Bridgewater Review

Volume 15 | Issue 1 Article 6

Jun-1996

Women of Note: Composers for the Music HistoryCanonJean KreilingBridgewater State College, jkreiling@bridgew.edu

This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

Recommended CitationKreiling, Jean (1996). Women of Note: Composers for the Music History Canon. Bridgewater Review, 15(1), 7-10.Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol15/iss1/6

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WOMEN OFNOTE:Three

Composers forthe Music

History CanonJean Kreiling

T he term "struggling artist" gainsnew resonance when the artist inquestion is a female composer

living before 1900. Obstacles created bychurch, court, educational institutions,and family greatly limited the chances ofa woman's success in the field of musicalcomposition, yet many women persisted;in fact, one of the earliest composers weknow by name is Kassia, a woman ofninth-century Greece. We are fortunatethat despite both the conditions of theirown times and the apparent oversights ofhistorians, we know of hundreds ofwomen who placed musical values abovepersonal ease, and who left us someremarkably appealing and significantworks of art.

The names of some womencomposers have in fact become familiarto connoisseurs of art music. The workof the twelfth-century nun and visionaryHildegard of Bingen has becomeprominent as part of the recentcommercial interest in medieval chant;Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (sister of FelixMendelssohn) and Clara Wieck Schumann(wife of Robert Schumann) have begunto draw attention for more than just theirfamous family connections. Indeed, thelife stories of these women provide

fascinating glimpses into social andcultural history, and their music reflectsboth passion and intellect. Among themany other women composers workingbefore 1900, three more obscureindividuals aptly represent bothhistorically important musical styles andthe diverse contexts of music by womencomposers. The inclusion of the work ofElisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre,Marianne Martinez, and Louise Farrenccould greatly enrich the standard musichistory canon.

Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre(c. 1666-1729) belongs to the Baroqueperiod of music history, the era of GeorgeFrideric Handel and Johann SebastianBach. Jacquet de la Guerre could easilyfit into the slot most music history coursesreserve for Franc;ois Couperin (1668­1733). Almost exact contemporaries, bothCouperin and Jacquet de la Guerre servedLouis XIv, though only Couperin secureda formal appointment. Elisabeth Jacquetfirst came to the attention of the kingwhen she was only seven years old, one ofseveral talented children brought toentertain at court; at that time, she sangdifficult works at first sight, sheaccompanied at the keyboard, and shecomposed "in all keys." Louis XIV placedJacquet in the care of his mistress, andencouraged her career by having hermusic performed at court and by allowingher to dedicate pieces to him. Jacquetmarried an organist named Martin de laGuerre and had one son; both husbandand son had died by 1704, but Jacquet dela Guerre continued her musical career,giving concerts in her home that wereattended by the notables of musical Paris.

Like Couperin, Jacquet de la Guerrewas a masterful harpsichordist, andcomposed many works for thatinstrument, most of them short pieces inthe simple binary form of the day,collected into suites. While publicationdates do not reliably indicate exact timesof composition, it seems notable thatCouperin's first book of harpsichord pi~ces

did not appear until he was in his forties(1713), while Jacquet de la Guerre's first

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Elizabeth-Claude Jaquet de la Guerre

book appeared when she was only twentyyears old (1687). Also like Couperin,Jacquet de la Guerre wrote instrumentalchamber music and both sacred andsecular vocal music. She was among thefirst composers to write trio sonatas, agenre that would be central to the outputof Couperin and Arcangelo Corelli; she wasthe first French woman to composecantatas, and the only one known to havepublished whole books of cantatas.

Jacquet de la Guerre's Jonas, a cantatafor high voice, violins, and continuo,reflects many of the important stylistictrends in Baroque music. Composed in1708, it tells the familiar biblical story ofJonas and the whale in eight separatemovements. The opening instrumentalPrelude features an almost continuouslymoving melody in the violins, typical ofthe Baroque taste for relentlessly flowingmelody, accompanied by a bass linemarked with figures, from which continuoplayers (probably harpsichordist andcellist) would improvise harmonies. Next,the scene of the drama is set in a recitative,which uses a declamatory, almost speech­like vocal style to convey informationnecessary to the plot; similar numbersprovide narrative and explanatory detailin cantatas and operas throughout theBaroque and Classical periods in musichistory. The subsequent movement,entirely instrumental, portrays the ragingsea with energetic rhythms and achromatic melody; Vivaldi's famous FourSeasons was not the first work to depict a

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storm with frenetic violins! As in mostBaroque cantatas and operas, this one usesAirs (or "arias") to focus on single ideasor emotions; the fourth movement usesan elaborate, ornamental vocal part(accompanied by the instruments) toexpress the terror of a witness to the stormat sea. Subsequent recitatives and airscomplete the story, creating drama andmusical interest out of the standard toolsof the Baroque musician, including dacapo aria form, expressive ornamentation,and a sonority based on a high-pitchedmelody supported by the firm continuofoundation.

