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Tradition and Innovation: The Lives and Music of Women Composers
The vast majority of research and teaching centered on composers
throughout history has focused on “The Greats” of music, male composers such
as Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart, to name a few. Until recently, comparatively
little attention was given to women composers. Thanks to the recent study of
gender in music and the work of scholars such as Susan McClary and Suzanne
Cusick, musicology is fast becoming a field that aims to correct the hundreds of
years of neglect that women composers have faced.1 It is extremely encouraging
to see the field of musicology strongly recognize the legitimacy of women
composers in more recent scholarship.
Feminist scholars thus far have tended to highlight the achievements of
those women composers that can be easily seen as musical heroines: composers
who broke the social boundaries set for women. Scholars, performers, and all
types of musicians frequently emphasize the radical work of composers such as
Ethel Smyth, Hildegard von Bingen, or Barbara Strozzi, and the examples of their
extraordinary lives for their respective time periods. This sort of study is
extremely important, and my intent is not to discount this crucial perspective
within musicology.
Yet, as women establish their place within the musical canon, it is entirely
appropriate and necessary to develop a more critical viewpoint on the lives of
1
For more information on the writings of Cusick and McClary, see articles such as Suzanne G.
Cusick, “Feminist Theory, Music Theory, and the Mind/Body Problem,” Perspectives of New
Music. 32, no. 1 (1994): 8-27. Cusick, “Eve…Blowing in Our Ears”? Toward a History of Music
Scholarship on Women in the Twentieth Century,” Women & Music. 5, (2001): 125-139. Susan
McClary, Feminine Endings: Music, Gender, and Sexuality. Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 1991.
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women, and also to emphasize not just their nontraditional traits but those
qualities about their lives and work that can be considered traditional. The very
nature of a woman as a composer already breaks many social boundaries; Marcia
Citron explains in Gender and the Musical Canon that the act of becoming a
female composer itself was considered rebellious.2 Yet careful study reveals that
even our most celebrated female composers still struggled with societal pressure.
Until now, research has most often put the emphasis of study on the areas of each
woman’s life that have clearly transcended established social norms.
Comparatively little emphasis has been placed on those areas from each female
composer’s life and music that in fact followed accepted social norms of their
time.
While it is inarguably true that some women lean more toward a life of
either tradition or breaking boundaries, I argue that the current approach does not
give the entire picture of what it has meant historically, and still means today, to
be a woman composer. By exploring the lives and work of many different
women, I aim to create a series of case studies that reveal the perpetually shifting
nature of the influence of societal pressure on many women composers. Women
cannot be neatly boxed into the inflexible, strictly traditional or nontraditional
mentality that categorizes the work and actions of women as either one or the
other. Through my study I hope to reveal that in many instances women portray
qualities that are both traditional and nontraditional, and that it is in fact this grey
2
Marcia J. Citron, Gender and the Musical Canon (New York: Cambridge University Press,
1993), 44.
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area of categorization that helps us to pinpoint the difficulties and triumphs of the
woman composer throughout history.
Societal Expectations
Before listing specific examples, it is important to understand the
pressures that women may have faced on a daily basis and how these forces may
have affected their musical lives. The relationship between music and femininity
has always been less than smooth; since ancient times, people have questioned the
role of women in music. The exclusion from participation in music that women
faced prior to the nineteenth century, and even post-nineteenth century as a result
of this longstanding tradition, is largely based on the teachings of religion. Both
women and music have long been tied together and regarded as a danger to man’s
ability to remain in control and focus on the divine. Though originally women
sang as part of worship, as the teachings of the church became more widespread
often the male leaders of the church retained all of the music rights and the music
that women created was confined to convents, creating work that we know best
today through women such as Hildegard von Bingen.3 Somewhat later, in early
modern England, women faced deep-rooted beliefs regarding the inferiority of
women from the church itself. Linda Phyllis Austern states in “‘Alluring the
Auditorie to Effeminacie’: Music and the Idea of the Feminine in Early Modern
England”:
3
Information on early church music in relation to women, and particularly Hildegard von Bingen,
can be found in Jane Bowers, and Judith Tick, ed., Women Making Music (Chicago: University of
Illinois Press, 1986), 25-30. Information on women and the church can also be found in Karin
Pendle, ed., Women & Music: A History (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1991), 18-21.
Information on Hildegard von Bingen in this source can be found on pages 23-25.
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As the Puritan re-emphasis on biblical literalism and the patriarchal
wisdom of the Church fathers increasingly permeated every aspect of
English culture from the accession of Elizabeth I onwards, Woman's place
became especially subordinate to Man's; her sphere of existence was
unquestionably domestic, spousal, maternal, inspirational and decorative,
according to the most eminent ancient and modern authorities. The few
exceptional women of the highest social classes who stepped outside this
naturally ordained position did so only through the denial of normal
femininity and at the risk of public and private censure.4
Austern demonstrates the extreme difficulty that women would face for centuries
as composers who had “stepped outside their naturally ordained position.”
Karin Pendle summarizes these challenges regarding women and religion
further in Women & Music: A History. Pendle explains that prior to 1600, women
had little opportunity to learn music because the center for all musical learning
and performance was the church. Because it was not originally deemed
appropriate for women to take part in musical activity, women had very limited
musical training or opportunity for performance.5 This lack of opportunity was
due to overarching viewpoints about women that were deeply centered within
church teachings and leaked their way into common thought. Austern clarifies
Linda Phyllis Austern, “’Alluring the Auditorie to Effeminacie’: Music and the Idea of the
Feminine in Early Modern England,” in Music & Letters, 74, 3 (1993): 344.
5
The information in this paragraph, as well as in the following section detailing the history of
societal pressures on women, is derived largely from Karen Pendle’s book Women & Music: A
History: 3-122. Information that comes from another source will be specified in other footnotes;
otherwise, it can be assumed that the information is paraphrased from Pendle.
4
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this even further by explaining assumptions regarding women during the early
modern era:
To such didactic and practical writers as John Knox and Joseph Swetnam,
women were associated by nature with sin, with the dark, uncontrollable
side of sensuality and with the loss of paradise. They were to remain
passive, silent, publicly invisible, and guided by men in all aspects of their
lives, for though they lacked intellectual and spiritual substance, the
beauty of their bodies and the persuasive rhetoric of their uncontrolled
speech could invert the natural order and lead to moral destruction.6
The notion of women’s subordination was often perpetuated through biblical
literature as well. As clergyman Knox explains, “woman in her greatest
perfection was made to serve and obey man, not to rule and co[m]mand him: As
Saint Paule doth reason in these words: Man is not of woman but the woma[n] of
the man..."7
It is also important to note that as negative feelings about women were
continued by church teachings, so were negative ideas about music. Just as
women were unwelcome in the early church, music was similarly regarded with
caution. As with women, music was thought to distract men away from purity
and the divine. Austern explains, “at the very least, like the companionship of a
woman, it proved a waste of time and a distraction from the true increase of
wisdom, direct knowledge of God or other manly pursuits."8 The intertwining of
Austern, “Alluring the Auditorie to Effeminacie’” 346.
Ibid, 346.
8
Ibid, 347.
6
7
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femininity with music during this time only served to heighten the negativity with
which both were received.
According to Pendle, as the role of music in the church slowly increased
and people became more accepting of music within the church, likewise the
restrictions on women as composers and performers relaxed. This is not to say
that women saw an end to the challenges that they faced; rather they began to see
small opportunities amid a much larger misogynist mentality. Although women
were still expected to be passive and silent, they began to be allowed to practice
music solely as performers in the home. Music often became a family affair, and
when it was performed it was done as part of family entertainment for guests or as
court musicians. Eventually, women began to perform on instruments thought of
as feminine. Most commonly, these were the voice and harpsichord and later, the
piano.9 Austern also explains that women were eventually allowed to listen to
“sweet music” that was played on instruments such as the lute and cittern.10
Women began to play harp and violin, and Pendle explains that as male
dominated public performance started to make room for women, eventually it
became relatively commonplace for women to perform in operas. Although
women became performers, Pendle points out that, with the exception of opera,
they did not often get paid for any performing that they did.11
9
More information on the gendering of instruments can be found in the Introduction of Carol
Neuls-Bates, ed., Women in Music: An Anthology of Source Readings from the Middle Ages to the
Present, rev. ed. (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996), xi-xv.
10
Austern, “’Alluring the Auditorie to Effeminacie,’” 351.
11
More information regarding women and singing careers through opera can be found in Pendle,
ed., Women & Music: A History, 114-16. Information on other careers during the romantic period
in particular can be found in pp. 114-122, and for earlier information, see pp. 37-39.
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By the nineteenth century, it became more commonplace for women to
compose. Prior to this time, a handful of female composers, including Francesca
Caccini, Barbara Strozzi, and Elisabeth Claude-Jacquet de la Guerre, had made a
significant mark in the musical canon. As opportunities for female musicians
increased, so did the number of women who were successfully able to leave their
mark. Their compositional activity still met many challenges as women
composers were still in the minority. Much of what women wrote was meant for
or created from their own performance experiences, which generally consisted of
home performances. During the nineteenth century this meant that women were
expected to compose chiefly songs for voice or piano. Occasionally, women
wrote chamber works and mixed ensembles, but there were other genres that were
rarely touched by women. Larger genres, including opera and orchestral works,
were considered inappropriate, in addition to a challenge for a woman who had
limited performance opportunities and could not play in a professional orchestra.
