Six inspiring female composers who were pioneers of classical music
Ethel Smyth (left), Lili Boulanger (middle), Amy Beach (right).
One of the disappointing things that emerged as we did the research for Maestros, our collection of original obituaries of great composers, was how few we could find for female composers.
As Clemency Burton-Hill, the former Radio 3 presenter, writes in her foreword to the book, the idea that a woman could write serious music used to be scoffed at. “Over the centuries, many outstanding female composers, with talents equal to or surpassing their male counterparts, were discouraged, ignored and put down,” she writes.
Felix Mendelssohn once privately confessed that his older sister, Fanny, was a better composer than he (a number of her works were originally published under his name), but she never received the praise (or the obituaries) that he did.
Gratifyingly, our researchers did manage to unearth a dozen obituaries of female composers. All were remarkable pioneers, but here’s a snapshot of my six favourites:
Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) was the first woman to win the prestigious Prix de Rome composition prize, and looked set for a glittering career before dying of Crohn’s disease aged just 24. The then (male) conductor of the New York Symphony orchestra said of her: "On several occasions I have stated publicly, and with much conviction, that I did not believe women composers equal to men’s ability… but that was before I had heard the works of Mlle Lili Boulanger. Mlle Boulanger's death is one of the greatest losses French art has sustained; she was a genius.”
Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944) wrote more than 550 songs and piano and orchestral works, and was so popular that clubs in her name were set up all over the world. The composer Ambroise Thomas said of her, “This is not a woman who composes, but a composer who is a woman.”
Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) was the first female composer to demand - and receive - equal pay to her male counterparts after suffering years of discrimination.
Amy Beach (1867-1944), America's first successful woman composer, began writing songs aged just four and later became the first woman to have her name appear on the program of the New York Symphony Society as a composer.
Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), the British suffragette, composer, author and activist, began composing at the age of 10. Her 550-word obituary in The New York Times on her death, aged 86, said: “Her most famous piece, March of the Women, was the Marseillaise of the suffragist movement. When Dame Ethel was a prisoner in Holloway jail in London in 1913, she used her toothbrush as a baton through the window of her cell to conduct the singing of her fellow suffragettes as they were taking their daily exercise around the prison yard to the time of March of the Women.”
Gilda Ruta (1853-1932) was one of the foremost woman composers of Italy, writing about 125 compositions, and winning a gold medal at the International Exposition at Florence for her vocal and orchestral compositions. Sadly, she died in obscurity in New York.
To read more about these inspiring women, their original obituaries are in our Maestros collection, published in four ebook volumes at the Blue Magpie Books page in the Kindle store here - with the first one now on introductory sale for just £0.99 - or in paperback.