Jacquet de la Guerre's qualificationsas a significant composer seem clear, andthe appearance of recent recordingssuggests that her work may soon becomebetter known. Her present obscurity canlikely be attributed to her lack of aprofessional appointment, and thesubsequently lesser opportunities forperformance, publication, and lastingfame. Her musical accomplishments,however, may eventually overcome thehandicapping circumstances of her owntimes, and can certainly contribute to amore complete picture of Baroque musichistory.

In studying the Classical period ofmusic history, most of us learn of twogiants: Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) andWolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791).Their genius certainly merits the intensefocus their lives and works have received,but it seems unfortunate that thesemasters have almost completelyovershadowed some of the lesser, butworthwhile, musicians of their day, menlike Luigi Boccerini, Anton Reicha, andWilliam Boyce. Small wonder that werarely hear of female Classical composers,such as Marianna von Auenbrugger,Maddalena Sirmen, and MarianneMartinez.

Martinez (1744-1812), however, hadpersonal connections to both Haydn andMozart, a convenient segue for the musichistory professor. As a young girl growingup in Vienna, Martinez lived on the third

floor of a large house that included atticapartments for young professionals,including Joseph Haydn. Martinez studiedcomposition with Haydn in daily lessonsthat spanned three years--an opportunitythat was available to her because of herfather's prestigious position as a churchdiplomat and the friendship of her familywith the court poet Pietro Metastasio.Much later, she would host musicalevenings in her own household, whosewealth she owed to an inheritance fromMetastasio; among her guests was Mozart,with whom she performed keyboard duets.She was known in Vienna as a pianist,singer, and composer, but "she never helda professional appointment, which wouldapparently have been unacceptable in hersocial class."

Marianne von Martinez

Like Haydn and Mozart, Martinezcomposed sacred and secular vocal music,keyboard music, and orchestral music.Her orchestral output is small, almostcertainly because the usual venue forperformances of her works was her ownmusical soires, or "salons," which couldnot accommodate larger performingforces. In fact, it has been suggested thather true importance in music history liesin "the stimulus that she gave to themusical life of her day" in these salons,rather than in her own creative work. Thephenomenon of the salon, along with theconcept of "salon music," raises a thornyissue in the study of women composers.

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Salons apparently originated as literarygatherings, beginning in the earlyseventeenth century, almost alwayshosted by women; they became importantinstitutions of private music-making andhosted the premieres of many importantworks by Beethoven, Chopin, and others.Yet the home was generally considered "afemale domain," and the salon audiencecame to be viewed as an "undis­criminating clientele, composed mostly ofwomen ..." Thus, the phrase "salonmusic" has come to suggest triviality andamateurism, with smaller works like pianopieces and songs often accorded lessrespect than symphonies or concertisimply on the basis of their scope. Suchan unfortunate assumption wouldunderestimate the worth not only of muchmusic by women, but also many worksby the best-known masters of musicalcomposition: while Schubert's Lieder andChopin's Nocturnes were clearly intendedfor the drawing-room, we find much tostudy and enjoy in such pieces.

Among the more serious andsubstantial genres of "salon music" is thepiano sonata, a work usually consistingof three or four movements andemploying sophisticated formaltechniques. Mozart composedapproximately two dozen keyboardsonatas, Haydn close to four dozen;Martinez reportedly wrote thirty-one,though most are now lost. Martinez'Sonata in Amajor, composed in 1765, ablyillustrates the early phases of what wouldbecome the most widely used structurein Classical and Romantic music, sonata­allegro form. The first movement presentstwo contrasting themes in different keys,with an artful transition between them,followed by transposition andfragmentation of both themes in adevelopment section, then arecapitulation which restates both themesin the original key (rather than incontrasting keys); this scheme representsthe basis of sonata-allegro form. Perhapsmore immediately noticeable to the ear isthe complex nature of Martinez' melodiesand accompaniments; they overflow withrhythmic variety and ornamentation, in

----------------' ~---------------the highly decorative style associated withthe Pre-Classical or "Rococo" period.Melodies tend to fall into groups of shortphrases, in contrast to the morecontinuous thread ofBaroque melody; theleft-hand part varies from almostcontinuo-like chordal accompaniment toan equal partnership with the right-hand'smelodic and rhythmic virtuosity. Themovement has both flash and logic, abalance frequently heard in the bestClassical-period works.