Any instruments that were thought inappropriate for women due to their sexual
connotations were also generally not included in the compositional works of
women.12 Although today women compose in many different genres and have
become a much more permanent fixture in the world of music, they still face
many of these challenges because they bear very deep roots throughout history.13
As Bowers and Tick explain in Women Making Music:
12
It was thought that instruments that had to be played in the mouth or larger instruments such as
cello created sexual connotations that were inappropriate for women. For more information on
socially acceptable instruments and genres for women, please see Pendle’s Women and Music: A
History, especially pgs. 17-18 and 89-91, as well as the introduction to Bowers & Tick’s Women
Making Music, 3-10.
13
For more information on the performance opportunities of women throughout history, see
Bowers, ed., Women Making Music, 3-10 ,90-109, 349-69.
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We have yet to recover from the ensuing onslaught of graphic imagery in
which this piece was labeled masculine, that one feminine; this aspect of
theory declared appropriate for men, that for women; this instrument
deemed suitable for the lady, that for the gentleman. Many women fell
into line. By turning out parlor songs and other kinds of sentimental
music, they fulfilled social expectations about their proper role as
composers.14
Parents were extremely influential on the lives of a woman composer.
Because society relied so heavily on the father as the patriarch, it was largely up
to him to decide what kind of education his daughter would receive. For this
reason, inevitably whether or not a woman was formally trained in music relied
heavily on whether or not her father believed that it was an acceptable activity for
a female. In related circumstances, social class was a major indicator of whether
a woman would be trained as a musician. Young women that were born into
wealth were much more likely to receive formal musical training than those that
were not, which greatly decreased the amount of women trained as performers
and especially as composers.15
In a patriarchal society, marriage was often more of a hindrance than a
help to a woman’s musical career. Marriage has undergone many social changes
through the centuries, but historically, the main goal of marriage was to produce
14
15
Ibid., 9.
Ibid., 5.
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children and maintain the family line.16 There are many other social connotations
that go along with marital expectations; in European Sexualities, 1400-1800,
Katherine Crawford explains the deeply interwoven complexities that went along
with marriage, including marrying for social status. Marriages were often made
strictly based on the advantages that it would create through wealth and social
status.17 This resulted in many marriages arranged either through the families of
the man and the woman, or through a deal worked out between the man and the
family of the woman, who was usually still in her teens.18 Regardless of the
reasoning, women generally became housewives. Once a woman married, her
own needs became subordinate to her husband’s because he was considered the
head of the family. If there was any type of family problem, it was the woman
that the family looked to in order to maintain the balance. In the uncommon
instance that both husband and wife had jobs, the man’s would take precedence
over the woman’s.19
Though the man was considered the head of every household, women
were often considered the moral force that held the family together. This thinking
occurred especially during the nineteenth century, when the belief surfaced that
women could take a proactive role in the moral well-being of their families, and
particularly their husbands, simply by being a good wife. Scott Martin refers to
this ideal as the “feminine influence,” in which women could keep their husbands
16
For more information on this topic, see Lawrence Stone, The Family, Sex and Marriage in
England, 1500-1800 (New York: Harper & Row, 1977), 11-54. http://www.jstor.org/ (accessed
April 10, 2007).
17
More information on marriage and social standing can be found in Katherine Crawford,
European Sexualities, 1400-1800, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 11-55.
18
Ibid.
19
Jill Halstead, The Woman Composer (Brookfield: Ashgate, 1997), 87-90.
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from engaging in “sinful” activities simply by displaying their feminine
characteristics. Martin lists these as “religiosity, morality, compassion, and
propriety.”20
Perhaps the most powerful of all social roles for the female is the role of
the woman as mother. The issue of motherhood presents several challenges for
the female composer. Jill Halstead summarizes this predicament clearly by
including a quote from Time magazine in her book The Woman Composer: “Men
compose symphonies, women compose babies.”21 This was the case for many
female composers. With very little help, child rearing severely cut into the time
in their day, and they were left to care for their families rather than compose.
Halstead explains that any education or training a woman received ended
when she became pregnant. Many gifted female composers stopped their work
altogether once they started a family in order to devote their time to the care of
their families. This is one reason that many women have much smaller quantities
of published music compared to men. Marcia Citron explains the difference
between what was acceptable for males and females in the musical world:22
Creation, which involves the mind, is reserved for male activity;
procreation, which involves giving birth, is applied to women. Labor
refers to man’s production, to woman’s reproduction. Conceiving for
males is mental and takes place in the head; conceiving for females is
physical and takes place in the womb.
Scott C. Martin, “’A Star That Gathers Lustre from the Gloom of Night’: Wives, Marriage, and
Gender in the Early-Nineteenth-Century Temperance Reform,” Journal of Family History 29, 3
(2004): 275.
21
Halstead, The Woman Composer, 67.
22
Citron, Gender and the Musical Canon, 45.
20
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One of the factors commonly considered in measuring the success of a
composer is their ability to publish their works. Though men have clearly been
well represented in this category, women have had comparatively small quantities
of music published, which is one of many reasons that they have become so
underrepresented in the musical canon. The first publications of women’s
compositions appeared in Venice in 1566, and the majority of musical
publications for a significant time period after were of women creating a few
amateur pieces, as opposed to a substantial quantity of serious music.23 This
situation has many causes, but one of the main reasons it exists lies in the ideal of
the woman as private versus the man as public. This theory stems back centuries,
and has a profound effect on the way women participate in the musical world in
every area, including performance careers as well as composing. In the situation
of publication, women have been historically kept out of publishing for public use
because it was deemed inappropriate.
Elisabeth Claude-Jacquet de la Guerre
The factors that deterred women from writing music are in fact too
numerous to describe completely within the confines of just one paper, and are
also varied by region of the world and time period. In this particular paper, I have
instead taken the social expectations described and used them in a case study of
different women, starting with Elisabeth Claude-Jacquet de la Guerre. Jacquet de
la Guerre is an early example of the common expectations for women musicians
and composers. Her actual birth date remains debatable, but it is generally
23
Bowers, ed., Women Making Music, 5.
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believed that she was born around 1664 into a family that Carol Henry Bates calls
a “dynasty of harpsichord builders.”24 It was apparent very early on that Elisabeth
had an extraordinary talent, and her father immediately resolved to teach her to
play harpsichord. Her talent led her to start a lifelong relationship with King
Louis XIV at the age of five when she played for him for the first time.25 The
King became enthralled with the young girl, and from that point on fortune smiled
upon young Elisabeth as he watched after her musical training and career for the
rest of her life. News of the young girl wonder spread fast, and it was said of
Jacquet de la Guerre:
She sings at sight the most difficult music. She accompanies herself, and
accompanies others who wish to sing, at the harpsichord, which she plays
in a manner which cannot be imitated. She composes pieces, and plays
them in all the keys asked of her. I have told you that for four years she
has been appearing with these extraordinary qualities, and she still is only
ten years old.26
Elisabeth became known throughout the royal court and the larger French
musical world and had the rare distinction of being immensely popular during her
own lifetime. She became somewhat of a legend, especially as a woman
harpsichordist, and was known as an incredible improvisatory player, which was
highly valued during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Her popularity
Carol Henry Bates, “The Instrumental Music of Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet De La Guerre” (Ph.D.
diss, Indiana University, 1978), 2.
25
It is for this reason that Elisabeth Claude-Jacquet de la Guerre’s birth date is debated.
According to Edith Boroff, Elisabeth’s father probably pushed the date of her birth back to 1665
so that playing for the King at a young age would seem more impressive. See Edith Borroff, An
Introduction to Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet De La Guerre (Brooklyn: Institute of Medieval Music,
1966), 6.
26
Ibid.
24
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with the King caused her career both as a performer and a composer to blossom,
as it was King Louis XIV that paid for her first composition lessons. 27 He also
arranged a court appointment for her from a young age with Madame de
Montespan, whose nurse made it her mission to educate Elisabeth and many other
women.
Jacquet de la Guerre, largely because of her position, but also because of
her talent, was able centuries before many other women to compose in genres
outside of the typically acceptable female genres. She wrote cantatas and trio
sonatas that were favorably compared with those of her male contemporaries,
François Couperin and Jean-Baptiste Lully. At the request of the King, she also
ventured into opera. These works were often performed for the King, who
praised them highly.28
It would appear from Jacquet de la Guerre’s successes that she surpassed
all societal expectations for women, and in many ways this is absolutely clear.
However, her life in the public eye and in the courts adds an interesting dimension
to the idea of the woman composer as a novelty. Indeed, Jacquet de la Guerre’s
success is largely dependent on the fact that she had exceptional talent regardless
of her sex. However, although she was popular during her time, she was never
treated as just a composer – she was always a woman composer. The fact that she
was well represented in Parnasse françois by Titon du Tillet was no small feat,
but at the end of her section he states “One can say that never had a person of her
sex such [great] talents as she for the composition of music, and for the admirable
27
28
Bates, “The Instrumental Music of Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet De La Guerre,” 4.
Ibid.
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manner in which she performed it at the Harpsichord and on the Organ,”29 thereby
once again demonstrating the large role that her gender played in her career. The
fact that Elisabeth Claude-Jacquet de la Guerre could measure up to her male
contemporaries was clearly a source of fascination to all those who knew her.
