celestium revelationum (Symphony of the harmony of celestial
revelation). Noble by birth, her resources probably helped her to found
her own Order in Germany, and she earned the respect of kings, emperors
and churchmen. The title of her collection, "Symphonia," refers,
in addition to its more general musical meaning, to the medieval style
hurdy-gurdy called a symphonia, used in this performance of 0 Jerusalem.
The songs in this collection are in Latin, and, as common with plainsong,
were written as a single line of music. This performance includes echoes
and drones inspired by Hildegard's melodies and poetry. It is not known
how this music may have been performed in Hildegard's time.
Francesca Caccini (1587-between 1628 and
1640): Francesca Caccini's father Giulio, along with Peri, is credited
with writing the first opera. Francesca sang and played lute, guitar
and harpsichord, all very well, according to Monteverdi. She began composing
major entertainments during her late teens. Although Francesca spent
most of her life in Florence, she traveled widely, and made her singing
debut at the wedding of Maria de Medici to Henri IV, King of France,
in 1600. She became a musician for the Medici Court in 1607 and by 1613
was one of the highest paid musicians in Florence. In 1615 she published
her first book of monodies, and with it gained respect as a composer.
She then began to write large-scale operas, one of which was the first
Italian opera to be produced outside Italy when it was performed in
Warsaw in 1682. Caccini also wrote madrigals, canzonettas, musical settings
for sonnets, variations and sacred works. Her music is very dramatic
and uses unprepared dissonance, precisely indicated ornaments and word
painting. As a singing teacher Caccini produced a whole school of disciples.
Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704) (Novara, Italy)
joined the Collegio Sant'Orsola (the Order later called Ursulines)
at the age of 16. Her father was a member of the minor nobility and
a Doctor of Law. Two of her brothers were canons of the Novara cathedral,
and at least two sisters also were members of the Collegio Sant'Orsola
.Her oldest brother inherited the family title and was a civic official
in Novara. His descendants still live in the city and the family archives
include much information about Isabella, including a representation
of her on a family tree shown in the accompanying CD booklet. When she
was 20, Leonarda's first published music appeared in a collection by
the Maestro de Capella at the Novara cathedral, Gasparo Casati, who
may have been her teacher.
Leonarda published 20 volumes of music during her life, of which two
have been lost. The surviving volumes contain more than 200 pieces of
music. One is entirely instrumental 11 trio sonatas and a sonata
for solo violin and organ continuo. The vocal works include psalms,
magnificats, responsories, litanies, four masses, and many works with
non-biblical texts (including four in Italian) which are usually labeled
motets. The choral music is for soprano (canto), alto, tenor, and bass.
All of the music, including the instrumental sonatas, would have been
appropriate for liturgical use, but no records survive to tell us for
what occasions her music was written or used, or even where it was performed.
Leonarda's works are found in widely scattered locations, however, often
with parts missing, indicating that they had been used.
In Italy, her music is found in Bergamo, Siena, Bologna, Como, and
Pistoia. Her music is also in Benedictine libraries in Einsiedein (Switzerland),
Bueron, and Ottbeuren (Germany). Other works are located in national
museums in England and the United States, in Munich, and at the Gesellschaft
der Musikfreunde in Vienna. Brossard owned several of her works,
which he esteemed highly and which are now in the Bibliothèque
Nationale in Paris. [Brossard's collection of manuscripts was acquired
by Louis XV in 1724, and became the nucleus of the music collection
of the Bibliothèque Nationale.] No manuscripts survive, only
published music. Perhaps works were composed and published in quick
succession, but it is more likely that Leonarda selected music for her
published volumes from among her manuscripts.
Barbara Strozzi (b.1619. Last published in
1664) composed some of the most extraordinary music of the 17th century
and was considered the best singer and lute player in Venice. She was
probably the illegitimate daughter of the poet Giulio Strozzi, who adopted
her when she was nine. He saw to it that she received the best musical
education and encouraged her to compose, publish and perform. The Strozzi
home was the meeting place for groups of highly educated men who met
to discuss the arts and sciences, which greatly influenced Barbara's
development.
One group in which she was particularly interested was the Accademia
degli Unisoni, or the "group of similar thinkers" founded
in 1637. Their meetings were devoted to musical performances as well
as to academic discourse, and Barbara played an important role as singer,
lutenist, composer and collaborator. She commissioned poetry from members
of the academy, set it to music, and performed and published it. At
the time, there was no consensus that women had souls or belonged to
the human race, and because of the role she played in a "man's
world," she and the Accademia degli Unisoni gained much
notoriety. Strozzi's music is similar to, but more lyrical than that
of Cavalli, her teacher, and displays the wide variety of musical forms
used in her day: full and partial da capo arias, strophic arias, strophic
variations, and multi-sectioned cantatas using both free recitative
and arias. Strozzi wrote arias, dramatic cantatas, madrigals and duets.
She published eight volumes of works, including more cantatas than any
other 17th-century composer.
Anna Amalia, Princess of Prussia (1723-1807)
"March" for Regiment "Graf Lottum" from Four
Regimental Marches (arr. for string quartet and double bass)
Anna Amalia, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar (1739-1807),
the niece of Frederick the Great and daughter of Charles I, married
at 16 and was the mother of two sons. She assumed the duties of regent
for her underage son upon the early death of her husband. Apparently
she ruled the duchy well and still had time to cultivate the arts and
study composition and piano. She founded the German theatre in Weimar
and is considered the founder of the Weimar museums. A very talented
and cultured person, she surrounded herself with musicians and writers.
Between 1788 and 1790 she traveled to Italy to study music and the visual
arts. While there she met Paisiello who impressed her, as did the Italian
vocal style.
Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759-1824): Paradis'
father was the Imperial Court Secretary in Vienna, the cultural and
political center of the Hapsburg empire. Maria Theresia was named after
the Empress, who subsequently paid for her education. She went blind
as a child, but because of her talent, had the best music teachers in
Vienna, including Salieri for composition and singing. A keyboard virtuoso
who was idolized by the public, both Salieri and Mozart wrote concertos
for her. In the 1790s, Paradis stopped giving concerts, preferring to
devote her time to composing and teaching. She spent the remainder of
her life in Vienna where, in 1808, she founded an institution for music
education for the handicapped. Since most of her music was not published,
very little of it remains. This song was published in a collection of
twelve songs from her European tour of 1784-1786.Continue
to Romantic So