The second movement of Martinez'Sonata in A major uses a related key (Aminor) and a simpler version of sonata­allegro form that might just as easily beclassified as binary form, the structurefound in many Baroque keyboard pieces;such a "transitional" form teaches usmuch about the evolution of musicalforms and conventions. This movementalso makes use of a standardaccompaniment called an Alberti bass,featuring regularly alternating pitches thatoutline basic harmonies--a patternfrequently associated with Mozart. Thethird and final movement of the workcombines the mood of a lively minuet(frequen tly found in Classical thirdmovements) with rounded binary form, asort of compromise between binary andsonata-allegro forms that appearsthroughout mid-eighteenth-centurymusic.

A final issue to be addressed withrespect to Martinez' Sonata is whether itshould be performed on the harpsichordor the newer piano. Haydn and Mozartwrote for both instruments, eachchanging over to the piano late in hiscareer. While Martinez was referred to asa pianist rather than a harpsichordist asearly as 1773, the Sonata in A major waspublished in a harpsichord anthology in1765. Recordings are currently availableon both harpsichord and on fortepiano (anearly form of the piano); Martinez' stylesuits both instruments well.

Though we know relatively little ofMartinez, we know even less of some ofher female contemporaries. Marianna von

Auenbrugger (d. 1786) was another friendof both Haydn and Mozart, respected as acomposer of keyboard sonatas, but absentfrom the standard biographical referenceworks in music. Amelie-Julie Candeille(1767-1834), a singer, pianist, harpist, andcomposer, is said to have "moved withassurance in the professional, men's worldof music," but her music is generallyunavailable in scores or recordings.Several other women of the Classicalperiod deserve further attention.

Luoise Farrenc

By the nineteenth century,professional and educationalopportunities for women had expandedsomewhat, but many women were stillrestrained by family objections or notionsof decorum. Particularly distressing is thecase of Fanny Hensel (1805-1847), whosefather maintained that for her, music"must only be an ornament" and insistedthat she prepare for her "real calling, theonly calling of a young woman--I meanthe state of a housewife ..." Hensel'sfamous brother Felix Mendelssohndiscouraged her from publishing hermusic, asserting that she was "too mucha woman for that, as is proper, and looksafter her house and thinks neither aboutthe public nor the musical world ..."Despite these obstacles, Hensel composedhundreds of pieces of music, finallysubmitting a few of them to publishers inthe last year of her life. Most of her workswere never published; one wonders what

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she might have produced had she foundmore encouragement.

Similar objections faced manynineteenth-century women composers,along with persistent barriers in educationand the professions. But more intriguing(and perhaps troubling) are the womencomposers who received encouragementand achieved professional successes--andyet are practically lost to history. Forexample, Agathe Backer-Gr0ndahl (1847­1907), a Norwegian concert pianist andcomposer, had a triumphant performingcareer and wrote hundreds of pieces (overone hundred of them published), in a stylethat has been likened to that ofMendelssohn; she even claimed that herroles as a wife and mother gave her theexperience it took to become an artist. Theparents of Luise Le Beau (1850-1927)moved their family more than once inorder to secure the best musicalenvironment for their daughter, whosucceeded as a pianist, composer, andmusic critic. She composed over sixtyworks, in various genres, over half of thempublished; she earned favorable reviews,the admiration of renowned composersJohannes Brahms (1833-1897) and FranzLiszt (1811-1886), and an internationalaward. But neither Backer-Gr0ndahl norLe Beau appears in the standard musicalcanon today. It seems likely that theirexclusion reflects the prejudicial attitudesof the nineteenth-century historians whocould have preserved their legacy. Typicalwas a critic ofLe Beau who wrote in 1883,"Certainly a man, when he finds afeminine name listed on the program ofthe fourth chamber music concert, wouldcherish a slight misgiving concerning theworth and success of this composition, for,in general, one cannot trust all that muchthe productive capacity of women in thearea of music. From the eighteenthcentury until well into the twentieth,many historians claimed that womenlacked the emotional control, intellectualcapacity, or creative imagination that acompetent composer needs. Such biassurely accounts for some of the difficultiesin finding information on and music bywomen composers today.