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
Elisabeth Claude Jacquet de la Guerre’s upbringing as one of a long line
of talented musicians undoubtedly contributed to her success as a composer and
performer. However, not every woman who grew up in a musical family yielded
quite the same results; sometimes societal expectations were too great for women
with talent to overcome. Perhaps the most concrete example of a woman
composer that struggled with societal pressure particularly within the confines of
her family life was Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847). The older sister of
Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny grew up in a privileged and musical household.
Although she is well-known today as a prolific composer particularly of piano
works, her life also exemplifies that of a traditional early nineteenth-century
woman in many ways. Fanny and her brother were musically trained together
from the time that they were little. This fact alone makes her stand out as an
exception to the societal norm for women. There is much evidence to suggest that
in both piano performance and composition, Fanny was every bit as talented as
her brother, and indeed, her family was well aware of this fact. However, it was
this very talent that caused Fanny to struggle throughout her life between her love
29
Carol Henry Bates, "The Instrumental Music of Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet De La Guerre" (Ph.D
Dissertation, Indiana University, 1978), 20.
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of music and composition and her “proper” upbringing and attachment to her
family.
Despite the advantage of having been well trained, as a woman her family
had an inestimable influence on her compositional career. As the many upper
class guests that frequented the household became fascinated with her talent,
Hensel’s family soon became concerned with the amount of attention that she
received from her musicianship. A traditional family, they advised her to stay
away from public performances and publication because a woman during the
nineteenth century was expected to keep a strictly domestic role. In a letter from
her father, Fanny receives advice on proper female behavior, “You must become
more steady and collected, and prepare more earnestly and eagerly for your real
calling, the only calling of a young woman – I mean the state of a housewife.”30
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, women were praised for
learning to play the piano and sing for the entertainment of the household;
however, they were highly discouraged from performing any of their
compositions outside the home. Many women resorted to parlor music, which
was meant for amateur musicians and provided a main source of entertainment for
the household and any houseguests that may be present. When performing her
famous Sunday Musicales in the Mendelssohn family living room, Fanny played
her compositions in parlor music style. Though her family recognized her equal
talent to her brother, they made Fanny’s place in the home very clear. Her father
writes:
“Four Composers: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel,” in Women in Music, ed. Carol Neuls-Bates
(Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996): 144.
30
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Music has become his profession, whilst for you it can and must only an
ornament, never the root of your being and doing. We may therefore
pardon some ambition and desire to be acknowledged in a pursuit which
appears very important to him, because he feels a vocation for it, whilst it
does you credit that you have always shown yourself good and sensible
that you might, in his place, have merited equal approval. Remain true to
these sentiments and to this line of conduct; they are feminine, and only
what is truly feminine is an ornament to your sex.31
Marcia Citron points out that Fanny’s constant comparison with her brother as a
promising male composer undoubtedly affected her confidence in her work.
Citron describes this as a feeling of “Other,” which caused Hensel to question her
own abilities because of her gender. 32
Fanny’s career was further stifled by her family’s opinions on
publications. Though she was a prolific composer particularly of piano works, it
took Fanny some time to become published because she, like her family, was also
concerned about her feminine image. Her first publications were even under her
brother’s name so as not to reveal her true feminine identity. Her brother writes
in a letter to their mother, “She is too much all that a woman should be for this.
She regulates her house, and neither thinks of the public nor of the musical world,
nor even of music at all, until her first duties are fulfilled. Publishing would only
disturb her in these, and I cannot say that I approve of it.”33
31
Ibid, 144.
Citron, Gender and the Musical Canon, 54-57.
33
“Four Composers: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel.” In Women in Music,ed. Neuls-Bates, 149.
32
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Citron explains this mentality as a perpetuation of the patriarchal society,
both because it kept Hensel out of the public eye, and because it conveyed a sense
of protection on the part of Felix, which also stems from the patriarchal mentality
that men are the protectors and women are to be protected. 34 Fanny perpetuates
this mentality herself. In a letter to her friend discussing the idea of publications,
she states,
If nobody ever offers an opinion, or takes the slightest interest in one’s
productions, one loses in time not only all pleasure in them, but all power
of judging their value. Felix, who is alone a sufficient public for me, is so
seldom here that he cannot help me much, and thus I am thrown back on
myself.35
In other letters to Felix, she explains that she would “cease being a musician
tomorrow if you thought I wasn’t good at that any longer.”36 This mentality
clearly displays a dependence on her brother, and a lack of confidence in her own
work and opinions.
Lili Boulanger
Although Hensel was limited by her family in compositional genres and
performance venues, ironically her success as a composer in parlor music was
largely a result of the wealthy circumstances of her family. Because Hensel was
brought up in a well-off household, she was able to receive training and spend her
34
Citron, Gender and the Musical Canon, 110.
“Four Composers: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel.” In Women in Music,ed. Carol Neuls-Bates,
148.
36
Marcia J. Citron. “Mendelssohn, Fanny,” Grove Music Online. http://www.grovemusic.com,
(accessed April 30, 2007).
35
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life in the inner circles of music. This was also the case for Lili Boulanger (18931918), although her unique circumstances allowed her to devote far more time to
her compositional endeavors than to family or social obligations. Though
Boulanger lived just twenty-four years, her life is full of remarkable
accomplishments. Much of Boulanger’s life and music was shaped by her
lifelong chronic illness that often hindered both her ability to fulfill her social
obligations and her ability to compose. However, at the same time this illness
allowed her to forgo marriage and devote time to her musical profession. This
situation creates a unique bridge between the traditional and the progressive and is
a key factor in her ability to surpass the limitations that Hensel endured as a
woman composer.
Born into a very musically talented and wealthy family, Lili Boulanger
had advantages from the time that she was born that many other women did not
share. The Boulangers did not hold back their children to conform to societal
norms, but encouraged all of them to become successful musicians, including
Lili’s sister Nadia Boulanger. Though both girls were exposed to serious musical
training, particularly in Lili Boulanger’s younger years because she was so sick,
much of her training conveniently came from her own family. Boulanger would
frequently attend classes and learn from her sister Nadia, and there was much to
be gained from advice from the Boulangers’ father, a Prix de Rome prize
winner37.
37
Information on the musical talents and upbringing of the Boulanger family can be found in
Leonie Rosenstiel, The Life and Works of Lili Boulanger (Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson
University Press, 1978), 19-29.
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Illness played a key part in all aspects of Lili Boulanger’s life, but also
affected her success as a female composer in an interesting way. Though the
exact cause of this illness is unknown, many sources speculate that it was
intestinal tuberculosis, or possibly Crohn’s Disease38. It was clear from the time
that she was young that she would need to be dependent on the care of her family
for her entire life. The way that Boulanger’s family treated the situation,
however, created a window for success. Her mother in particular encouraged her
to find something that she loved to do and wanted to be good at. Boulanger chose
composition, and from that point on began to seriously devote her time to the
profession. It was immediately clear that she had a natural musical gift; although
when she was very little she showed only a passing interest in it, once she set her
mind to become successful Boulanger showed talent in all areas of music. The
instruments on which she was proficient include piano, violin, cello, and harp.
Her talent on piano in particular advanced her compositional career, as well as
impressed several of the important connections that frequented the Boulanger
residence.
The culmination of her compositional efforts came on July 5th, 1913 when
at the age of just nineteen Lili Boulanger became the first woman to win the
coveted Prix de Rome. The prize was the result of her cantata Faust et Hélène.
In addition to this enormous accomplishment for her compositional career and for
Annegret Fauser believes it was intestinal tuberculosis in “Lili Boulanger,” Grove Music
Online, http://www.grovemusic.com, (accessed February 14, 2007), but Diane Peacock Jezic
believes it was Crohn’s Disease. Diane Peacock Jezic, Women Composers: The Lost Tradition
Found (New York: The Feminist Press, 1988), 144.
38
Kane 20
her gender, Boulanger again broke the gender mold by signing a publishing
contract with Ricordi, a renowned company during the time39.
Still, although Boulanger’s short life brought with it the breaking of many
major gender boundaries, even she in some ways fit the roles of a traditional
woman. She was known by many to have been a very devout Catholic.40 Her
closest friends and family often described her as quiet and reserved, yet steadfast
in her faith. Boulanger’s list of published works reveal this devotion, and reveal a
gender stereotype of women as the devout centers of the family. Many of her
works were settings of Bible verses, cantatas, and religious songs.
Interestingly enough, Lili Boulanger’s more traditional moments may
actually be defined in her most untraditional accomplishment: the Prix de Rome.
Annegret Fauser argues in her article “La Guerre en Dentelles: Women and the
“Prix de Rome” in French Cultural Politics” that Boulanger winning on talent
alone would never have been enough, and she was very aware of this. Because of
this situation, she consciously portrayed herself as what Fauser likes to call the
“child genius”: naturally brilliant, but young and dependent on her family for
support. Contemporary reports of Boulanger’s behavior at the competition
revealed her demeanor as traditionally ‘feminine’: "Her modest and simple
bearing, her gaze cast down on the score, her immobility during the
performance...she did not allow herself even once to beat time or indicate a
39
Information in this paragraph and subsequent details regarding pieces found in Rosenstiel, The
Life and Works of Lili Boulanger, 137-202.
40
Ibid., 133.