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Among the women whom musichistory textbooks have inexplicablyignored is Louise Dumont Farrenc (1804­1875), a composer, pianist, teacher, andscholar--in short, a successful womanwho seems to have been accepted by themusical establishment of her day, thoughshe is now all but forgotten. Adescendantof several artists who enjoyed royalpatronage, she received excellent musicaltraining while still an adolescent. Herearliest published compositions appearedin 1825, shortly after her marriage toflutist and music publisher AristideFarrenc. Far from stifling her professionalambitions, her marriage appears to havebroadened her musical interests. She andher husband collaborated on Le tresor despianistes, a multi-volume, annotatedcollection of keyboard music spanningthree hundred years; Aristide did thehistorical and biographical research, whileLouise played a key role in making editingdecisions and wrote a detailed intro­duction on ornamentation. She performedregularly as a piano soloist andaccompanist, and she held a position asprofessor of piano at the ParisConservatoire from 1842 until 1873--theonly woman muslclan at theConservatoire in the nineteenth centuryto hold a permanent chair of this rank andimportance. Her Nonetto (piece for nineinstruments), op. 38, brought her suchrenown that the director of theConservatoire "raised her salary to a levelcomparable to that received by maleprofessors in the instrumental division."

Farrenc composed mostly piano andchamber music, and her Piano QuintetNo.1, op. 30 (composed in 1839), typifiesher style. It combines the order and logicof Classical forms with the lyrical melodiesand dramatic harmonies of the Romanticstyle--a balance also characteristic of themusic of Brahms. Its four movements takethe conventional nineteenth-centuryforms: sonata-allegro form for the firstand last movements, a slow rondo for thesecond movement, and a lively scherzo forthe third movement. Especially notableare the virtuoso quality of the piano partand the movement of the melody through

all instruments except the double bass.The very fast scherzo, by definition aplayful movement, nevertheless usescomplex imitative and developmentalprocedures; its elfin lightness recallsMendelssohn's style, while the aggressivesyncopation of the contrasting middlesection suggests a Beethovenianinfluence. The finale contrasts longpassages of nearly perpetual motion witha typically Romantic theme marked dolce(sweet) and espressivo (expressive).Throughout the work, memorablethemes, graceful modulations, and diversetextures offer ample material for analysisof the early Romantic style.

Farrenc's first Piano Quintet, alongwith her second work in the same genre(1840), "established Farrenc's reputationamong critics and cognoscenti"; her twopiano trios were also well received. Eachof her three symphonies was performedmore than once, and her piano Etudeswere adopted by the Conservatoire asrequired study for all piano classes. Yet herfame and success in her own time did nottranslate into the immortality achieved bymale composers who wrote in thesegenres, for example, Felix Mendelssohnand Robert Schumann.

Whether or not simple (andregrettable) bias explains our relative lackof knowledge concerning womencomposers, the situation has recentlyshown steady improvement, as theseartists have received increasing scholarlyattention. In the last ten to fifteen years,dozens of publications have addressed thegeneral history of women in music,explored the question of gender in musicand musicology, offered comprehensivestudies of individual women, and providedthe first modem scores--in some cases thefirst printed scores--for music by women.Perusal of these materials gives one a senseof significant accomplishments un­heralded and enormous promiseunfulfilled--even as they stimulate thescholar, musician, and/or listener to learnmore about these remarkable women andtheir work.

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In addition to Farrenc, Martfnez, andJacquet de la Guerre, many other womencomposers could be selected for inclusionin the standard music history canon, asrepresentatives of important stylistictrends and for insight into some intriguingaspects of social and cultural history. Onthe other hand, such efforts to expand theconventional survey should not be soextensive as to skew the realities of history:until the present century, the femalecomposer was relatively rare, and malecomposers created masterpieces thatmust continue to form the bulk of themusical canon. The in-depth study ofwomen composers will most appropriatelyremain a specialty, to be addressed in anelective beyond the survey courses--anelective packed with fascinating lifestories, provocative philosophicalquestions, and attractive music.

Jean Kreiling isAssociate Professor of Music