Kane 21
nuance – all this contributed to her cause."41 It is clear that whatever her
intentions were, Boulanger portrayal of herself as a young girl that was still
dependent on her family appeared much less threatening to the males dominating
the music field during the time. This could very well have contributed to her
success as the first woman to win the Prix de Rome where others had failed: when
viewed as a demure young girl and not a strong compositional force, she was
more inclined to be judged with a blind eye.
Despite the image that Boulanger portrayed to her public, her natural
talent for music is indisputable. Though she was young, she showed a mature
understanding of composition and of music, and this is evidenced in her work.
She portrayed this talent even in the face of many physical challenges, which
makes her work even more extraordinary. Boulanger’s Nocturne, written in 1911
at the young age of 18, reveals her natural talent for composition and
musicianship even early on. The piece is relatively short, but it is clear that
Boulanger was experimenting with impressionistic harmonies.42 Originally
written for flute, the piece was at some point before publication changed to violin.
Boulanger uses her natural intuition for the piece to create harmonies under a
beautiful melody, and reveals her gift for the art.43 Upon her death, Nocturne
became a favorite to be performed in the many concerts given in her memory.
Annegret Fauser, “”La Guerre En Dentelles”: Women and the “Prix De Rome” In French
Cultural Politics,” Journal of the American Musicological Society 51, 1 (1998): 126.
http://www.jstor.org/ (accessed October 2007).
42
Rosenstiel, The Life and Works of Lili Boulanger, 138-39.
43
Ibid.
41
Kane 22
The music community’s response to Lili Boulanger’s death at twenty-four reveals
her deep impact through composition.44
The life of Lili Boulanger invites interesting comparisons to Fanny
Mendelssohn Hensel because each woman’s upbringing and family status gave
her the tools to be a successful woman composer. However, it can also be said
that her natural talent was fostered in part because she was viewed as something
of a novelty. In this way, she is most similar to Jacquet de la Guerre. While the
mentality of the young composer as a novelty was certainly present during the
nineteenth century, it was even more so in seventeenth- and eighteenth- century
France. Jacquet de la Guerre shared many of the same circumstances as Lili
Boulanger; she was born into an extremely musical and well-known family, and
her natural talent drew fascination from an early age. Even more than Boulanger,
Jacquet de la Guerre knew how to take the double-edged sword of being a woman
composer and use it to her advantage to build an extremely successful career.
As the example of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel attests, in-home music was
for a long period of time the only truly acceptable form of music for a woman.
Because it was so popular especially during the nineteenth century, women often
wrote music that was playable by amateurs and sent it to magazines such as
Godey’s Lady’s Book, which kept women up-to-date on the fashions of the time.
Many of these women were housewives and young ladies living under their
family’s care, and never sought any other musical training or recognition. Some
women, such as Hensel, also composed in other genres and became famous for
44
Ibid.
Kane 23
both. Another of these women that bridged the gap between popular in-home
music and larger genres in a very unique manner is Cécile Chaminade.
Cécile Chaminade
Chaminade (1857-1944) grew up in a more traditional household, just as
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel did. It is interesting to note that throughout her life
she often listed her date of birth as 1861 in order to preserve a more youthful
image45 which, as a woman during the nineteenth century, was highly valued. In
fact, this is one aspect of traditional feminine expectations that still persists today.
Chaminade learned piano from her mother, and because her father would not
allow her to attend the Paris Conservatoire, Chaminade studied privately with a
few of its professors. Though she experimented in other genres, she is best
known for her melodies and character songs, which were created to be played
within the home or at small recitals. Her first performance of her works occurred
in her own home, and it was not until 1880 that she performed her first public
recital46.
Chaminade did in fact achieve some success as a composer of larger
works during a time period in which women were looked down upon for
attempting these genres. She composed a ballet, an opera comique, and a few
orchestral pieces. Concertino for flute and orchestra is perhaps her most famous
work and was actually commissioned by the Paris Conservatoire, which was a
45
Marcia J. Citron, Cécile Chaminade: A Bio-Bibliography (New York: Greenwood Press, 1988),
3.
46
For a list of recital performances of her work, see Citron, Cécile Chaminade: A BioBibliography, 5-8.
Kane 24
rarity for women composers. Though some of her more large scale compositions,
including her opera comique La Sevillane, were not performed except in a private
recital at her home, others were premiered in America and London. Marcia
Citron states of Chaminade’s choice to premiere her opera comique within her
home, "Perhaps Chaminade was fearful of pursuing a public performance because
of the fiasco of Carmen, and also because she sensed that as a woman she would
encounter greater obstacles in obtaining a performance and in achieving a
success."47
It is clear that Chaminade demonstrated with her premiere of her opera
comique a simultaneous breaking of and adhering to social boundaries, and this
balance permeated much of her life. In 1901 she entered marriage with LouisMathieu Carbonel, a music publisher twenty years her senior. While on the
surface it appears that the marriage fits neatly into Chaminade’s expected duties
as a woman, in fact the marriage has a nontraditional twist. The match was made
against her family’s wishes. The two were married, but pursued only a platonic
relationship and spent much of their time in separate houses.48
There is much speculation as to why the marriage came to pass, but
regardless of the reasons surrounding the union it is clear that Chaminade portrays
conflicted views about marriage and its impact on her own life. Unfortunately,
her husband died only a few years later after a long illness, and during this time
she spent much of her time nursing his health and not composing. In her later
47
48
Citron, Cécile Chaminade: A Bio-Bibliography, 6.
Ibid., 13-14.
Kane 25
years, Chaminade clearly struggles with the institution of marriage and displays a
frustration that undoubtedly stems from her own experience. She states:
Marriage must adapt itself to one's career. With a man it is all arranged
and expected. If the woman is the artist it upsets the standards, the
conventions, the usual arrangements and, usually, it ruins the woman's
art... Tho' I have been married and am a widow now, I feel that it is
difficult to reconcile the domestic life with the artistic. A woman should
choose one or the other.49
In another interview, she goes on to say, "[The artist] must have freedom, not
restraint, she must receive aid, not selfish, jealous exactions and complaints.
When a woman of talent marries a man who appreciates that side of her, such a
marriage may be ideally happy for both."50
By far the most interesting mix between traditional and nontraditional
behavior for Chaminade comes from her parlor music production. It would be
easy to say that in producing such a large amount of parlor music, Chaminade was
following what was traditionally expected of her as a woman. However, her
extreme popularity and promotion through traditional ladies’ magazines make this
part of her life far more ambiguous in terms of traditional expectations. She
produced hundreds of piano and vocal works, and this fact alone is uncommon for
a woman. However, many of them were published because they would sell.
Chaminade’s popularity especially among women was somewhat of a
phenomenon during her time. Chaminade Salons were formed by her admirers, in
49
50
Ibid., 14.
Ibid., 15.
Kane 26
which young ladies got together to perform her chamber music and works by
other composers with similar qualities. Magazines in America such as The Ladies
Home Journal and Century Magazine published her work and she made a
considerable amount of money as a result51.
Despite, or perhaps because of, her popularity as a composer of parlor
music, Chaminade had a hard time being taken seriously as a composer. This was
largely due to the fact that she was a woman. When premiering her larger works,
she received mixed reviews. She was criticized for writing works in genres
considered too masculine to be proper, but also critiqued for writing music that
was too dainty to be taken seriously. Such critiques reveal the sexist nature of the
reviewer: "[Her music] has a certain feminine daintiness and grace, but it is
amazingly superficial and wanting in variety...But on the whole this concert
confirmed the conviction held by many that while women may someday vote,
they will never learn to compose anything worth while. All of them seem
superficial when they write music..."52 Critiques such as these undoubtedly
helped Chaminade to fully understand the deep gender bias that made her
professional life so difficult. It also created a clear hope for the woman of the
future. She says:
I do not believe that the few women who have achieved greatness in
creative work are the exception, but I think that life has been hard on
women; it has not given them opportunity; it has not made them
convincing... Woman has not been considered a working force in the
51
For more on Chaminade as an American phenomenon, please see Citron, Cécile Chaminade: A
Bio-Bibliography, 14-15.
52
Citron, Cécile Chaminade: A Bio-Bibliography, 24.
Kane 27
world and the work that her sex and conditions impose upon her has not
been so adjusted as to give her a little fuller scope for the development of
her best self. She has been handicapped, and only the few, though force of
circumstances or inherent strength, have been able to get the better of that
handicap. There is no sex in art. Genius is an independent quality. The
woman of the future, with her broader outlook, her greater opportunities,
will go far, I believe, in creative work of every description.53
Amy Marcy Cheney Beach
Chaminade’s unique ability to create a nontraditional musical career out of
more traditional genres makes her exceptional. As for her family life, however,
she joins the ranks of many other women composers in the struggle to balance
duties as a wife and a composer. Another of these women who attempted to
achieve this balance was Amy Beach. In many ways, Beach (1867-1944) can be
considered completely nontraditional. Beach’s family recognized her talent from
an early age, and her mother became an advocate for her daughter’s success as a
musician. Beach became a well-known piano prodigy as well as an extremely
competent composer. Unlike Hensel’s confinement to home performances, Beach
was known for her piano concert tours and spent much of her time performing in
public. This balance between composition and performance was a constantly
changing for Beach; she was highly regarded in both areas, and different periods
of her life reveal different focuses on each. However, because she performed
outside the home, it was much easier for Amy Beach to promote and perform her
53
Ibid.
Kane 28
own works than it was for many of the previously mentioned women. These tours
helped her to gain a large amount of popularity as a composer.
Beach is often regarded today as the forerunner of modern American
women composers. While many women rarely ventured from the socially
acceptable female genres, Beach composed in a larger variety of genres than any
of the previously mentioned women. She wrote, in addition to the more
traditional art songs and chamber works, a mass with orchestra, choral works, a
symphony, and an opera. The fact that the public considered Beach a significant
composer during her lifetime was no small feat, especially for a woman. Beach’s
long list of accomplishments includes an honorary Master of Arts degree and
countless recitals and concerts given in recognition of her. Later in her life, she
spent her time performing, with her summers as a Fellow-in-Residence at the
MacDowell Colony. She also headed organizations such as Music Teachers
National Association, and became somewhat of an icon for aspiring female
American composers. In a true testament to her ability to transcend gender
boundaries, she received good press from critics such as Dr. Ferdinand Pfohl:
“"One need only to mention the names of Amelie Nikisch and Amy Beach in
order to refute the foolish prejudices concerning women-composers."54
Still, although some aspects of Beach’s life broke the boundaries of
societal expectations for women, many more fall into the category of traditional
female roles. Beach married Dr. Henry Harris Aubrey Beach in 1885 when she
was just 18 and he was 43 – eighth months older than Amy’s father. Dr. Beach
54
Quoted in Jeanell Wise Brown, Amy Beach and Her Chamber Music: Biography, Documents,
Style (Metuchen: The Scarecrow Press, 1994), 56.
Kane 29
recognized and appreciated Amy’s talent, and she was still encouraged to
compose, but this was somewhat of a trade off; Beach’s husband asked her to stop
performing and instead focus on her composition.55 Though Amy’s success as a
musician until that point had been as a performer, she willingly gave up this
aspect until her husband died in 1910, when she returned to the piano tours.
Because it was her husband that influenced Amy’s decision to turn from
performance and focus on composition, it can be stated that the bulk of Beach’s
compositional career stemmed from following the traditional role of an obedient
wife.
There are many indications that Beach was devoted to her husband; many
of her compositions are not signed in her name, but in a more proper Mrs. H.H.A.
Beach, as was traditional practice for the time. In addition to giving up
performing, Amy Beach agreed to decline or give up money that she made from
her occasional performances because her husband firmly believed that he should
be the financial head of the household. Adrienne Fried Block also states that
“Along with her marriage vows, Amy Beach made a number of agreements with
her husband to live according to his status, that is, function as a society matron
and patron to the arts. She agreed never to teach piano, an activity widely
associated with women.”56 Amy often took the role of hostess wife, creating
dinner parties and providing parlor music for in home entertainment, much like
Hensel.
For more information on the marriage of Henry and Amy Beach and it’s effects on her career,
please see Adrienne Fried Block, Amy Beach: Passionate Victorian (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1998), 47-53.
56
Ibid., 47.
55
Kane 30
Dr. Beach did not only control his wife’s performing schedule; as the
provider for the family, he was in a position to direct the path of her
compositional career. Though Dr. Beach was an amateur musician, he became
one of his wife’s biggest critics. Amy says of her husband’s role in her
compositions, “Very often he and I would discuss works as I was preparing them.
He might differ as to certain expressions and so would my mother, with the result
that I had two critics before facing a professional critic. And Dr. Beach would be
very impartial and hard-boiled.” 57
In addition to being a devoted wife, Beach was also a devoted Christian.
Several sources describe her dedication to her faith. Many scholars have made
note of Beach’s moral and lady-like persona. Adrienne Fried Block writes:
Still in her teens and without ever having left her mother's careful
oversight, she went typically from her parents' control to that of her
husband. It is clear that she never had autonomy, nor did she make a habit
of challenging authority; what is not clear is whether she wanted to do so.
The religious training that she had from her mother, which stressed
humility, docility, and submission to the will of parents and God, tended
to discourage rebellious behavior.58
Block’s description is significant because it portrays Beach as a woman
who fit into a stereotypical gender role of the time. In her devout religion and
devotion to her husband and family, she emulated society’s traditional views of
women during the nineteenth century regarding the “feminine influence.” There
57
58
Ibid., 48.
Ibid., 50.
Kane 31
is even evidence that Beach carried herself as a traditional lady in all public
affairs. A review of her “Gaelic Symphony” reveals praise at her feminine and
docile demeanor and simultaneously acknowledges her as a wife; the author
writes as his closing statement, “Mrs. Beach, who was applauded heartily,
acknowledged the tribute of the audience modestly.”59
The dichotomy of Beach’s life as a traditional and nontraditional woman
makes her compositions particularly revealing. One example includes her String
Quartet, Opus 89, written in January of 1921. Though the piece is written as a
chamber work, which was a favorite genre of Beach’s as well as a more
acceptable one for a woman, in many ways it defies not just gender boundaries,
but the societal norm for any American composer of her time. In the beginning of
the twentieth century, it was considered avant-garde to compose using extended
techniques and harmonies. While many of her colleagues were experimenting
with atonality, Beach refused to conform. Having never been formally trained,
she used her own intuition and preferences for her pieces, and the results are a
more conservative romantic style.60 In this way, Beach defied the musical trend
of the time and forged her own path.
The String Quartet is also an interesting study in the ways in which Beach
created form. Though the piece is split up into three sections, it is clearly marked
as being only one movement. This shows a clear separation from the more
traditional multi-movement movement string quartets. More important, however,
were her compositional influences for the piece. Beach created her quartet out of
59
60
“A Corollary to the Question: Sexual Aesthetics in Music Criticism.” In Women in Music, 224.
Brown, Amy Beach and Her Chamber Music: Biography, Documents, Style, 105.
Kane 32
several Inuit folk songs, which she dispersed throughout the work.61 These songs
not only stretch her typically romantic style, but place her in line with her more
well-known male counterparts who were pursuing a nationalistic musical idiom.
At this time, many of her male contemporaries were becoming well known for
creating a “national musical style” that included created Native American tunes.
In fact, this is one of several of Beach’s works in the later part of her life that
reflected the influence of folk music, and shows her to be a progressive thinker
and innovative composer.
The most notable performance of the String Quartet occurred in 1942 for a
two-day concert event given in celebration of Amy Beach’s 75th Birthday. The
piece was played in the Phillips Memorial Gallery in Washington, D.C., and
served to promote her work. Critics raved about the concert and Beach’s style of
composition. One critic stated after listening to the concert in which the quartet
was performed,
Her music very personal and underivative because she was self-taught in
composition...This independence in education was matched by her
detachment from the musical fashions of the day. She has always been a
romantic in the best sense of the word - a devotee of beauty and a follower
of the gleam... Her music has a timelessness that should make it
enduring.62
This extremely positive critique is quite unlike criticism given to countless other
women composers who either went unrecognized or were patronized for their
For more details on Beach’s String Quartet, Op. 89, see James R. Briscoe, ed., Historical
Anthology of Music by Women (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1987), 158-60.
62
Brown, Amy Beach and Her Chamber Music, 105.
61
Kane 33
accomplishments during their own lifetime, and it is a testament to her popularity
and success as a composer.
Though many of Beach’s compositions stretch gender boundaries, she also
created compositions that fit the traditional mold. “Fairy Lullaby,” Op. 37, No. 3,
was written by Beach in 1897, and is one example of a song that portrays
stereotypically feminine subject matter. Beach herself never had children, though
she mentioned regretting the decision, which could possibly be attributed to her
husband.63 Still, this particular piece is a relatively simple lullaby that implies a
nurturing and mothering undertone. The text is written by Shakespeare, but the
excerpt is not complicated, suggesting that it could easily be actually sung to a
young child. Written in 3/8 time, the combination of piano rolled eighth notes
and a lilting melody are quite simple and eloquent – two aspects that can be
considered stereotypically feminine. The dynamic markings get increasingly
softer, until the final “sempre pianissimo quanto possible,”64 suggesting the
ending of an actual lullaby. Furthermore, it is written in a traditionally feminine
instrumentation of piano and voice.
In writing music such as “Fairy Lullaby,” Beach uses the theme of
motherhood that many other female composers also used. English composer
Rebecca Clarke, who is discussed in upcoming sections, wrote several lullabies
and pieces that include children as their primary lyrical focus. Though many of
these composers are considered leaders of their field and their gender, songs such
as “Fairy Lullabies” prove that in some ways, they were still heavily influenced
63
Block, Amy Beach: Passionate Victorian, 156.
Amy Beach, "Fairy Lullaby, Op. 37 No. 3," in The First Solos: Songs by Women Composers,
ed. Randi Marrazzo (Bryn Mawr: Hildegard Publishing Company, 2000).
64
Kane 34
by the social values of their generation. The presence of songs such as these
clearly portrays the value of motherhood for many prominent women composers.
Clara Schumann
While Beach and Clarke wrote about family in terms of motherhood, this
was not the only family-related theme that was present among female composers.
Perhaps one of the most well-known female composers is Clara Schumann (18191896). Her life is not easily defined as either “traditional” or “progressive”
because in many ways, it is both. Schumann’s life has some of the same themes
that we have seen in other women already, including composing in traditional
genres and a career complicated by marriage. Most importantly, perhaps more
than any of the women discussed previously Schumann walked a fine line
between tradition and nontradition throughout her life.
In comparison with other women studied thus far, Schumann is somewhat
of a celebrity. Her fame is, as it was with Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, largely a
product of her upbringing and social position. Schumann was born Clara Wieck
into a wealthy family, and her father took a strong interest in his daughter’s
success as a pianist and composer. This fact alone is extremely rare, and made all
the difference in Clara’s success. Her father assumed the equivalent of a manager
role for his daughter, and from an early age she was well-trained as a musician.
As she started to compose, her works were praised by many of her male
Kane 35
contemporaries, including Liszt, Chopin, and Mendelssohn.65 This exposure to
the other major composers of her time was extremely beneficial to her success.
Clara Schumann also receives much recognition today because of her
famous marriage to composer Robert Schumann. It is this union that sparks the
opposing forces in Schumann’s life and provides an excellent study in the
dichotomy between traditional and nontraditional roles. Unlike many husbands in
a patriarchal society, Robert Schumann was very supportive of Clara’s career
goals. The two collaborated often on performance and composition projects, and
learned from each other. In fact, it was Robert that pushed Clara to publish many
of her pieces; this was very uncommon for the typical household.
Yet, at the same time that the union was not traditional, it was also
extremely traditional. Lynn Abrams describes the institution of marriage in
nineteenth-century Germany as very sacred.66 Abrams also proposes that
marriage was a “community affair;” secrets of the family, particularly in wealthier
areas, were in actuality no secret at all. The union of Clara and Robert Schumann
fits very nicely into this description. The two were extremely serious about their
relationship, and in fact lived their marriage very much in the musical limelight.
In many ways, Clara assumed the role of the dedicated wife and mother. Robert
and Clara had six children, whose upbringing Clara continually worried about.
Many sources portray her as very conflicted about how her successful musical
career, which included piano tours with extended time away from home, affected
the upbringing of her children.
65
Briscoe, ed., Historical Anthology of Music by Women, 48.
Lynn Abrams, “Concubinage, Cohabitation and the Law: Class and Gender Relations in
Nineteenth Century Germany,” Gender & History 5, 1 (1993): 81-100.
66
Kane 36
Many of the pieces written by both Clara and Robert Schumann serve as a
window into their famous relationship. The couple’s Liebesfrühlinglieder raises
many important observations about how the two interacted and worked together,
as well as how Clara was affected by social expectations at the time. The first
published copy of the set was a birthday gift for Clara and would be their only
collaborative work. It is notable that the original publication of this piece did not
identify the composer of each song in the cycle. While some sources say that this
was a conscious effort on the part of Robert Schumann because he did not want
the pieces to be judged on the basis of gender,67 I would argue the possibility that
the decision was more complicated, and could be a combination of an effort to
avoid gender judgment as well as a way to coax Clara into publishing works with
which she may not have been confident. Marcia Citron offers another explanation
by pointing out that Clara’s insecurity about her own compositional skills as a
result of the common conceptions about composers of her gender could have
influenced the decision to hide the composer of each song in the cycle.68
Regardless of their intentions, the piece portrays the traditional nineteenth-century
bond of marriage in a very public way. Set to poetry by Friedrich Rückert,
Clara’s contributions to the work express through their texts tender love and
dedication to her husband.
Yet, while the premise for writing such a piece celebrates more traditional
female roles, much of the text of Clara’s contributions to Liebesfrühlinglieder
actually suggest nontraditional views. Most notable in this area is her “Liebst du
Melinda Boyd, “Gendered Voices: The Liebesfrühling Lieder of Robert and Clara Schumann,”
19th-Century Music, 23, 2, (1999): 47-48.
68
Citron, Gender and the Musical Canon, 56-57.
67
Kane 37
um Schönheit,” which displays text that expresses the need to be valued for the
self and not for superficial reasons that were in fact often used during the
nineteenth century. The text reads:
If you love me for beauty
O love not me!
Love the sun,
It has golden hair.
If you love me for youth.
Oh love not me!
Love the spring,
That’s young every year.
If you love me for treasure,
O love not me!
Love the mermaid,
Who has many pearls.
If you love me for love,
Oh yes, love me!
Love me always,
I love you forever.69
While much of this text could be read to prove that Schumann indeed had
progressive ideas about how women should be treated, I would argue that
ultimately text such as this, and particularly the last line, still portrays a public
69
Boyd, “Gendered Voices: The Liebesfrühling Lieder of Robert and Clara Schumann,” 159-60.
Kane 38
affirmation of her love for her husband, and a faithfulness compliant with
nineteenth-century ideals regarding the sacred and powerful nature of marriage.
Text translations to other parts of Clara’s contributions to the
Liebesfrühlinglieder reveal a more direct connection to Clara as a more
submissive wife, and portray a stereotypical sense of nineteenth-century love. In
“Er ist gekommen in Sturm und Regen,” her lyrics state, “He came/In storm and
rain,/Boldly he took/My heart.”70 In some ways another song, “Warum willst du
andre fragen,” suggests not only the stereotypical connection of love, but also the
idea of the woman as the moral center. The first and second stanzas of this song
state:
Why do you want to ask others
Who aren’t truthful with you?
Believe nothing except what
These two eyes tell you.
Don’t believe strangers,
Don’t believe your own delusions;
Don’t interpret my actions either,
But just look into my eyes.71
In addition to the perpetuation of the woman as the moral center of the
relationship, the lyrics to this song also end with an affirmation of love, as does
every one of Clara’s contributions to the cycle.
70
71
Boyd, “Gendered Voices,” 159.
Ibid.
Kane 39
Liebesfrühlinglieder is one example of a mix of gender roles that the
Schumanns portrayed throughout their relationship. One of the reasons that the
Schumanns are particularly interesting is that both were acutely aware of the
presence of gender differences in their work as professional musicians. In
frustration with the challenges of her gender, Clara writes, “I once thought that I
possessed creative talent, but I have given up on this idea; a woman must not
desire to compose – not one has been able to do it, and why should I expect to? It
would be arrogance.”72 Robert acknowledges her difficulty in keeping up with
her career as well by stating, “but children, and a husband who is always living in
the realms of the imagination, do not go well with composition. She cannot work
at it regularly, and I am often disturbed to think how many tender ideas are lost
because she cannot work them out.”73
Entries in her diary reveal that Clara considered the presence of a
“feminine” quality in her music to be a negative quality in her compositions. She
writes of one of her compositions, “Of course, it is only a woman’s work, which
is always lacking in force, and here and there in invention.”74 Despite Robert’s
frequent support of her publications, Clara compares herself to his publications
with a lack of confidence. She writes, “I received the printed copies of my trio
today; but I did not care for it particularly, after Robert’s D minor [no. 1, Op. 63],
it sounded effeminate and sentimental.75” This feeling of subordination to her
“Four Composers: Clara Schumann.” In Women in Music, 154.
Ibid.
74
Ibid, 155.
75
Ibid.
72
73
Kane 40
husband reveals the pressures of being a traditional woman even in the face of so
much success as a composer.
Rebecca Clarke
Just as both Clara Schumann and Amy Beach created a career first out of
public performance, and then composition, English composer Rebecca Clarke’s
biographical story is similar. She too was part of the small community of women
to make a successful life as a performer, though her instrument of choice was the
slightly less traditionally feminine viola. In performance, Clarke (1886-1979)
charted virtually unknown territory for women, as she was one of the first women
to play professionally in an orchestra. In composition as well, Clarke became one
of the few selected to study at the Royal College of Music. Though
disagreements in the family, and particularly with her father, forced her to leave
the school, she still made her mark as the first woman to ever study with her
teacher. Unfortunately, even though she was incredibly successful as a woman
during her time period, there is still much that remains unknown about Clarke’s
life, and consequently, very few works have been published.76
Liane Curtis has done much work on Rebecca Clarke and it is clear that
she is a mix of traditional and nontraditional gender roles. Clarke’s connection to
tradition comes not directly from the events of her life, but more from the
attitudes that she developed over time, which shows that she was not completely
unscathed by societal expectations despite her drive and independence. Although
76
Much of the information in this paragraph and section on Rebecca Clarke can be attributed to
Liane Curtis, “A Case of Identity”, The Musical Times 137, 1839 (1996): 15-21.
http://www.jstor.org (accessed June 2007).
Kane 41
Clarke was clearly a very talented composer and musician, she lacked the
necessary confidence in her compositional skills. Curtis recounts many instances
in which Clarke belittled her own work on account of her gender. When
explaining her training with her highly esteemed and selective teacher, Clarke
says, “That I was the only woman student that he had accepted was a source of
great pride to me, though I know full well that I never fully deserved it.”77
Even when she tied with Ernest Bloch for a competition funded by
Elisabeth Sprague Coolidge, Clarke refused to believe that she deserved the
success as a woman. This doubt clearly comes at least partially from society’s
traditional ideals and the difficulty Clarke had in finding her place among them.
She states of her own work,
And when I had that one little whiff of success that I've had in my life,
with the Viola Sonata, the rumour went around, I hear, that I hadn't written
the stuff myself, that someone had done it for me... I had a [press] clipping
once that said that I didn't exist, there wasn't any such person as Rebecca
Clarke, that it was a pseudonym...for Ernest Bloch!...I thought to myself
what a funny idea that when he writes his very much lesser works that he
should take the pseudonym of a girl...78
It is also interesting to note that Clarke’s own identity was several times hidden
when publishing her work. Clarke occasionally used the name “Anthony Trent”
when creating a new work for a brief period of time. The hope, as Liane Curtis
explains it, was to attract less attention and not to be seen as a woman composer.
77
78
Ibid, 17.
Ibid.: 13.
Kane 42
Instead, the music that she published as Trent attracted more attention, and
eventually led to Clarke’s realization of the unfair treatment of women musicians.
Clarke lived during an important time in England for women’s suffrage.
Her reaction to this movement gives us perhaps one of the clearest clues to her
connection to tradition, particularly during her early career. Though Clarke is
said to have believed in the movement, she never became directly involved or
voiced her opinion until the last years of her life79. In fact, Curtis directly
contrasts her to the more boisterous and politically motivated Ethel Smyth,
discussed later in this paper.
Rebecca Clarke is known for her solo and small ensemble pieces, and her
“Infant Joy” and “Cradle Song” fall into these categories as they are meant for
solo voice and piano. Like Amy Beach’s “Fairy Lullaby,” these pieces also
center on the feminine theme of motherhood. Clarke, however, uses much more
jarring harmonies than Amy Beach’s simple and sweet lullaby. It is interesting to
note, however, that despite the fact that these pieces both portray a more
traditional side to Clarke, they also do not reflect her private life. Clarke, just like
Beach, did not have children. Clarke’s situation broke societal boundaries; she
did not marry until she was fifty-eight years old.80
Ethel Smyth
Though Clarke became involved much later in life with the ideals
associated with the Women’s Suffrage movement, no one discussed in this paper
79
80
Ibid.: 16-17.
Ibid.: 20-21.
Kane 43
can compare to the boldness with which Ethel Smyth faced the world of gender
issues. English writer Thomas Becon once wrote, “For there is nothinge that doth
so much commend, avaunce, set forthe, adourne, decke, trim, and garnish a maid
as silence.”81 Keeping this ideal of English women in mind, it becomes even more
incredible to study the life of Ethel Smyth. While up until this point, all of the
women I have discussed have been influenced to varying degrees by societal
norms, Ethel Smyth stands out as a woman who did everything in her power to
break those boundaries in her own career. Though Smyth’s actual musical style
stems from some aspects of tradition, as a woman composer during her time she
lived unashamed of her gender and had an outspoken and boisterous character.
Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) was born to a middle class family, and
her father served as a major-general for the British army. Unlike the Boulangers
or the Mendelssohns, Smyth came from an average family that was not overtly
musical. In fact, only her mother possessed any musical talent, and was an
amateur pianist and singer. This made training in composition difficult for
Smyth, as it became impossible to get her father to agree to something that he
deemed so improper. Smyth says of her father’s opinion of her interest in
composition, “We knew no artists, and to him the word simply meant people who
are out to break the Ten Commandments. It is no exaggeration to say that the life
I proposed to lead seemed to him equivalent to going on the streets.”82
Had Smyth been a completely traditional woman, she would have obeyed
her father’s wishes and likely only played piano and composed in the home.
81
82
Austern, “’Alluring the Auditorie to Effeminacie,’” 346.
“Four Composers: Ethel Smyth.” In Women in Music, 157.
Kane 44
However, Smyth was extremely strong-willed, and instead left her house after a
long argument with her father to study composition in Germany at the Leipzig
Conservatory. Thus began the start of a long career filled with fights against
social norms. Though Smyth began with the smaller genres of music, including
solos and chamber music, that were generally thought of as more appropriate for a
woman, she soon advanced to larger genres, including opera. This was a genre
largely untouched by women, and required a great deal of confidence and
determination in which to succeed. Today, Smyth’s two most well-known operas
are The Wreckers and The Boatswain’s Mate.
Smyth was acutely aware of the challenges facing her gender, and talked
of them frequently. Not only did she recognize the prejudices that faced her, she
was firmly resolved to resist them at all costs. She writes in a letter to her mother
while studying composition in Germany,
Every day I become more and more convinced of the truth of my old
axiom, that why no women have become composers is because they have
married, and then, very properly, made their husbands and children the
first consideration. So even if I were to fall desperately in love with
BRAHMS and he were to propose to me, I should say no!”83
Smyth’s resolve to stay unmarried turned even more progressive later in her
personal life as she struggled with her sexuality84 and it is believed that she was
romantically involved in a lesbian relationship with Emmeline Pankhurst.85
83
Ibid, 165.
Pendle, ed., Women & Music: A History, 138. For more on Smyth’s struggle with sexuality,
please read Kathleen A. Abromeit, “Ethel Smyth, “The Wreckers,” and Sir Thomas Beecham,”
84
Kane 45
Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel were leaders of the Women’s
Social and Political Union (WSPU), and influenced Ethel Smyth’s heavy
involvement in the women’s suffrage movement. While many women were wary
to join for the cause because of the impression it gave of their femininity, Smyth
overcame this fear and became a strong advocate for the cause. In 1910, she
contributed her composition The March of the Women, which became an
extremely popular musical contribution to the suffrage movement in Great
Britain. While many other women took breaks from composing to raise families,
Smyth’s only two-year hiatus was to devote her time to the women’s suffrage
movement. She was even imprisoned for a period of time, which caused her
compositional output to cease.
Smyth’s talents do not stop at her musical compositions; a close friend of
writer and poet Virginia Woolf, Smyth was also a very gifted writer. She wrote
several books, including a memoir, and Female Pipings in Eden, which discusses
in detail the difficulties of being a woman composer. Smyth boldly proclaims the
injustices of the difference in treatment between sexes, and while many women
would not have spoken their mind to anyone, she clearly states her own opinion of
the situation. She states of the male role in the inequalities during the time:
I am convinced too that few men realize how differently from themselves
women are placed in the musical world, which is not surprising. How
many of us are capable of profound X-ray insight on any question
The Musical Quarterly, 73, 2 (1989): 206-208. http://www.jstor.org/ (accessed February 11,
2008).
85
For more details about the complex relationship between Emmeline Pankhurst and Ethel Smyth,
please see Elizabeth Wood, “Performing Rights: A Sonography of Women’s Suffrage,” The
Musical Quarterly, 79,4 (1995): 606-43. http://www.jstor.org/ (accessed November 11, 2006).
Kane 46
whatsoever, let alone on one that doesn’t interest us? I could name one or
two men who know the truth, but these discreetly keep their knowledge to
themselves, for, after all, can you expect males to fight and suffer all these
results of unpopularity for a cause that does not affect one single man; or
rather, which, if successful, might affect some of them rather
unpleasantly?86
This bold writing style very much reflects Smyth’s general demeanor, which she
was notorious for. She was frequently seen participating in “unladylike”
activities, including wearing pants and smoking cigars87.
Many of the previous women composers mentioned have been identified
as having a lack of confidence that very likely stemmed from the attitudes that
faced them as women. For Smyth the prejudice she faced could very well have
served as motivation to continue composing and promoting her work. She had a
network of supporters (mainly women) that performed and tirelessly promoted her
music. In addition, Smyth was known to push her music on publishers and even
perform entire operas, including The Wreckers, on her own piano as a one woman
show in order to gain interest in the work. This forwardness is extremely rare in
a woman of that particular time period, as it would have been very poorly
received by the general public.
Though each of her works are an interesting study because of her atypical
nature, Smyth’s opera The Wreckers produces an intriguing cross between
traditional opera themes and broken gender boundaries. Opera has become
86
Ethel Smyth, "Female Pipings in Eden," in Women in Music, ed. Carol Neuls-Bates (Boston:
Northeastern University Press, 1996), 5.
87
Pendle, ed., Women & Music: A History, 137-38.
Kane 47
frequently analyzed for gender stereotypes because although women rarely
compose opera, they have often been made the central characters within them.
Catherine Clement’s book Opera, or the Undoing of Women clearly lays out the
main purpose of women within opera as the sexualized characters that invariably
fall in helplessly in love with a man, and usually in the end endure suffering and
finally death. This kind of continuing plot line produces the idea of the
victimized woman as entertainment.
With this in mind, The Wreckers appears on the surface to share many of
these traditional operatic themes. Based on Cornish folklore, the plot of the story
takes place in a town where the people survive on creating shipwrecks and
stealing the contents of the ship. The story centers on a love affair between Mark
and Thirza, who suffer because they cannot be together and eventually die.
However, this is where the traditional aspect of the opera ends. It is the details of
the plot of the opera that I would argue give it a uniquely nontraditional spin.
Several sources report Ethel Smyth as being incredibly particular about
this opera’s libretto.88 Though she did not write it herself, she worked closely
with her librettist, close friend Henry Brewster, in order to perfect it. As Smyth
took such pains to procure her own vision for the opera, it is reasonable to believe
that she also filled the story with the principles which informed her own life. In
this particular libretto, I believe that Smyth has included the image of a strong
woman who goes against the expectations of a corrupt society – it is a dramatic
version of her own life. Just like Thirza, Smyth spent her life blatantly opposing
88
In particular, the relationship and situation surrounding the libretto is found throughout
Abromeit, “Ethel Smyth, “The Wreckers,” and Sir Thomas Beecham.”
Kane 48
expectations from her community both in her political views and in her
relationships as a woman.
The first major point of interest is the nontraditional nature in which the
lovers of the story become heroes. Mark and Thirza are actually having an affair;
Thirza is married to the Pastor and head of town. In spite of this generally
dishonorable union, Smyth’s libretto causes the listener to feel for the pair and
truly hope for Mark and Thirza to succeed. This is because despite their
untraditional union, the couple is united in their belief that the town’s method of
survival is wrong, and together they take steps to go against the norm and put a
stop to the activity. In the end, the couple is persecuted and Mark and Thirza are
put to death for their disobedience.
Although this story is based on an actual folk tale, one can imagine the
moral message that Smyth aimed to convey to her listeners with this particular
libretto. In her carefully chosen plot, Smyth has created a moral message that
produces heroes out of those who go against the generally accepted social views.
Though the opera still ultimately ends in the death of these heroes, the way in
which they achieve their success is through sticking to their own instincts and
dying for what they truly believe in. This message is very connected with the
beliefs of the composer herself, who so clearly demonstrated this headstrong and
dedicated conviction in her own life. It also portrays the mark of a woman who
aimed to transcend the position that society had set for her based on her gender
and establish herself as a composer against all the odds.
Kane 49
The determination of women such as Ethel Smyth paved the way for the
women composers of today. In recent years, women have experienced a much
greater degree of acceptance than those that have gone before them. This is not
by any means to say that the woman composer of today experiences no prejudices
and is not at all affected by the traditional sense of what it means to be a woman
in the world of music. Although each living woman composer has ample
opportunity for success, there are still traces of the ideals that challenged women
for centuries.
Libby Larsen
Perhaps the most well known of today’s women composers is Libby
Larsen (b. 1950). Much like Ethel Smyth, Larsen is known as an advocate for her
profession, and displays a passion and dedication that is to be greatly admired.
Larsen has held several advocacy positions for new music, not the least of which
is the distinction of co-founder of what is now the American Composers Forum.
In addition to this advocacy mission, Larsen also holds the distinction of being the
first woman composer to hold a composer-in-residence status with a major
orchestra. Larsen also works closely with her publishing company, Oxford
University Press, which distributes her work.
In comparison with women who have come before her, Larsen’s career
appears to exemplify all the new opportunities that are now available to women
composers. Where women such as Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel and Cecile
Chaminade had reservations about the impropriety of publishing their works,
Kane 50
Larsen’s over two hundred published compositions are a clear indication that this
belief has been dispelled. Each of the women previously discussed has gone
through great lengths to have their works performed, and many of these
composers have ultimately become their own advocates and performed their own
works. Larsen does just the opposite – her compositions are formally requested
by some of the world’s leading performing groups, and she is paid to write
them.89 While women of the past dealt with common social beliefs regarding the
propriety of women composing particular genres, Larsen revels in composing in
every different genre. She pushes boundaries and constantly looks for inspiration
in jazz and all kinds of popular music to combine with classical idioms.
Larsen’s situation is in fact a testament to the positive changes that have
been made in the way the world views women composers. With all of this
activity for her profession, curiosity leads one to question whether or not her
status as a woman has had an effect on her compositional work and her advocacy
of the arts. Larsen explains on her website when asked about whether or not she
considers herself to be a feminist, “If thirty years of consistently working in
public, on a national and international scale, and speaking my professional mind
out loud in public combined with raising a family can be considered feminism,
then yes, I consider myself a feminist."90 This statement gives us an interesting
window into the beliefs of Larsen and many other modern female composers on
being regarded as a woman composer. While many, including Larsen,
acknowledge the prejudice and disadvantages that women still face as composers,
For more information on the performances of the composer’s works and stylistic preferences,
see http://www.libbylarsen.com.
90
"Libby Larsen," http://www.libbylarsen.com.
89
Kane 51
Larsen makes clear that she prefers to be regarded as a composer, not a woman
composer. Larsen stresses the importance of having confidence, and the
difficulties that come with being a woman composer in that respect in a maledominated profession.91 This stance is interesting particularly because history
shows that lack of confidence was a chief problem for many of the previously
discussed women composers due to the impropriety many believed composition
to be, and this lack of confidence in many ways still continues today.
Larsen’s output of music is so large that it would be easy to study many of her
pieces with gender themes in mind. I chose “Lord, Make me an Instrument” to
investigate how traditionally female themes of propriety and religion manifest
themselves in this contemporary piece. This setting of the Prayer of Saint Francis
of Assisi is just one example of how Larsen has taken the theme of religion and
set it to music. For Larsen, using religious texts is a common occurrence; many
of her works stem from Bible passages and old hymn tunes. As mentioned
previously, women were often thought to be the moral and religious centers of the
family, and it is interesting that over one hundred years later, a strong advocate
and leader among female composers still continues to incorporate some of the
same socially acceptable themes of the past. Yet Larsen’s piece demonstrates
how women have grown compositionally. Although the piece is created from a
Bible verse, it is not stereotypically hymn-like; the piece includes several meter
changes that mimic the natural accents of speech. This piece is an excellent
For more on Larsen’s views on composition and the necessity for confidence as a composer,
please read Ann McCutchan, “Libby Larsen,” The Muse That Sings: Composers Speak About the
Creative Process. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, 142-50.
91
Kane 52
example of binding the devout religious qualities of the text with more modern
and untraditional compositional styles.
“Lord, Make me an Instrument” is not included as an example to prove
that women who write religious music are doing so because of outmoded ideas
about women as the moral centers of the household. In fact, many men have also
composed music with religious themes. But it is undeniable that while
contemporary women have had much more success in the realm of musical
composition, they are still at least partially influenced by societal norms that have
withstood the test of time. This does not in any way lessen the quality of their
work; instead, it increases the complexity and depth with which we might view
their compositions.
Since its emergence in academia, gender studies have brought to light the
struggles that women have faced throughout the centuries. If there is one thing
that gender studies and feminist musicology have made clear, and has also been
described through the research presented here, it is that women have blurred, bent,
and broken the social boundaries set for them. These women broke boundaries
and created precedents both as composers and performers in their time and later
within academia as they became subjects of research. However, the research
presented here also serves as a window into more subtle ways in which women
encountered and reacted to boundaries.
Women such as Ethel Smyth, Clara Schumann, and Amy Beach, who
lived high profile lives, give us a clear picture of the ways in which women sailed
past those boundaries set for them to create very successful careers. Ethel Smyth
Kane 53
even goes so far as to give us an example of a woman who faced social
boundaries head on and displayed an enormous amount of courage as she openly
sought to change expectations for women. Beach and Schumann are just two of
many women who sought successful careers not just as composers, but as public
performers and extremely talented musicians. They joined the ranks of other
women and male contemporaries to gain recognition and validation in their field.
Yet careful study shows that even these women occasionally struggled
with the boundaries set for them by society. Schumann frequently expressed
doubts about her own abilities as a composer, and was devoted to her husband’s
success and happiness so wholly that her own needs as a composer and performer
were sacrificed. Beach also portrayed the qualities of a truly devoted wife, and
she only returned to an abandoned piano career after his death. Even though
Smyth did everything in her power to overthrow the negative social connotations
that women faced, she still struggled on a daily basis with her father, her family,
and those in the public eye who thought her behavior to be wholly inappropriate.
Her outspoken nature even landed her in jail, and her desire to be part of the
suffrage movement also took so much time and energy that it temporarily stopped
her compositional career. The complexity of the lives of these women are not
often highlighted by academics who portray them purely as heroes for the cause,
but understanding the complexity of their lives and their challenges is necessary
in order to fully understand the music created by these women.
Perhaps the women who offer the most insight into the world of the
woman composer are those who occupy a grey area in terms of their adherence to
Kane 54
societal norms. Exploration of the lives of women such as Lili Boulanger, Cécile
Chaminade, and even Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel provide a more complete
analysis of women composers not because of the answers they provide, but
because of the questions that they raise. Would Boulanger, for example, have had
as successful a career if not for her illness, or would she have followed the more
traditional status of the woman as an amateur musician and primarily a wife?
How would Chaminade’s career have been different, or would she have had a
career, if not for the popularity of the amateur woman musician? These
questions are of course unanswerable, and one may argue that it is a waste of time
to ask them since history did not actually turn out that way. I believe that these
questions are essential in developing an understanding of the woman composer as
a person in direct relation to her circumstances, and not solely as either an
untouchable hero or as a victim of social prejudices.
It is only when we look at the woman composer through lenses that are not
so clearly black and white that we can truly begin to understand the beauty of the
music produced. While we will never know the intentions of the composers, we
can begin to listen with an understanding of the pressures that pushed and pulled
these women, their careers, their families, and ultimately shaped both their lives
and their music. It is easy to look centuries later with a critical eye at these
women and pass judgment on their ability to either succumb to or withstand
societal pressure, because it is easy to forget that during their time, the social
norms with which they lived were an integral part of the way the women
experienced their lives on a daily basis.
Kane 55
Ultimately, each woman studied was ahead of her time if for no other
reason than she dared to compose in the public eye. However, these women were
inevitably products of their time as well for no other reason than that because they
lived in a period of prejudices against women it was impossible to completely
consciously separate social norms from affecting their work. Music and
composition inherently relies on public interest, and when the public feels
strongly about women and music, inevitably this becomes a real situation that the
women had to find ways to maneuver around and overcome. Consequently, as we
continue to study women composers today, it is crucial to remember that societal
expectations are also inseparable from the work of these women. This added
complexity is what makes the works of the composers represented here, as well as
those who have become before and after them, so rich with meaning and inspiring
for the women who carry the torch of their drive and their creativity in music
today.
Kane 56
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